Columbia Crest, located in Paterson, Washington, has been one of our favorite sources of value wines for many years. Last year, Juan Munoz Oca took over as head winemaker from Ray Einberger. Einberger had been at the helm since 2002 when he took the reins from Doug Gore who had been the winemaker since Columbia [...]

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 Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley of [...]

General Tso’s Chicken is one of the Wine Peeps favorite dishes, and we especially enjoy it prepared extra spicy. An added consideration in planning and preparing our challenging wine pairing meal this time is that John has been diagnosed with a gluten allergy, so I prepared the dish gluten free and was pleasantly surprised with [...]

Washington Syrah compares favorably with the best in the world. Washington Syrah generally falls somewhere in between the jammy Shiraz of Australia and the more austere Syrah of the northern Rhone. It generally has good acidity and tannins. The common denominators of our favorite Syrahs from Washington have been deep, dark purple color and luscious [...]

Lance Baer founded Baer Winery in 2000. After he passed away in 2007, his sister Lisa and father Les took over the winery and have continued Lance’s legacy. Today, Lisa Baer is the face of the winery. With the help of consulting winemaker Erica Orr, Lisa strives to make wines that would meet her brother’s [...]

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 2008 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Amitage Red Blend from the Columbia [...]

DenHoed Wine Estates, founded in 2006, is a joint venture between grape growing brothers Bill and Andy Den Hoed and Washington wine pioneer Allen Shoup. DenHoed produces two red wines, both made exclusively with fruit from Wallula Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills. Wallula Vineyard is located high above the Columbia River south of Kennewick, [...]

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 2010 Saviah Cellars The Jack Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley [...]

Maison Bleue, founded by owner/winemaker Jon Martinez in 2008, is located in Prosser, Washington. Martinez changed careers to venture into winemaking, giving up a successful dental practice. He has become a bona fide winemaking star and his Maison Bleue wines have been the buzz of the Washington wine industry the past couple of years. Maison [...]

Owner/winemaker Charlie Hoppes founded Fidelitas in 2000. Located in Benton City, Washington, in the Red Mountain AVA, Fidelitas gets its name from Charlie’s father-in-law, Dan Fidelis O’Neill. While working for Boeing in the early 1980’s, Charlie was bitten by the wine bug and began experimenting with home winemaking kits. Encouraged by his wife Terri and [...]