Monthly Archives: January 2012
There’s Most Certainly a Place at the Table for Zinfandel
If wine were royalty, some might consider cabernet sauvignon to be king and chardonnay to be queen. And zinfandel? Well, zinfandel would probably end up somewhere around the ranks of court jester. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact, we need zinfandel to be there to make us laugh and remind us that […]
Solid, Well-Priced Wines Available From Cline Cellars of Sonoma
January has traditionally been my month to provide good wine bargains for post-holiday, cash strapped wine enthusiasts. Today I have several wines to recommend that I think you’ll agree fall into this category, along with the added convenience of knowing that they’re all available from the same winery. Cline Cellars of Sonoma, California offers a […]
Mount Baker Vineyards Paints a Broad Stroke With Several Wines
Mount Baker Vineyards’ Randy Finley could well be the role model for the old adage, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” As owner/winemaker, he’s dealt with his share of setbacks over the past several years yet continued to make consistently high quality wines as Whatcom County’s oldest winery. For starters, Finley lost not one, […]
Jones of Washington’s Victor Palencia Producing Excellent Wines
There’s an interesting story about the winemaking background of Victor Palencia, winemaker at Jones of Washington Wine in Quincy. Palencia took an interest in winemaking when he was in his teens. Then he attended and graduated from Walla Walla Community College’s Enology and Viticulture Institute, and went to work as winemaker at Willow Crest Winery […]
Washington’s 2011 Wine Grape Harvest Challenging…to Say the Least
Last year at this time, I referred to the 2010 Washington wine grape harvest as “one of the wildest, wackiest, and yet most promising years in the state’s history.” Believe it or not, in terms of both craziness and quality, the 2011 harvest may have even topped that. The story behind 2011 actually starts in […]