William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

William Pollard Jr. “The way you speak, people want to believe what you say.” - A comment about me by Ryan Opaz, Catavino , European Wine Bloggers This is the first time in seven years of blogging about wine that I've attempted to re-cap my year of wine. 2013 was a wonderful year, packed full of wine experiences and deserving of reflection. What do you want to know? What were my favorite wines of 2013? There were many. What new insights do I have about wine? I confronted some prejudices and realized I can be wrong. Which wine events and wine country destinations do I recommend? Ah, I do have several on my list. Did anything else change in my world of wine? I will get to that too, let's get started.

Guest Post by Juli Crompe. Taste Washington. If you love wine, and live in Seattle (or follow the Washington wine scene), these two words can't help but bring a smile to your face. In its 16th year, Taste is the nation's largest single-region wine and food event, showcasing Washington state wines. This year the event attracted more than 3,000 attendees, 225 wineries with more than 750 different bottles of wine, 65 restaurants and a long list of extras, including: seminars, a vineyards section, Chef demonstrations, special VIP additions and even hotel discounts and packages for attendees. In all honesty, Taste has become so big you can't possibly do it in two days, let alone one. Until recently Taste was only one day; I believe it was the best decision ever to make it two days. Now, I'm just waiting for it to be three...or seven days long...as I leave every year wishing I had far more time; despite my being there from the second the doors opened until the second ...

Favorite  Wineries and Wines. At the 2012 Taste Washington! 225 Washington wineries poured over 800 wines, and more than 50 Northwest restaurants served specially prepared food. This was the 15th annual Taste Washington! in Seattle, Washington. The quality was strong this year at Taste Washington. Which made it difficult at times to decide which wines were good and which were very good. Even so, I favored over half the wines I tasted this year. This is the list of the wineries I visited, my favorite wineries are noted as are my favorite wines. Top 7 Favorite Wineries at Taste Washington! Corvus Cellars, Efeste, Gramercy Cellars, Lodmell Cellars, Maison Bleu Winery, Mark Ryan Winery, Treveri Cellars. I personally tasted 103 wines, and enjoyed every wine I sampled at Taste Washington 2012. However, of the 103 wines I tasted, there were 58 wines of exceptional quality and character, those are the wines on this list. The list is arranged alphabetically b...