While my family and I do not eat much pork, we do enjoy it on occasion. As I started planning another challenging wine pairing meal, I remembered the garlic seasoned broiled pork chops that my aunt used to make. I cannot remember the last time that I had a pork chop, but the more I [...]

Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining is billed as a cookbook, but it’s much more than that. It’s also a story about the uniqueness of the Pacific Northwest, its people, its places, its chefs, and its winemakers. Braiden Rex-Johnson (that’s a name you can’t forget) takes you on quite a tour through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and [...]

As I’ve said many times before, I absolutely love sparkling wine but do not drink it often enough. However this time of year, I make sure to celebrate with friends and family and enjoy some sparkling wine. We loved the sparkling wine tasting dinner we had last fall, so we decided to have another one [...]

This post is the first in a series on challenging wine pairings. Many people probably wouldn’t even try to pair wine with smoked sausage and sauerkraut; however, we were up to the challenge because we believe that any meal can be paired with a wine that compliments the food.
As I began planning our first Challenging [...]

For the second year in a row, Dad (John) and I attended the Rhone Rangers trade/media tasting in Seattle. The Rhone Rangers are a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting American Rhone varietal wines. To be members, wineries must produce wines from one or more of the 22 varietals that are native to the Rhone Valley [...]

Steve Roberts has done it again! After his WineTrails of Washington book came out last year, Kori and I ran into Steve at one of his book signings here in Seattle and Kori purchased one of the books. During our conversation, after finding out what a time-consuming process it was to visit all of the [...]

This month’s wine tasting dinner, held last Friday night, featured Oregon Pinot Noir. Regular Wine Peeps readers know that Pinot Noir is not our favorite varietal. However, since we live so close to Oregon, generally considered the best growing area for Pinot Noir in the United States, we have made a conscious effort to continue [...]

Question: What do Saviah Cellars and Watermill Winery have in common?
Answer: Winemaker Rich Funk.
Actually, they have a few more things in common as well. Both are located in the Walla Walla Valley, both are getting their grapes from some of the best vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley and elsewhere in Washington State, and both [...]

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 [...]

On a recent Saturday, the Wine Peeps attended tastings at two local wine shops. Mom (LaGayle) and Dad (John) attended the Ross Andrew tasting at McCarthy & Schiering in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood and then I joined them for the Stephenson Cellars, Otis Kenyon, and Five Star Cellars tasting at Pete’s Wine Shop in Bellevue.
Ross Andrew [...]