William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

photo: Charles & Charles Rosé 2012  I crave savory food, especially Asian food, almost as much as I crave wine. This weeks wine of the week is the Charles & Charles Rosé 2012 a good mate to my home prepared Asian inspired meal. This wine is a collaboration between Charles Bieler and Charles Smith . Eschewing the aesthetic of the well-known Charles Smith black and white label design, they have opted for a broad swipe of pink stripes on this label, creating an eye catching, difficult to ignore bottle of wine. A bottle you and your friends will not be able to resist.

Reflection Monday, today, a sunny 90 degree, kids in the park afternoon. I’m sitting comfortably with a broad view of the Columbia River. After a restless evening, I’m assembling my thoughts about the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla. I’ll remain restless until I’ve posted the words and images revolving in my head. In one of my recent posts, Garrison Creek Cellars , I mention how I lost my palate last year, and to my great pleasure, unexpectedly found it in Walla Walla. What was it doing there? No one was more surprised than I, that I found myself back in Walla Walla for the 2010 Wine Blogggers Conference last week. This event sold out two months ago, and I was not able to register. Because of a conflict of interest (my High School reunion in Seattle) I asked to be taken off of the waitlist. All packed for a weekend in Seattle, last Wednesday I received a call from Zephyr Adventures . They said they needed help with the event and could I please volunteer? I told them “N...

Living Up to His Name Although I have not posted recently, don't think for a second that I'm not imbibing Washington wines. I am, but, I should mention that my palate has become a bit, "acid sensitive" - which means some wines just taste too sharp for me to appreciate. Even with my current picky palate, I have found some wines I can honestly recommend. One of the wines you should go find is the 2006 Honorable Cabernet Sauvignon by Charles Smith. Don't you love the label? The 2006 HCS went really well with baby back ribs, so it's a food friendly pairing. This wine was smoky/spicy, with cherry/vanilla and pleasantly dry. Not a meek wine, not a monster wine, but an honorable presentation of what a decent Washington Cabernet Sauvignon should be. Priced between $11 and $16 it is also a great value. The wine is made by Charles Smith in Matawa, Washington (Walla Walla). I had the pleasure to meet Mr. Smith last year at ...

K Vintners – 2007 Kung Fu Girl Riesling another recommended wine made by Charles Smith. Don't you love the label? I missed sampling this wine at Taste Washington , so I felt I owed it to myself to try a bottle at home. Washington is well known for Riesling - we have the perfect climate for growing the varietal. And Riesling was one of the states first widely successful wines in the 1970's - 1980's. With the increased focus on red wine grape varietals and all things Chardonnay in the 1990's, Rieslings popularity faded. A focus on Late Harvest Rieslings and Ice Wine production meant that dry Rieslings were largely ignored. But that has changed. I've noticed a Riesling renaissance occurring over the last eight years. The popularity of Chardonnay has proportionally decreased as the popularity of Riesling has increased. Some growers have been replacing Chardonnay vineyards with new Rieslings vineyards. Many great Rieslings are being produced in Washington -j...