William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

Today I will be writing to catch up on all the delicious wine I experienced this weekend. Briefly, this is what went down. Checking the glasses before I begin pouring. Friday – AntoLin Cellars Sensory Tasting I conducted a private wine tasting and sensory class lunch, featuring AntoLin Cellars Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon. Review soon. Ed Luebben at the Wine Incubators. Saturday – Walla Walla Spring Barrel Tasting Went Walla Walla wine tasting with my friend, winery Architect Edward Luebben. We visited Leonetti Cellars, Corvus Cellars, Cavu Cellars, aMaurice Cellars and Garrison Creek Cellars. Review soon. Virtual tasting at L'Ecole Winery - it was an actual tasting for us. Sunday- L'Ecole 41 Perigee Vertical Tasting My friend Ben Simons, wine blogger at Vinotology.com , joined me for a vertical tasting at L'Ecole No 41 . This was a virtual and an actual tasting at the winery. They poured from their library the 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 20...

What have I learned about New Zealand this week?  They make some freaking awesome wine down there! Ask me today where I want to go wine tasting and my response would be “New Zealand.” Shall we buy tickets today? On this wine blog I have shared some of my “ah ha” wine moments. Those personal wine epiphany’s when new insights into wine are recognized. The two stunners from New Zealand. Recently, I received a couple of bottles of New Zealand wine from my friends at Pasternak Wine Imports. A bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and a bottle of Pinot Noir. This distant part of the wine world has largely been ignored by me. When I opened these bottles, I did so with the expectation that the wines would likely be simple, light, food wines. I was wrong, I was surprised, I was thrilled, I was stunned at how good these wines tasted. "It seemed to dance around and did not let me pin it down. It refused easy definition. I enjoyed that." Stylistically, both of these New Zealand wine...

Cider from Eastern Washington, land of apples and sunshine.  You may equate Washington with handcrafted wine and micro breweries, but it is rapidly becoming the land of fresh pressed apple cider. Hard apple cider, you know, with alcohol. Last month I was in Seattle for Taste Washington , where I not only enjoyed wondrous wine but several Washington hard ciders. Some of the tastiest ciders were made by farmer Craig Campbell of Tieton Cider Works. His ciders are made from a blend of American, English and French cider varietals, grown on his organically farmed ranch, Harmony Orchards in Tieton, Washington. Tieton Cider Works first commercial release was in 2009. Why are these ciders so interesting? Many varietal reasons. There's a long history of making cider in America, it was once more popular than beer, wine or whiskey. Yes, that's what Johnny Appleseed was planting, seeds for apple cider trees. Apple cider, by many accounts, was first made by the Celts and Normans beca...

Hedges Family Estate Chateau. A great way to enjoy the weekend in the Columbia Valley. What did I do today? Besides edging and mowing the lawn with my family, I managed to zip over to Red Mountain to revel in the glorious spring sunshine. I also sampled some wonderful wines in one of the most beautiful of settings, Hedges Family Estate winery. Hedges RMF - ABV 21.5% and delightful. A  grand tradition this time of year in the Columbia Valley, is sampling new wines straight from the barrel, as well as drinking award winning wines in the tasting room. This weekend is referred to as "Spring Barrel Tasting" weekend. Straight from the barrel, Kenan with wine thief. After the morning chores were completed, I stopped by Hedges Family Estate to visit with my friend Kenan, Vineyard Apprentice at Hedges. I enjoyed visiting with him in the full of barrels, barrel room. The two barrel samples were enticing, a good vintage. The fortified wine I sipped after was like l...

Apple wine featured at Taste Washington Seattle. At this years Taste Washington I was exposed to a lot of great wine, but one of the delights for me this year was not just wine and food, but Washington cider. I like cider, but it has not been a beverage often consumed at home. To my surprise, there's a growing number of cideries setting up shop in Washington. As evidence, there were three Washington cideries pouring hard cider at Taste Washington Seattle. And boy was it good and well received. Learning about Finnriver Farm and Cidery at Taste Washington Seattle. I sampled all the ciders offered by Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Methow Valley Ciderhouse and Tieton Cider Works. These cideries had an array of styles, from the stark, bone dry, the slightly sweet, to the super sweet and even fruit and hops flavored ciders. Truly a cider for every palate and occasion. I enjoyed the break from drinking wine to savoring a cool, sparkling and refreshing cider. There's even enough ...

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 ...

Expanding my palate to California. “You ought to never consider retiring from work, because remaining engaged in some creative occupation makes life so much more full” - Fess Parker California Wine Club Shipment Premier Club Gift. As a life-long Washington resident, I drink Washington wine. This blog is “Wild 4 Washington Wine”  after all, so drinking local comes easy. Yes, the occasional bottle from Australia and Spain grace my table, but not often. That began to change in 2010 when I started attending the Wine Bloggers Conferences . I was exposed to many new wines from across the United States and the world. There is a huge world of wine out there. Since 2010, especially since last year, I've sampled wines from California, Texas, Missouri, Virginia, New York, Spain, France, Italy, Chile and Argentina. Tasting all of these wines has pushed me off my comfortable bench, where I was drinking exclusively Washington wines. The wine critic and author Paul Gregutt recently w...