Peter Rosback is one of the most well-known and well-respected winemakers in the Pacific Northwest. Rosback got his start in winemaking in 1985 as a home winemaker experimenting with Pinot Noir. In 1986, he began making Old Vine Zinfandel from The Pines Vineyard. Rosback entered the wine business commercially in 1994 when he and David [...]

Each month when I post about one of our challenging wine pairing meals, I ask for suggestions for challenging wine pairings for us to try in the future. On several occasions, we have received requests to try Korean cuisine. While I had never prepared any Korean dishes, I decided to give it a try. While [...]

This month’s challenging wine pairing was a special treat. Our friends Darren and Mardee invited us over for jerked chicken, and we did our challenging pairing with their fabulous meal. What a beautiful evening in Seattle, out on their deck, eating delicious food, drinking great wine, and spending time with wonderful friends! Jerk is a [...]

Recently, I had a meal with blackened rockfish and enjoyed it very much. So I decided to plan a challenging wine pairing with this fish. If you are not familiar with rockfish, here are the descriptions of halibut, cod, and rockfish for comparison. Halibut has a firm-fleshed texture and mild flavor, cod has a flakey [...]

Thai food is so popular that I wanted to do another Thai dish for a challenging wine pairing. Since our family especially enjoys spicy dishes, I decided to try a red curry dish using strips of sirloin steak in this recipe. Delicious! The menu for this pairing consisted of the Thai red curry beef dish, [...]

The folks at Cana’s Feast Winery do not literally turn water into wine; however, the wedding feast at Cana at which Jesus performed his first miracle and turned water into wine inspired the winery’s name. Founded by Gino Cuneo as Cuneo Cellars in 1993, the winery was renamed Cana’s Feast, which had been the name [...]

The Wine Peeps love barbeque…the kind that takes hours to smoke. However, this kind of cooking is usually done in the spring and summer when the time for outdoor cooking is the best! When I came across a recipe for spicy sweet oven roasted spareribs, I couldn’t resist trying it for this month’s challenging wine [...]

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’ve made it a tradition to feature sparkling wine in our December wine tasting dinner. Each December, we [...]

Last month, I had the pleasure to participate as a non-voting judge during the Wine Press Northwest Platinum Judging. Wine Press Northwest is a quarterly magazine that focuses on the wine, wineries, winemakers, vineyards, and restaurants in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. The Platinum Judging, now in its 11th year, features the best-of-the-best from [...]

Twelve, founded by John and Linda Lenyo, is a small, family-owned winery in Carlton, Oregon. The Lenyos live on their 12.5-acre estate vineyard, Fir Crest Vineyard, which is the sole source of fruit for the Twelve wines. Located in the Yamhill-Carlton District AVA in the northern part of the Willamette Valley, Fir Crest Vineyard is [...]