Last Friday evening was a beautiful, sunny, summer evening here in Seattle. It was the perfect night to gather with friends to enjoy a fabulous meal and good wines for one of our monthly wine tasting dinners. And what is the perfect wine to enjoy on a hot summer day? This is the time of [...]

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2009 Barnard Griffin Rosé of Sangiovese from the Columbia Valley of [...]

The WAWine World Tasting Event was last Thursday night. Hosted by 14 Washington wine writers including me, #WAWine (the event’s Twitter hashtag) was a virtual event designed to get people from all around the world simultaneously drinking and talking about Washington wine. Many thanks to Josh Wade of Drink Nectar for hosting, Washington Tasting Room [...]

We spent Memorial Day Weekend visiting the Columbia Gorge AVA. The Columbia Gorge AVA was established in 2004. It runs along the Columbia River and encompasses areas in both Washington and Oregon. The area boasts gorgeous views, numerous outdoor recreation options, quality vineyards, excellent wines, and very friendly folks. We arrived in Hood River, Oregon, [...]

Located along the Central Coast halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Paso Robles is California’s third largest and fastest growing wine region. The town of Paso Robles (“Paso” to the locals) is the heart of Paso Robles wine country. The Paso Robles AVA was established in 1983 and has expanded a couple of times [...]

Hosted annually by the Washington Wine Commission, Taste Washington is dubbed “the ultimate wine experience.” This past weekend brought Washington wine lovers from around the country to Seattle to drink, eat, and be merry. The event is a wine and food lover’s paradise. The festivities kicked off on Friday with the Washington Wine Restaurant Awards, [...]

Wine Blogging Wednesday, the blogosphere’s monthly virtual wine tasting event, is in its fifth year. Our host this month for WBW #67 is Joe Roberts of 1WineDude. Joe selected Seeing Red for the First Time as the theme and asked us to “pick a red wine that you would use to introduce a white wine [...]

The Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi is one of the most famous wine producers in Italy. Located in Tuscany and comprised of nine estates, the Frescobaldi family has been making wine for over 700 years, spanning 30 generations. They operate 1,000 hectares of vineyards which are divided into nine properties throughout the Chianti region of Tuscany. The [...]

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 [...]

Recently, we had what turned out to be an Italian reds showdown in one of our double blind private tasting dinners pitting the 2005 Pasetti Montepulciano d’Abruzzo against the 2003 Villa Artimino Riserva Villa Medicea. For a more complete description of how we set up these private tastings, please refer to How We Taste. Before [...]