William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

A wicked wind is blowing in the Tri-Cities. Two days of breathing gunk from the desert is affecting my allergies. Joy. Although the back of my head is throbbing, I am sifting through my notes from Sunday's Taste Washington Seattle 2011. It should be no surprise that my bias, once again, is to the red wines. Looking at my notes, what surprised me is that many of my favorite wines were from Walla Walla and "Other". Here is the breakdown by region:  Walla Walla – 8 wineries (12 favorite wines posted). Woodinville – 3 wineries (6 favorite wines posted). Other – 4 wineries (11 favorite wines posted). So, out of all the wines I tasted at Taste Washington Seattle 2011, I was able to identify 29 wines I truly enjoyed. These are wines I would personally purchase for myself or for gifts. Over the next several days I will reveal these wines and any relevant comments. As soon as the wind dies down, my allergies should go away, then I’ll be able to enjoy wine again. Cheer...

Harvest in the Columbia Valley is over. Winemakers are busy working with the juice of their labors. Thanksgiving in Washington Wine Country is only 9 days away. And my sense of taste is almost back to normal. The longer I live in SE Washington, the more I'm affected by seasonal allergies and changes in temperature and humidity. All of this environmental influence on my body, greatly affects my ability to enjoy wine; red wine loses most of its subtlety and flavor when my internal barometer is screwy. Fortunately, this time of year my body usually returns to normal, just in time for the holidays. I plan to post suggestions for holiday food pairings: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Hopefully, I'll have time to post some gift suggestions too - I always appreciate help in that department; this time of year always seems to get away from me. All the best, Cheers!

I'm over the summer cold and the summer allergies, for the moment. My taster is working again - hurray! There are three wine reviews I need to write - but I need to take care of errands and mow the yard - boo. For any frequent visitors, you the reader, I've switched to a simpler layout for this blog. I've also been working on a logo design - which is turning out to be harder than expected - so expect more layout changes. I like the lighter background, makes it easier to read. Also - I need to gripe about the new version of Zone Alarm. I've used Zone Alarm for many years as my essential firewall software. Unfortunately, the newest revision flags my blog as "potentially harmful". Not apprecaited. It seems that since I added a new domain name for the blog this summer, my site is "Too New" to be trusted. I've had this blog since 2006 as http://wild4washingtonwine.blogspot.com/ (which still works) but since I added http://www.wild4washingtonwine....

Hello all. I find myself posting a bit more frequently to Facebook. If you are on Facebook, search for the Group, "Wild 4 Washington Wine". In brief, my allergies this fall combined with back to back colds, essentially crippled my ability to appreciate red wine from the end of September, through October, into the first week of November. This largely explains my lack of posts. Now that my taster and sniffer are working again, I'll try to get some wine reviews posted here. Hope you are well and enjoying family, friends, life and wine of course. Season Cheers!

Are sulfites responsible for red wine allergies? Last year, when I started this blog, my intent was to share my impressions of the best wines Washington wineries had to offer. However, the more involved I become with the Washington wine industry, the more I learn how big the world of wine is. It’s bigger than I realized. Sometimes I learn by experience, reading (my library is growing) and other times I learn out of social embarrassment. Have you ever paid much attention to the “Contains Sulfites ” on the label of a bottle of wine? Neither had I and I ha ve bought, sold and poured many, many bottles. Occasionally, someone passing through the Columbia valley would remark to me, "I only drink white wine, because I'm allergic to sulfites in red wine." My typical response was to smile and nod my head, I did no t know any better to correct them, and I did no t care. This year I began to care. It was the month of May and I was having a great time championing Washington ...