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 […]

Walla Walla Valley is one of the oldest of Washington State’s nine AVA’s. Established in 1984, it encompasses over 1,200 vineyard acres. Located within the greater Columbia Valley AVA, Walla Walla Valley covers the area around the town of Walla Walla, Washington, and also dips across the state-line into Oregon near Milton-Freewater. To the locals, […]

Last month, I posted on Super Bargain Wines for Tough Times, which by our definition are wines with a price less than or equal to $10, of excellent quality (4-star quality or higher), and its price is less than or equal to one-half of wines of the same varietal and the same quality level (5 […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is oaky. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Oaky is a tasting term usually applied to wines too heavily influenced by oak flavor, which smell and taste more of wood than fruit, and may be aggressively tannic and dry. Layman’s terms from Kori: Ms. […]

Our host for the October edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the blogosphere’s monthly virtual wine tasting event, is Russ Beebe of Winehiker Witiculture. Since Russ is an experienced wine tasting host and hiking guide, it’s no surprise that his theme asked us to get out and enjoy some time in the Great Outdoors and then […]

As you browse the aisles of your local wine shop or thumb through a wine store catalog, you will see hundreds of wine accessories or gadgets. And you may wonder whether or not the gadget is something that you should consider buying or whether you’d be better served saving your money. Periodically, we will feature […]

While corks continue to be the most commonly used closures, more and more wineries are experimenting with alternative closures such as screwcaps in an attempt to eliminate cork taint. Therefore, these days you don’t always need a corkscrew to open a bottle of wine. However, sometimes opening a screwcap can be just as difficult. Here’s […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is fortified. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Fortified wines are those which have been subject to fortification and therefore include sherry, port, Madeira, vermouth, Malaga, mantilla, Marsala, liqueur Muscat, Liqueur Tokay, and several strictly local specialties. Fortification is the practice of adding spirits, […]

Even though summer has officially ended and the cooler weather has us thirsting for big red wines to help warm us up, the Wine Peeps still enjoy white wines year-round as well. We recently had another one of our double-blind private tastings. This time when we sat down for our dinner of lobster tails with […]