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. Last Friday, we featured Washington Syrah from the 2009 vintage in our wine tasting dinner. All six [...]

Red Willow Vineyard is one of the top vineyards in Washington State. Located in the northwest corner of the Yakima Valley near Wapato, Washington, Red Willow is a fourth-generation family farm, owned and operated by Mike Sauer and his family. Red Willow has one of the oldest Cabernet Sauvignon blocks in the state, planted in [...]

For those of you who are not familiar with a vertical tasting, it is a tasting in which you taste different vintages of the same wine from the same winery. We were first “wow”-ed by Fielding Hills in the summer of 2008. Since then, we have visited the winery, tasted all of their new releases, [...]

Port comes from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. While there are port-style wines made around the world, strict use of the term Port is reserved for fortified wines produced in Portugal. Most Port producers in Portugal now label their wines as “Porto” and the bottles bear a neck label with the Instituto do Vinho [...]

Washington State Cabernet Sauvignons are among the best in the world, and they are much better values (higher QPR) than most Cabs in other wine regions of the world. Last Friday evening, we tasted six Cabernet Sauvignons from the 2008 vintage from Washington State in our wine tasting dinner. It was another fabulous evening of [...]

Summer is the time of year when we turn our attention to rosé wines. In fact, many wineries only make small quantities of rosé wines to be released during the summer months. Rosé is French for “pink” and is used to describe wines of that color. Rosés are generally made from red grapes; however, unlike [...]

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 [...]

Washington State produces many excellent wines from many different grape varieties. There is much debate as to which red wine Washington does best. Some say Syrah, others Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon, and others red Bordeaux-style blends. This month’s wine tasting dinner featured Bordeaux-style red blends from Washington State, all from the 2008 vintage. It was [...]

The Rhone Valley in France is divided into two parts, appropriately referred to as the northern Rhone and the southern Rhone. While the northern Rhone produces mostly single varietal wines, the southern Rhone is known for producing blends. The most famous AOC in the southern Rhone is Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which is well known for its Grenache-based [...]

The holidays always get me in the mood for sparkling wine. On Friday evening, we decided to get a jumpstart on the holiday season by featuring Champagne in our 101st wine tasting dinner. Champagne is the most well-known sparkling wine in the world, and it can only be called Champagne if it is produced in [...]