William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

Category: Delicious Wine and Food Pairings Since last year, I have found myself drinking more sweet white wines. And not with or as dessert. I've become quite fond of pairing sweet and medium sweet white wines with lunch and dinner. Not any sweet wine will do. You need a quality wine with complexity, sugar yes, but the wine also needs balanced acidity to match with the food. And the wine must be tasty too. I'm referring to the sweet white wines of Bordeaux, France. Sweet Bordeaux wines deepen in color with age. Sweet Bordeaux white wines are made with a combination of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes.These wines are quite sweet, with balanced acidity, so many of these wines can be long lived in the wine cellar, even decades. As these wines age, you will notice that their color deepens to a beautiful deep gold. Even though these are age worthy wines, they can be quite approachable and food friendly when young. Yes they can. Tasting and pairing th...

Sauternes and Sweet Bordeaux Tasting It is always a pleasure and privilege to experience wine from regions I have not, yet, visited. One such experience has resonated with me for most of this year. In January, a bottle of 2001 Sauternes was sent home with me, it was 2/3 full. I drank every drop of that golden, sweet, delicious Sauternes. Afterwards, I could not shake from my thoughts how delicious, unctuous and intense an experience was that wine. The sweet, golden liquid, that oh so complex and stunning Sauternes changed something in me. It was a seminal experience. I wanted more. "“Noble Rot” is associated with a process that happens to grapes creating a distinctive, concentrated, exotic, honey flavored wine with a crisp, acidic finish. Through the magic of nature, this royal rot is what we have to thank for Bordeaux’s signature sweet white wines, most often referred to as Sauternes."  -  Bordeaux Magazine, August 2016 For the remainder of this year, I have been ...

Snooth Virtual Tasting of Villa Maria, New Zealand wines. "The origin for Villa Maria came about from George (the founder) choosing “ Villa ” as a common name for a house in New Zealand and “ Maria ” a popular name from Croatia (where George's family is from)." Tuesday evening I had the opportunity to taste six wines from Villa Maria winery in New Zealand. I tasted live, via video, with Villa Maria winemaker Helen Morrison, hosted by snooth media co-founder Mark Angelillo, along with numerous wine media friends. This tasting was particularly interesting because some of the wines we tasted are just being introduced to the US market. We sampled a key part of the Villa Maria portfolio. Impressive wines. Winemaker Helen Morrison Winemaker Helen Morrison was engaging, her passion for winemaking obvious. She seems an evident reason the wines showed so beautifully. Her intensity made me curious about wine trends in New Zealand. I asked, regarding wine preferenc...