We recently spent a long weekend in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada, relaxing, visiting family friends, and of course, wine tasting. The Okanagan Valley is Canada’s most well-known wine region. Located about 100 miles east of Vancouver, B.C., it is about a six hour drive from Seattle. The Okanagan Valley stretches over 100 [...]

In May, Lake Chelan was established as Washington State’s 11th AVA (American Viticultural Area). Lake Chelan is home to 13 wineries open to the public and 260 vineyard acres. A 3-hour drive east from Seattle, Lake Chelan has been a popular tourist destination for years especially during the summer months when visitors flock there to [...]

Last weekend, we traveled to Walla Walla, Washington, to attend Vintage Walla Walla, an annual event considered to be one of the nation’s premier regional wine tasting events. It is a two-day event featuring seminars, tours, and winemaker dinners in addition to the two marquee tastings, the Vintage Pour and the Grand Pavilion Tasting. On [...]

When most people think of wine country destinations in Washington State, Walla Walla, Yakima, and Woodinville immediately come to mind. One area that I have rarely heard mentioned is Spokane and that is truly a shame. We had the pleasure to spend the long Memorial Day weekend in the Spokane area, and I must say [...]

Last week in Texas Wine Country 2009, Part One, I shared with you my initial impressions of Texas wines in 2009 and how much better they are today than in 2002. Now after visiting a total of 23 wineries and tasting a total of 169 wines from 28 wineries, let me give you a summary [...]

The tagline used by the Washington Wine Commission to describe Taste Washington is “the ultimate wine experience.” That phrase definitely sums up this past weekend. Taste Washington is a wine and food lover’s paradise. The festivities kicked off on Friday with the Washington Wine Restaurant Awards, picked up steam on Saturday with Education Day, and [...]

Carpenter Creek Winery, located in Mount Vernon, Washington, was founded in 2001 by owner/winemaker Jeff Hammer and his wife Tara. They opened their tasting room in 2003 and did an extensive remodel in 2006. Their remodeled tasting room is very nice and quaintly situated off the road among fir and cedar trees. Currently, Carpenter Creek [...]

As with most things in life, even those things we love, drinking wine can become routine, ho hum. Sure you may enjoy a good bottle here and there, have fun at a winery, or try a new varietal to keep things interesting. But then, out of nowhere, BAM!, a wine experience comes along that really [...]

After spending Thanksgiving Day in Seattle, we loaded up the car and headed to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The last time we visited wineries in the area, which was several years ago, we had not had a very pleasant experience. With the increasing notoriety that Oregon has received worldwide as a wine producing region, we decided [...]

We could not have asked for more hospitable hosts for the first-ever North American Wine Bloggers Conference than the people of the Sonoma wine industry. They really stepped up to the plate with sponsorships and donations of wine to help make the conference possible. Sonoma County is located north of San Francisco between Napa County [...]