In today’s economy, many people are cutting back on their wine budgets and are looking for wines that consistently offer good quality and good value. For those of us who drink wine virtually every day, it is not economical (nor necessary) to spend a lot for everyday wines. The key is to determine varietals and [...]

Washington State, in general, makes outstanding Merlot. Washington Merlot is bigger, more complex, and has higher acidity that most Merlot produced elsewhere. Recently, we had what turned out to be a Washington Merlot showdown in one of our double blind private tasting dinners featuring two wines from the 2006 vintage, the 2006 Fielding Hills Merlot [...]

The majority of Washington State wineries are small, “Mom and Pop” operations, many operating out of garages, office parks, or other small facilities. Basel Cellars, located on the Old Milton Highway just south of downtown Walla Walla, Washington, is not one of those operations. In fact, Basel Cellars is one of the first wineries that [...]

Woodinville has definitely become a must-visit destination in Washington wine country. Home of the state’s oldest, largest, and most well-known wineries, Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Winery, the Woodinville area is also home to over 40 wineries and tasting rooms, with new ones opening all the time. Woodinville now boasts the second largest concentration of [...]

Are you between the ages of 21 and 30? Do you enjoy wine and yet feel a bit intimidated by it? Do you live in the Seattle area or have plans to be in the area this weekend? If you answered “yes” to all three questions, then 20something—the new vintage could be just the event [...]

If Miles had tasted either of these Washington Merlots, he never would have made his ridiculous comment about the varietal in the movie, Sideways. Washington State, in general, makes outstanding Merlot. Washington Merlot is known for its sweet cherry flavors and complex aromas and is generally higher in acidity than California Merlot.
Recently, we had what [...]

Through the years, we’ve had the pleasure of tasting a number of Long Shadows wines. We’ve visited their production facility in Walla Walla, Washington, attended a winemaker’s dinner with Allen Shoup and John Duval, and had their wines in our monthly wine tasting dinners as well as private dinners. However, last month, we had an [...]

Recently, we had the opportunity to taste some of the current releases from three outstanding Washington wineries, Fielding Hills Winery in Wenatchee, Nefarious Cellars in Lake Chelan, and Saviah Cellars in Walla Walla. While all nine of the wines are very good, we were especially impressed by the 2007 Fielding Hills Cabernet Sauvignon and the [...]

As regular Wine Peeps readers know, we recently spent a long weekend in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada, relaxing, visiting family friends, and of course, wine tasting. Kori wrote a nice post recapping our weekend and sharing our thoughts and ratings of the wines that we tasted.
LaGayle and I stayed over an extra [...]

Over the past two years, we have devoted a number of posts to great value bargain wines.
You can buy great value wines for under $20 (some under $10)
Great Value Wines
Super Bargain Wines for Tough Times
Super Bargain Wines in the $10 to $25 Range
Since our last post on this topic, we’ve discovered several more gems that [...]