William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

An almost elegant and very affordable Washington Viognier. McKinley Springs makes wine from their 2000 acre estate vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. They make wine in a style I appreciate and price their wines competitively. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I continue to be impressed by McKinley Springs wines. My first exposure to McKinley Springs was February 2012  after a  recommendation  by a gentleman I met at a local winery; it pays to visit with your fellow wine tasters. Thank you friend.

Pulling the cork on this bottle tonight! Tonight at 5:00 pm PST - a group of fellow wine bloggers and I will be opening our custom blended bottles of Oregon Pinot Noir. We'll be tweeting our tasting experiences using #bloggersblend - you can already find conversations starting. We created our custom Pinot Noir blends last year at R. Stuart & Co. winery in McMinville, Oregon after the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference . *For a good read on our wine tasting and blending experience at R.Stuart & Co., read the article by the Wandering Wino: R. Stuart Bloggers Blend Pinot Noir .

Guest post by Juli Crompe. W oodinville is home to almost 100 wineries, and one of the biggest weekends of the year to highlight them is Passport to Woodinville , happening this weekend (April 20-21st, 2013). This year, they started a new tradition, a kickoff event to Passport of sorts, called RESERVE. RESERVE  was held at Columbia Winery  and highlighted all 90+ point rated wines and limited bottlings. The list of wines available at this event was quite impressive, and I definitely found some new gems!

photo: A kick ass Chardonnay. This Washington Chardonnay delivers the goods. Today it's raining and the wind is threatening the Columbia Valley. That's okay with me, I know that sunny skies and warmer weather are just days away. Which means it's almost grilling season. Today I'm dreaming of grilling up some brawts and enjoying another bottle of Two Mountain Chardonnay. Yes, this white wine is for grilling. Two Mountain Winery is located in the Rattlesnake Hills AVA, one of many wineries in the area. My last visit to Two Mountain Winery was in 2007, when I attended  Two Mountain Vineyards “Vineyard Management” class taught by Matt Rawn. They are producing some kick-ass wines. I must get back and visit again.

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.

photo: 2009 Horsepower and roasted leg of lamb pairing. Horsepower Proprietary Red Blend - A great match to roasted leg of lamb. My previous post I shared my recipe for Roasted Boneless Leg of Lamb . The wine I paired with the lamb was the newly released McKinley Springs 2009 Horsepower Proprietary Red Blend. It was a very good pairing. Wine and food pairing can be tricky - I don't always succeed. The meal and wine should compliment each other - neither should overpower the other. There are many variables that come into play in the dance of wine with food at home; in this context I wanted a food friendly, Syrah dominant red wine. At 43% Syrah, the 2009 McKinley Springs Horsepower was a good match.

We're enduring cold evenings in the Columbia Valley - freeze alerts for the third night in a row. Everyone in the state is praying the grapes and cherry trees survive this cold snap. Weeks like this I crave comfort food to help warm the spirit. One of my favorite comfort foods is lamb. I did a quick search on this blog and discovered I often cook lamb. This time I decided to share my recipe. photo: Ingredients for the roasted boneless leg of lamb.