The warmth of a grandmotherly California woman and the allure of the Wente family’s wines tasted during one afternoon were all it took to turn me toward a life of chasing after great wines. Since that day at historic Wente Vineyards — now roughly 50 years ago — when my brother Greg and I tasted through the wines under her tutelage, I’ve been in love with good wine. Wente … [Read more...] about Love at first sip, thanks to Wente Vineyards
Swirl, Sniff & Sip: Bottle conditioning creates wines worth waiting for
A handful of Washington’s longtime winemakers are veering away from marketing expectations that red wines should reach retail outlets by the time they’re about two years old. Because the Northwest rather recently emerged as a major wine grape-growing region, grape growers and wineries already faced economic pressure to repay loans to cover costs of what’s typically a … [Read more...] about Swirl, Sniff & Sip: Bottle conditioning creates wines worth waiting for
Don’t overlook Northwest white blends
Stroll down the aisles of any Northwest wine shop, liquor store or supermarket, and you’ll encounter shelves loaded with red wine blends. In the past decade, they’ve become so prolific and popular that at any regional wine competition, they outnumber every other category of entries. White blends, on the other hand, are downright scarce. For example, in the recently concluded … [Read more...] about Don’t overlook Northwest white blends
Swirl, Sniff & Sip: Winemakers blend to improve on nature’s bounty
When a wine is labeled a blend — no matter whether it’s red, white or rosé — the label offers a journey into a labyrinthine world of choices a winemaker makes to craft a wine that aims to be superior to the sum of its parts. Washington state’s longest-tenured winemaker, Rob Griffin of Barnard Griffin in Richland, says he believes he “does more blending than most,” because he … [Read more...] about Swirl, Sniff & Sip: Winemakers blend to improve on nature’s bounty
Sniff, Sip, Swirl: Holmes family unveils Arneis on Red Mountain
About 40 years ago, I was chatting with a then-young winemaker about why he remained in Washington state rather than returning to his native California. “Washington is the Wild West of winemaking,” he told me. He stayed because he wanted to be part of a frontier spirit that was looking ahead to see what could be done here, find out what wine grapes would grow here … [Read more...] about Sniff, Sip, Swirl: Holmes family unveils Arneis on Red Mountain