William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

New to Me Too Last week I opened a bottle of Cowan Vineyards 2005 Estate Cabernet Franc – and it was even better than I remembered. If you don’t know Cowan Vineyards, then it’s time you did. If you’ve never enjoyed Cabernet Franc, then it’s time you did that too. I like this wine. I found aromas of mixed berries and spice with gentle oak, following through in the mouth with a great finish – a well balanced wine. Kudos. Cowan Vineyards This is a 100% estate grown and bottled wine. While Cabernet Franc is traditionally a blending varietal, here it stands on its own. The reason is obvious, Washington climate, a talented grower and winemaker. My first visit to Cowan Vineyards in Prosser and my first experience tasting their wines, was during the Yakima Spring Barrel weekend  this May. Their tasting room is open 7 days a week 10 am - 5 pm. Definitely worth your time to stop by and taste. I found the staff very helpful and friendly when I last visited. This is a P...

Wine Tasting From the Bus The Yakima Valley Spring Barrel weekend was a huge success this year. I’ve poured at past Spring Barrel weekends, so I truly enjoyed being on the other end this time. My past experience working this event, taught me to avoid the crowds on Saturday. So we went Sunday, avoided the crowds and craziness and just took our time tasting, talking and walking. Here’s the list of wineries we visited over six hours on Sunday, 25 April 2010. Red Mountain: Terra Blanca Winery Prosser Vintners Village: Airfield Estates, Willow Crest Wine Estates, Thurston Wolfe, Gamache Vintners, Milbrandt Vineyards On the other side of Interstate 82 : Alexandria Nicole Cellars, Cowan Vineyards My count indicates we visited eight wineries Saturday. Even so, we did not make it to all the wineries I wanted to see (sorry Hightower Cellars, Tasawik Vineyards, Olsen Estates, Mercer Estates and Kestrel Vintners, among others). As it was, eight wineries is ambitious for anyone – fortun...