No matter where you are, when you want to open a bottle of wine you need a wine bottle opener…unless, of course, it’s a screwcap bottle. Over the years, I’ve tried them all and concluded that there’s no single type of opener that works best for all situations. However, some are clearly better than others, […]

Dusted Valley Vintners, located in Walla Walla, Washington, was founded in 2003 by brothers-in-law Chad Johnson and Corey Braunel who are co-owners and co-winemakers. Both Chad and Corey are originally from Wisconsin and are proud cheese-heads. In fact, they bring a bit of Wisconsin to Dusted Valley by using barrels made from Wisconsin oak to […]

Full Pull Wines, founded by our good friend Paul Zitarelli, is a new Washington State wine retailer located in the warehouse district in South Seattle. Full Pull is not just another brick and mortar wine shop nor is it strictly an online wine retailer. Full Pull sells exclusively Washington State wines through a one offer […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is négociant. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Négociant is a French term for a merchant and one used particularly of wine merchants who buy in grapes, must, or wine, blend different lots of wine within an appellation, and bottle the result under their […]

Today is the official launch of PALATE PRESS: The Online Wine Magazine. The first “issue” includes a Randall Grahm profile, Alsace Gastronomy, Spotlight on Zin, a wine review editorial, and more. According to publisher David Honig: PALATE PRESS: The Online Wine Magazine is a modern on-line wine magazine, seeking out and publishing the very best […]

In the current August/September issue of Mutineer Magazine, Wine Peeps is one of 9 wine blogs featured in “Blogs you should be reading…” You may remember that Mutineer editor Alan Kropf interviewed Dad (John) and me during last year’s Wine Bloggers Conference and featured us in the December/January issue as well. Many thanks to editor […]

This post is the first in a series on challenging wine pairings. Many people probably wouldn’t even try to pair wine with smoked sausage and sauerkraut; however, we were up to the challenge because we believe that any meal can be paired with a wine that compliments the food. As I began planning our first […]

For years, I’ve had friends tell me that they can’t find the great Washington State wines that I tell them about where they live. So with the help of Wine-Searcher.com and a lot of legwork, I’m setting out on a mission to prove them wrong. This is the first in a series of posts to […]

Looking for a great deal on a Washington State wine? September is the month to find them this year. Normally, August is Washington Wine Month, but we’re dealing with a government monopoly here, so until the Washington State Liquor Control Board got their act together on their software, it had to be temporarily postponed. Finally, […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is cooper. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: A cooper is someone who makes and repairs small barrels and larger wooden vats. Layman’s terms from Kori: A cooper is a wine barrel-maker.