Last Friday evening was a gorgeous, 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. In February of this year, Mom (LaGayle) and Dad (John) spent three weeks in South Africa visiting the [...]

On Friday evening, we hosted our 70th wine tasting dinner. Once again we had a fabulous evening of good wines, the company of wonderful friends, and Mom’s excellent food. This month’s dinner featured Washington Merlot. Don’t be misled by what one idiot said in a Hollywood movie, Merlot is a wonderful varietal. And Washington State [...]

Since we are in the midst of Washington Wine Month, we thought it was fitting to feature Syrah, our favorite Washington varietal, in this month’s wine tasting dinner. And taking it one step further, we focused on the 2005 vintage. To this point, many consider the 2005 vintage to be one of the best, if [...]

March is Washington Wine Month. Wanting to get a head start on celebrating the fabulous wines that Washington State produces, we decided to feature Washington Cabernet Sauvignon in our wine tasting dinner last Friday night. And what a tasting it was! We enjoyed six outstanding Cabs which all paired perfectly with Mom’s dinner of tomato [...]

This month’s wine tasting dinner featured red blends from Washington State. You may remember that we had Washington Red Blends at our September tasting dinner last fall. We put the winner of the September tasting, the 2006 Mark Ryan “The Dissident,” in this tasting along with five other red blends from Washington. Mark Ryan came [...]

Mother Nature gave us just enough of a reprieve between snowstorms to allow us and our guests to make it to this month’s wine tasting dinner last Friday night. After being cooped up in our homes for a couple days, it was nice to get out for a fun evening of good wines, excellent food, [...]

This time of year with the holidays rapidly approaching, my “wine” attention tends to focus on bubbly. 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. With that in mind, it was easy [...]

Last Friday, we hosted one of our monthly wine tasting dinners. We blind tasted six Zinfandels, four from California and two from Washington State. It was another fun evening of good wines, excellent food, and wonderful friends. Among the six wines, two set themselves apart from the rest. The 2006 Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel and [...]

This month’s wine tasting dinner featured red blends from Washington State. Once again, we were able to enjoy six wines throughout a four-course meal and spend quality time with wonderful friends. If you’ve ever thought about hosting your own wine tasting dinner, I highly encourage you to go ahead and do it. They are so [...]

We have had some exceptional Syrahs lately, and our tasting dinner last Friday evening continued the trend. This tasting featured six Pacific Northwest Syrahs, four from Washington State and two from Oregon. Both Oregon wineries represented, Watermill and Cayuse, are in the Walla Walla Valley AVA just a few miles from the Washington-Oregon state line. [...]