If Miles had tasted either of these Washington Merlots, he never would have made his ridiculous comment about the varietal in the movie, Sideways. Washington State, in general, makes outstanding Merlot. Washington Merlot is known for its sweet cherry flavors and complex aromas and is generally higher in acidity than California Merlot. Recently, we had […]

Note: The “Wine Word of the Week” series will be moving to Saturdays as this new “A Wine for Tonight” series will be running on Thursdays starting today. 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 […]

Last week, Dad (John) and I attended the Cabernet Classic sponsored by Seattle Uncorked at the Shilshole Bay Beach Club here in Seattle. It was a fundraiser for CoCA, the Center on Contemporary Art, and featured Cabernets and Cabernet-based blends. We tasted 46 wines from 23 different Washington State wineries. It was a great opportunity […]

Recently, we had what turned out to be an Italian reds showdown in one of our double blind private tasting dinners pitting the 2005 Pasetti Montepulciano d’Abruzzo against the 2003 Villa Artimino Riserva Villa Medicea. For a more complete description of how we set up these private tastings, please refer to How We Taste. Before […]

Through the years, we’ve had the pleasure of tasting a number of Long Shadows wines. We’ve visited their production facility in Walla Walla, Washington, attended a winemaker’s dinner with Allen Shoup and John Duval, and had their wines in our monthly wine tasting dinners as well as private dinners. However, last month, we had an […]

Seattle Uncorked is hosting The Cabernet Classic next Wednesday, October 28 from 6:30pm to 9pm at the Shilshole Bay Beach Club, 6413 Seaview Ave NW in Seattle (next to Ray’s Boathouse for those of you familiar with the area). Kori and I are going to be there, and we hope that you will join us. […]

Col Solare, located on Red Mountain in Washington State, is a partnership between Marchesi Antinori of Italy and Chateau Ste. Michelle of Washington State. The idea for this project began back in 1992 when Marchese Piero Antinori visited Washington State’s Columbia Valley. The goal was, and still is, to produce one Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine each […]

Recently, we had the opportunity to taste some of the current releases from three outstanding Washington wineries, Fielding Hills Winery in Wenatchee, Nefarious Cellars in Lake Chelan, and Saviah Cellars in Walla Walla. While all nine of the wines are very good, we were especially impressed by the 2007 Fielding Hills Cabernet Sauvignon and the […]

Our host for the October edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the blogosphere’s monthly virtual wine tasting event, is Dale Cruse of Drinks Are On Me. He selected A Grape By Any Other Name as this month’s theme and issued a semantic challenge to “taste wines labeled with their lesser-known varietal synonyms.” He also offered, “Extra […]

Recently, we had what turned out to be an Australian Shiraz blends showdown in one of our double blind private tasting dinners pitting the 2006 Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet against the 2006 Mollydooker Two Left Feet. The Mollydooker is a very good wine but the Penfolds Koonunga Hill is excellent. At $8 and with […]