William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

A rewarding collaboration creates an uplifting Malbec dominant wine. Amancaya is produced in Argentina’s Mendoza region, by Nicolas Catena of Bodega Catena, in partnership with Barons de Rothchild (Lafite). Catena is one of South America’s largest wineries. The Amancaya is a flower of the Andes, worn by native Indian women of Mendoza. Tasting Notes 2011 Amancaya Gran Reserva: Color : Dark garnet. Nose : Earthy, leather jacket, cherry, candied, Palate : Medium body, dry, spicy cherry, light mid-palate, medium finish with heat. 30 Minutes : Nose candied cherry, dusty leather jacket, tar, cedar liner from a cigar tube. Fuller, tobacco, spice, dried cherry, sip of espresso, dry medium finish. More my speed. 45 minutes : Delivering at this point. Cherry, currant, hint of sage, integrated and enjoyable across the palate. One hour : Creamy with apple tannin, dry cherry, dry on the cheeks, swirled across the tongue, tobacco, cherry-coffee finish with nice kiss of acid. Not hea...

Thursday 20 February at 5 PM PST/8 PM EST Join us Thursday, February 20th at 8:00 pm EST/5:00 pm PST for our virtual tasting podcast. Grab a bottle of this wine and compare palates while we learn about Argentina Malbec. If you miss the live show, you can always listen to the recorded show. In partnership with Minstrel and Muse Audio Art Magazine - we will conduct live virtual wine tastings on the Third Thursday of each month at 5 PM PST. These wine tastings are hosted by Linda Rez of Minstrel and Muse Audio Art Magazine  and co-hosted by William Pollard of Wild 4 Washington Wine .

More About the Wine Bloggers Conference Pamela Nieto with the Sherry Council of America This type of conference always has surprising discoveries. One of the first “surprises” for me was the Sherry/Jerez, being poured from Spain. Pamela Nieto, representing the Sherry Council of America , was pouring half a dozen Sherries Friday afternoon. She even had a chilled white Jerez. My mother-in-law and I used to sit together after dinner and enjoy drinking Sherry downstairs, while everyone was sleeping upstairs. It’s been ten years since my mother-in-law passed, so that’s how long it’s been since I last enjoyed Sherry. Ah, I found the Solera 1847 Oloroso Dulce , to be my speed, coffee colored, nutty nose, smooth, honeyed, pleasantly sweet finish and unexpectedly good. Sherry is back on my menu, and I enjoyed some last night. Thank you. I’ll be sampling more Sherry in future and posting my thoughts here. Sunday wrapped-up with a fabulous wine and food pairing lunch. Anyone who has attem...

In the U.S. we are very varietal oriented. Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc. while there are many excellent blends being made, and some very exclusive, we are still loyal to the varietal. By Washington state law, to name a wine by a varietal, it must be at least 75% of that varietal. Most varietal wines I enjoy have much more than that, perhaps 90% +. Wine makers do blend some wine from other varietals into the bottle to achieve a complexity, balance and taste that the varietal by itself may not have. But there's nothing wrong with that. Case in point, Rob Griffin has another special treat for his wine club members this month... a bottle of 2005 Malbec and a bottle of 2004 Touriga. In the new world, Malbec is now known as the wine of Argentina and Touriga Nacional is the wine of Portugal. I have already sampled the Malbec, and not being an expert, I still think it is quite good and will probably get better in bottle. As soon as I have a sample of the Touriga, I...