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...