William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

There Was a Time... There was a time when I thought I would stop writing about wine. A time, between 2009 and 2010, when I thought my fascination with wine was at an end. Obviously, something happened to cause that thinking, and something happened to put me back on track. I'll address that further on. This post has become rather long. It is in my nature to want to share. Ten years on and there's a lot I want to mention and get out of my thoughts. My thoughts pester me. I hope you find something interesting in these self obsessed musings. There's a lot I left out. So the temptation to add and tweak is strong. Not sure I can resist. When I began this blog ten years ago, I was working for Barnard Griffin Winery . After Fourteen months of hand selling wine, many industry events and daily customer interactions, my head was full of new to me wine related information. I was not sleeping well with a jumble of wine experiences and knowledge swirling around my head at nigh...

The February Virtual Tasting Featured this month was the Saviah Cellars 2012 The Jack Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley. This wine retails for $18 and is widely available. The tasting took place on twitter, Thursday, February 26th, from 7-8 pm Pacific. What you needed to participate in this virtual tasting: 1. Buy this month’s wine from the winery or a local retailer 2. Tweet your comments about the wine on Twitter between 7 and 8 pm Pacific on the specified date using the hashtag #saviah. For those on Twitter, follow @wawinereport. Check Washington Wine Report for future virtual tastings. We discussed aromas, flavors, label design, price, availability and general thoughts. Most participants rated this wine a "BUY" after an hour of tasting and tweeting, especially at the price. Tasting Notes 2012 Saviah Cellars THE JACK Color : Ruby purple. Nose : Cherry, sharpened pencil. Palate : Fruit, dark plum, cherry, brambly, coffee, smooooth, only a little tin...

Tonight is the January Virtual Wine Tasting. Ready for Virtual Tasting. My tasting notes and feedback from the virtual tasting. I encourage you to join us when you can. The January Virtual Tasting wine was the Stonecap 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley . This wine retails for around $10 and is widely available in Washington. The tasting took place on Wednesday January 30th from 7-8 pm PST. Tasting Notes: In general, my fellow tweeters and virtual tasters were no big fans of the label, except that it was easy to spot on the shelf (there's value in that).  Someone tweeted that the 2011 label is better. At first, some herbal notes on the nose, menthol in background, pencil shavings, cherry, bit earthy/mushroom. After 30 minutes, some lovely big, Bing cherry on the finish. Not too dry, not too  bright, with a medium finish. Bit of espresso vapor appeared too, and some green tea and mushroom in that palate. After 45 minutes, a hole opened mid-p...

Washington Wine Report (Sean Sullivan) hosts the monthly virtual tastings. The January Virtual Tasting wine is the Stonecap 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley . This wine retails for $8 and is widely available. The tasting will take place on Wednesday January 30th from 7-8pm Pacific. What you need to do to participate is: 1. Buy this month’s wine from a local retailer or direct from the winery. 2. Have a twitter account. 3. Tweet your comments about the wine on Twitter between 7 and 8pm Pacific on the specified date using the hashtag #stonecap. For those on Twitter, follow @wawinereport. I began attending these virtual tastings last year. Truly a lot of fun and another way to connect with like minded souls. Good sensory and palate exercise too. For my tweets, follow @wild4wawine. photo: Sean Sullivan Well deserved congratulations to Sean Sullivan! Sean Sullivan of Washington Wine Report has accepted a Contributing Editor position at Wine Enthusiast . Congratul...

Today I am tweeting about the  2011 vintage Rieslings from the Finger Lakes. Saturday, September 22, 2012 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. EST. We will be using #FLXwine in our tweets. Samples provided by:  Finger Lakes Wine Alliance . Photo: My four samples of Finger Lakes Riesling. This year twenty Finger Lakes wineries are participating in the Riesling Launch.  Look for the Rieslings from these producers at your local wine shops, restaurants and wine bars.  Photo: Riesling vineyard, Courtesy Finger Lakes Wine Alliance. Quick facts on the Finger Lakes Established October 1, 1982  100 plus wineries  11,000 cares under vine  600 + acres of Riesling  100,000 cases of Riesling  Small, specific producers whose wine reflects place and personality  Strong, regional aromatic whites with a focus on Riesling. The average producer makes 2.5 styles of Riesling wine a year.  The Finger Lakes is home to over 20...

April Virtual Tasting Notes Last night was the monthly Virtual Tasting. These tastings are arrranged and moderated by Sean Sullivan of Washington Wine Report . The wine he selected for April was the 2009 Charles Smith, Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon. For an hour we tasted and tweeted about this wine. It was a lot of fun and I have new twitter friends I am following and a few new followers myself. Check Sean's website for details on the May Virtual Tasting, consider yourself invited. Following are my condensed notes from the twitter tasting. We followed @wawinereport on twitter and used the hashtag #charlessmith for this tasting. Almost ready to open my bottle of 2009 Chateau Smith. I opened my bottle at 6:55pm, swirled the wine around, stuck my nose in the glass and was greeted by a cloud of taffy and wine barrel dust. I waited until 7:00pm to taste the wine, distinct cherry flavor, it was dry. We then proceeded to tweet about the screw cap closure and the label ...

Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 - Selected for the April Virtual Tasting. Sean Sullivan of Washington Wine Report has arranged another virtual tasting . This month it is on Tuesday 24 April, 2012. The wine will be the 2009 Charles Smith Wines Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon . This wine retails for $20, I found it on sale locally and paid $14. What you need to do to participate: 1. Have a twitter account - a great reason for using twitter. 2. Buy this month’s wine from a local retailer or from the winery. ( If you cannot find this specific vintage/varietal, try to find another Charles Smith red wine ). 3. Tweet your comments about the wine on Twitter between 7pm - 8pm PST/10pm - 11pm EST, using the hashtag #charlessmith and follow Washington Wine Report @wawinereport on twitter, you can follow me too @wild4wawine on twitter. You don’t have to be a total wine geek to join – just have a thirst to learn and chat about wine! This will be my third Virtual Tasting. ...

Tonight: March Virtual Tasting #lecole41. Tomorrow: #winechat Chile’s Cool Coastal Wines. Tonight: Washington Wine Report March Virtual Tasting 7-8 pm PST, Tuesday, March 20, 2012. March Virtual Tasting - Featuring L'Ecole 2009 Red Wine. Sean Sullivan of Washington Wine Report has arranged another virtual tasting, tonight it is a tasting of the 2009 L'Ecole No 41 Red Wine. This wine retails for $18 and is fairly widely available. What you need to do to participate is: 1. Have a *twitter account - a great excuse to use twitter. 2. Buy this month’s wine from a local retailer or from the winery. I found a bottle for $18. 3. Tweet your comments about the wine on Twitter between 7 and 8 pm Pacific using the hashtag #lecole41 and follow Washington Wine Report @wawinereport on twitter. My first time participating was last months virtual tasting, a lot of fun. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tomorrow: Twitter #...