- New Alliance of Women in Washington Wine already stands at 200 strong
- Bullocks bid goodbye to Eye of the Needle Winery in Woodinville
- VineLines Dispatch #7: That’s a wrap
- Former Oregon car dealer gears up with Jachter Family Wines
- VineLines Dispatch: 6 Vineyards at Work
- L’Ecole Nº 41 to create wine bar at Marcus Whitman Hotel
- VineLines Dispatch: Harvest surrounding Lake Chelan
- Northwest restaurateurs purchase Basel Cellars in Walla Walla
- Hayden Homes CEO buys interest in Pepper Bridge, Amavi wineries
- Walla Walla Community College to receive $15 million gift from MacKenzie Scott
Only the best Northwest red wines

We taste all wines blind, meaning we don’t know the producer or the price until we’re finished evaluating and rating them. Our top rating is “Outstanding!” and is equivalent to a gold medal in a wine competition. (Photo by Darlene Hildebrandt/Digital Photo Mentor)
One of the most common questions any wine expert receives is “What’s your favorite wine?” For us, it’s whatever wine happens to be in our glass at that moment.
But if you’re looking for some of the best wines we’ve tasted in recent weeks, here are a dozen that have earned our top “Outstanding!” rating.
How does a wine earn our top rating? First, we taste all wines blind. That means we know what kind of wine it is (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, red blend, etc.), but we don’t know the producer or the price of the wine until the evaluation is completed.
To earn the top rating, it has to receive the equivalent of a gold medal from a majority of the judges. Sometimes, this happens right away, and sometimes that rating comes after a brief discussion amid members of Great Northwest Wine’s tasting panel.
This week, we offer these dozen delicious red wines from Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Next week, we’ll line up 12 delicious white wines we’ve tasted recently.
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