{"id":475,"date":"2012-12-18T11:39:11","date_gmt":"2012-12-18T18:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danthewineguy.com\/?p=475"},"modified":"2012-12-24T11:47:53","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T18:47:53","slug":"try-these-red-wine-selections-from-oregon-and-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/?p=475","title":{"rendered":"Try These Red Wine Selections from Oregon and Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s red wine month, a self-proclaimed title I\u2019ve given to December. Why? Because it\u2019s a great time to hunker down as we get ready for another cold, gray winter and warm up with a nice glass or bottle of red wine.<\/p>\n

Today I\u2019ll give you a few more recommendations from Oregon and Washington wineries and next week we\u2019ll take a look at some \u201csplurge\u201d red wines as we approach New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re talking Oregon red, then you\u2019re talking pinot noir. And the Willamette Valley is about as good as it gets domestically for this much sought-after varietal that\u2019s been called everything from finicky to voluptuous.<\/p>\n

\"null\"The Willamette Valley Vineyards 2011 Whole Cluster Pinot Noir <\/strong>(about $22) is a good example of a pinot noir that won\u2019t break the bank while still showing plenty of character. <\/p>\n

2011 was not a particularly good year for Oregon wine grapes because of cooler and wetter than normal conditions. But this wine offers layers of cranberry, raspberry, a trace of black cherry and surprisingly mile acidity along with a whisper of smokiness on the finish. It\u2019s an excellent choice with a salmon or duck entr\u00e9e.<\/p>\n

And who says Oregon can\u2019t make a decent red wine other than pinot noir? Try the A to Z Wineworks 2008 Night and Day<\/strong> (about $15), a blend of syrah, merlot and three other red varietals. Plenty of lovely dark berry aromatics lead off, with complex flavors of dark fruits, anise, currant, dried herbs and a dusting of tannins on a slightly earthy finish.<\/p>\n

Another red blend, this one from Washington, really impressed me during a recent tasting. Beautifully crafted by winemaker Victor Cruz, the Ca\u00f1on del Sol Winery 2009 Red Wine<\/strong> (about $21) combines 65-percent syrah, 25-percent merlot and 10-percent cabernet franc. There\u2019s a whiff of caramel on the nose, black plum and mocha flavors on the palate and a gentle swirl of cr\u00e8me br\u0217l\u00e9e and butterscotch on a lengthy finish. <\/p>\n

Finally, be sure to include Washington malbec on your list of red wines to try. A case in point of this up-and-coming varietal is the Seven Hills Winery 2009 Malbec<\/strong> (about $25) from Walla Walla. <\/p>\n

This wine brings to mind wild blackberries; not the plump, ubiquitous roadside variety, but those harder-to-find petite, wild field blackberries. Add to this a faint trace of orange citrus on the finish for a bit of lift and you\u2019ve got another outstanding effort from winemaker Casey McClellan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s red wine month, a self-proclaimed title I\u2019ve given to December. Why? Because it\u2019s a great time to hunker down as we get ready for another cold, gray winter and warm up with a nice glass or bottle of red wine. Today I\u2019ll give you a few more recommendations from Oregon and Washington wineries and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-bellingham-herald","category-syrah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":483,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions\/483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}