William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

2013 Brut Traditional Method Pinot Noir and Chardonnay Lake Chelan AVA 36 months on lees SRP: $42 Chris Sherry and Miguele de Quadros-Sherry of Elentone This morning, I wanted to share with you what a pleasure it was to meet winemaker Chris Sherry and Director Miguele de Quadros-Sherry of Elentone  wine. Chris is a tall, soft spoken gentleman, and a truly talented winemaker. Yesterday, he was guest winemaker at the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser, Washington and was pouring his 2013  Elentone sparkling wine for tasting room visitors. In the United Kingdom, sparkling wine is often referred to as “Fizz.” Chris is originally from sunny England, he studied winemaking in France and was involved in several sparkling winemaking projects in the UK. He is an official judge for the international sparkling wine competition, Effervescents du Monde , held annually in Dijon. He left the United Kingdom to craft sparkling wine in Washington State. Southern...

Companion post to the podcast - " Successful Techies to Lake Chelan Wine Makers: Kevin & Holly Brown, Siren Song" Siren Song Grand Opening and Release Party July 2nd. We were fortunate to receive pre-lease bottles of the  Siren Song Wines 2013 The Muse Sparkling Brut Pinot Noir prior to this special #WineMuse podcast. We had to taste this wine since it shares the name of our Wine Muse podcast. My tasting notes are below. Listen to the podcast - Siren Song Wines . Husband and wife team, Holly and Kevin Brown, legends in High Tech circles for their founding of Visio, Symform, and Tableau Software, changed gears to pursue a creative, shared passion of food and wine. They started Siren Song Wines and the Foodie website, The Brown Lounge . Lake Chelan, Washington is one of the most scenic areas in the world, and the location of their new Mediterranean-inspired wine tasting room and event center. Part winery, restaurant, and event facility, this will be the perfect...

It's All About Romance, Food + Wine Pairings. It's the second Saturday of February and time for Wine Pairing Weekend! February's iteration of Wine Pairing Weekend #winePW we are sharing our favorite romantic recipes with a wine pairing. Food + Wine shared with romance in mind on wine Pairing Weekend #9. Especially appropriate since it is Valentines Day. Our gracious host this month is Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla . We are on twitter at 8 am Pacific/11 am Eastern today sharing our recipes for romance and wine pairings using #WinePW. You are invited to join us. It is an engaging, fun and passionate group of food and wine bloggers. A list of todays participants and links to their romantic recipes is at the bottom. Back to this months theme, Food + Wine = Romance My take on this months romance theme is more of a post romance recipe for revitalization. After the passion you need to fuel up for round two, or three. My choice is a Frittata wit...

Meals seem more enjoyable when paired with a bottle of sparkling wine. If you only drink Champagne, then it's time to try something different, Prosecco, Crémant d'Alsace and CAVA. With so much variety to choose from, you can select the perfect wine to entertain friends and family. These delicious sparkling wines are perfect for pairing with your holiday meals and parties. Many of these tasty sparklers are now available at your local wine shops and grocery stores. Typically, they are reasonably priced between $8 - $20 and are great wine and food pairing alternatives. Loved these sparklers, they are a great ensemble for the Holidays. Note: The following wines are best served chilled, between 40°F and 45°F. Warm bubbles are no fun. PROSECCO Prosecco is an Italian sparkling dry white wine made primarily from Glera grapes. Principally grown in the Prosecco region of Italy, which includes Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, north of Venice in the Vento region. Under Eur...

Celebrate the Holidays at Minstrel and Muse, Audio Art Magazine. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Naturally, I was happy to be invited back to Minstrel and Muse to talk about my favorite Washington beverages for Thanksgiving. As Linda mentioned during the interview, the beverages we choose to pair with our Thanksgiving meals are part of a tradition involving family and friends. Our conversation began with a discussion on hard cider options. Yes, hard cider. Cider is a good choice for those wanting a change from other traditional refreshments. I'd suggest pairing cherry and dry ciders with turkey - both recommended cideries have options for you. If you don't do turkey, apricot or pear cider would be good options for ham. We also discussed appetizer wine options - I recommended dry sparkling wine and dry white still wines. Of course we talked Thanksgiving dinner. We may have gone off track a time or two. At least I know I did. Here's the link to this podcas...

An Oregon sparkling wine perfect for any occasion. This week we drank one of my wife's Mother day gifts; a bottle of Argyle 2009 Sparkling Brut Rosé. My mother selected the gift because she knows us so well. Thank you mom for gifting such a lovely wine.

Taste Washington! 2012 Recommended Wines. Treveri Cellars, Favorite Sparkling Wines of Taste Washington! 2012 Treveri Sparkling Syrah - Lovely. Treveri Cellars opened Thanksgiving in 2010 and produces handcrafted Methode Champenois sparkling wines. Treveri Cellars is a sparkling wine only facility. Treveri wines have quality, varietal variety, they are available (for me) locally, and they are affordable sparkling Washington wines. At my home I've enjoyed Treveri sparkling Pinot Gris and Treveri sparkling Gewurztraminer with dinner. They were as tasty and fun as the wines I sampled at Taste Washington in Seattle. My friends, go find some Treveri sparkling wine and make any occasion a celebration at home. Strongly recommended. Really like these wines. Can you tell? Yes, I'm a fan. At the bottom of this post is information about Treveri owner/winemaker  Juergen Grieb. The Lovely Wines: * Favorite: Extra Brut - Good, especially after all that red. Retail price $...

A Perfect Austrian Sparkler. Punkt Genau (on the dot) is a dry Sparkling White Wine from Austria. On the label you will see it labeled Trocken/Dry/Brut. This wine is made from Gruner Veltliner grapes, from the heart of the Veinviertel, 11% alcohol. Grüner Veltliner is Austria’s most important white grape variety, accounting for around one third of all white grapes planted. I was shopping for a sparkling wine at the local grocer and this bottle caught my eye (I'm always shopping for a good sparkling wine). I was drawn to the orange label and the interesting shape of the bottle. Looking at this photo, you may notice the screw cap, it has to be the smallest screw cap I've seen on a bottle of wine. I think the long neck makes this bottle look cool. This is only the second bottle of Gruner Veltliner I've enjoyed. My first Gruner Veltliner was a bottle of B.C. wine I bought in Canada last year. This is my first sparkling Gruner Veltliner - and a  grea...

This is the must have bubbly for tonight! Yes, this is a Washington State sparkling Riesling. Pacific Rim, a Riesling focused winery, was originally located in California, but is now located in West Richland, Washington about a 10 minute drive from my home. They moved here because the grapes are grown here. Makes sense to me. The grapes used in this sparkler are from their Selenium Vineyard — located north of the Yakima River at an elevation of almost 1000 feet. Riesling is not a traditional varietal for sparkling wine. You might even expect this wine to be over the top sweet, but it's not. This is a gorgeous, dry, crisp, lovely bubbly wine. It has a fragrant floral nose, which leads to a mouth full of crisp apple flavor and a snappy finish. I've already enjoyed two bottles of this wine in the last week. I hope you have the opportunity to enjoy some too. Although reasonably priced at $16 on their Web site, you may be able to find it for less locally (I certainly did). H...

First, if you have no Washington wine to enjoy with friends and family, go buy some! We were out and about yesterday and brought more Washington wine home for tonight. Luckily, Kestrel Vintners was at the local Costco showcasing their newest releases. I happily took the Lady in Red, 8th edition, home with me. After shoveling snow this morning, for the third time this week, I'm now relaxing with a glass of Lady in Red and watching football in HD. ( review of 6th edition Lady in Red ). Our second stop yesterday was at the West Richland Yoke's grocery store . One of my favorite wine stewards, Chris, works at Yoke's. His recommendations for Turkey day included Washington Gewurztraminer, Sparklers and Rosé. Here's a cell phone photo of Chris at the store. What do I recommend? Washington Sparklers and Rosé of course! Both Washington sparkling wine and Rosé pair with almost everything. For the die-hard red wine drinkers, there are plenty of options to keep them ...