Halibut is the fish of choice in our family, so when I learned about halibut cheeks, I could not resist giving them a try. The cheek meat is located behind the eyes and jaws and is thought to be the most tender and flavorful part of the fish. Halibut cheeks are considered an Alaskan gourmet […]

Founded in 2004 by winemaker Jarrod Boyle and his wife Ali, Alexandria Nicole Cellars is located on their 243-acre estate vineyard, Destiny Ridge Vineyard, in the Horse Heaven Hills of Washington State overlooking the Columbia River. They also have tasting rooms in Prosser and Woodinville. Jarrod began his career in the industry as assistant viticulturist […]

The WAWine World Tasting Event was last Thursday night. Hosted by 14 Washington wine writers including me, #WAWine (the event’s Twitter hashtag) was a virtual event designed to get people from all around the world simultaneously drinking and talking about Washington wine. Many thanks to Josh Wade of Drink Nectar for hosting, Washington Tasting Room […]

We spent Memorial Day Weekend visiting the Columbia Gorge AVA. The Columbia Gorge AVA was established in 2004. It runs along the Columbia River and encompasses areas in both Washington and Oregon. The area boasts gorgeous views, numerous outdoor recreation options, quality vineyards, excellent wines, and very friendly folks. We arrived in Hood River, Oregon, […]

Since we live in Washington State and often drink wines from Washington State, we want to make sure that we continue to hone our knowledge of the entire world of wine and maintain well-rounded palates in order to make us even more objective when we evaluate wines from Washington State. Therefore, we are thoroughly enjoying […]

Saviah Cellars is a family-owned winery located south of downtown Walla Walla, Washington, near the Oregon state line in the Walla Walla Valley AVA. Owner/winemaker Richard Funk and his wife Anita, both natives of Montana, moved to Walla Walla in 1991. Rich became acquainted with a number of the area wineries while working as an […]

When you attend a large public event like Taste Washington, there are a handful of wineries where the lines are extremely long and the wine runs out quickly. DeLille Cellars is in that elite group. DeLille Cellars, located in Woodinville, Washington, was founded in 1992 by the late Charles Lill and his son Greg, along […]

Va Piano Vineyards, located in Walla Walla, Washington, officially opened its doors in 2005. Owner/winemaker Justin Wylie and his wife Liz planted Va Piano Vineyards in 1999. They built Va Piano’s Tuscan-themed winery and tasting room in 2004. Justin is a native of Walla Walla and was inspired to return home and try his hand […]

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 2005 Columbia Winery Syrah from the Columbia Valley of Washington State. […]

Last Friday, we hosted our monthly wine tasting dinner featuring Washington Syrah from the 2006 vintage. You may remember that we also had Washington Syrah 2006 in our December tasting dinner. Since that was such a stellar tasting, we decided to have another one to try more wines from this vintage that is sometimes forgotten […]