William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

Don't wait too long to purchase this wine for your holiday celebrations. My wife and I recently visited Hamilton Cellars tasting room in Richland, Washington. The first wine we sampled was the 2009 Rosé of Malbec. I originally tasted their Malbec in February.   My wife had never sampled their Rosé, so I was interested in her reaction. This Rosé is a bit darker and bigger than most, it is a lovely, clear, candy red. The color reminds me of the cherry suckers we used to get at the dentist office as kids - a perfect color for the holiday season. On the first taste of this crisp, dry, wine I had some instant free associations – I thought of cranberries, visualizing the cranberry dressing my wife made last year and I saw turkey at the dinner table with stuffing and sweet potatoes then I heard laughter, followed by the image of our fireplace, friends with glasses of wine, falling snow, and cranberries again. Whoa, a holiday wine indeed. This Rosé has some depth and is far more inter...

My setup for tonight's #winechat session. Tonight was a #winechat evening on twitter. The wine was provided by @PasternakWine and it was a marvelous hour of tweeting about the Les Charmes white wine. I originally reviewed this French wine on August 1st, see post here , but tonight was an opportunity to share tasting thoughts with a group of fellow wine tweeters and bloggers. We all had the same wine and we all shared our thoughts about the wine using twitter. Can you say fun? Or type while tasting? Although I reviewed this wine in August, I must admit that it has improved since then and is even better today. It remains bright and clean, but a little more complexity has emerged and I thoroughly enjoyed this wine tonight with dinner. The chicken I cooked with fried onions, garlic, lemon juice, salt, a touch of Mesquite seasoning and then a reduction sauce from the drippings with a splash of the les Charmes. It was indeed a charming pairing. And I made many new friends tonight ...

Hedges CMS with grilled peppers, steak and mushrooms. On this chilly November morning, I find myself thinking of summer. The too warm afternoons, fiery valley sunsets, wafting smoke from the grill and of course, all the delicious wines I enjoyed. Here's a picture from August which I "re-discovered" on my computer yesterday. Grilled steak with mushrooms and peppers and a bottle of 2009 Hedges CMS. This photo is at a much higher resolution than I typically share - click on it and enjoy a summer memory. Cheers! Links to Hedges CMS Red reviews Buy this wine direct from Hedges The Midwest Wine Guy Reviews Hedges CMS Nickel and Dime Wine reviews Hedges CMS Yelp reviews of Hedges Winery The Random Oenophile Blog Tasting Notes Hedges CMS The Puget Sound Blogs What Were Drinking Hedges CMS Red

Have you decided? If you live in Washington State, and you are still sitting on the fence regarding Initiative 1183, as I was, then please follow the links below. You'll find the articles stimulating, especially the comments. Sean Sullivan - Washington Wine Report " Why I Am Voting No on Initiative 1183 " Paul Gregutt - Unfined and Unfiltered  "My Vote on Initiative 1183" Gail Puryer - The Grumpy Winemaker "No on 1183" The Seattle Times - Local News "Questions about liquor initiative focus on state revenue, availability" The Yes on 1183 Coalition NO on I-1183 Cheers!

One of my posts is featured exclusively on " The Wine'd Up ". I just reviewed three excellent Washington State Syrah's - you can read my review on " The Wine'd Up " or go direct to the article here . Thanks to Matt for asking me to write for them. It's freezing in the Columbia Valley this week, brrr. Cheers!

Tim Henley of Gordon Brothers Winery Delivers the Goods. Cooler weather and clouds have settled into the Columbia Valley. While Fall is shifting my preference in wine to red, this week I reveled in a bottle of white wine from Gordon Brothers. Loved this wine and it was perfect with my slow cooked chicken.

Sign as you enter the private winery. Sunday I visited Gordon Brothers Winery during their “Crush Weekend”. The winery is located above the Snake River near Pasco, Washington. They are a family owned winery and produce Estate Grown and bottled wine. Their winemaker since 2007 is Tim Henley (he’s doing a great job too).