William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

Looks like a Pepi party! Put some Pepi in  your glass! My first exposure to Pepi wines was at the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference . The 2011 Pepi Sauvignon Blanc was one of the wines featured at the speed tasting session. The wine was quite lively. Since then, I have had the pleasure of enjoying the other three Pepi white wines: Pepi Pinot Grigio, Pepi Chenin Blanc-Viognier and Pepi Chardonnay. Pepi wines are sourced from grapes grown in cool-climate vineyard regions of California. Cheers to the 2011 Pepi Pinot Grigio. 2011 Pepi Pinot Grigio Tasting Notes Color of pale straw, with mineral, slate, fresh pear nose, light pear flavor and wonderful minerality through the finish. Clean, crisp, dry white wine. This would be a good seafood wine. I'd pair with steamed clams, oysters on the half shell, Dungeness crab, halibut, sashimi, cheese fondue and pasta alfredo. I liked this wine. Big value at this price. Recommended. Blend: 90% Pinot Grigio, 10% Chenin Blanc Vine

Today I am pairing the music of Rodriguez with the wine of Gilbert Cellars . Pairing Music with Wine is obviously a personal opinion, biased just like recommending a favorite wine. Either you get it or you don't. This week I've been telling friends and posting on twitter and facebook about a musician I just discovered. My buzz of the week. Actually, a lot of people this year have been "discovering" the music of Sixto Rodriguez, aka "Sugar Man." On Sunday, 60 Minutes feature story was on Rodriguez, and a 2012 Sundance Film Festival awarded movie about his life "Searching for Sugar Man."  His music is 40 years old. FYI: Rodriguez, aka Sugar Man, is on tour. He's playing in Seattle tonight and Portland, Oregon tomorrow. Sadly, I can't make it to either performance. I have a  link to his Tour Dates , maybe you can go. He's  touring the U.S. and then Europe . Gilbert Cellars 2009 Allobroges red wine is also a recent discovery

Syrah Harvest 4 October 2012 Photo: Syrah clusters, ripe and ready for picking. Yesterday morning, I visited Gordon Estate to photograph harvest in the vineyard. They were picking Syrah. Winemaker Tim Henley was not sure when they would start harvest, so he told me to wait for his text. At 10:30 am he texted that they had begun. Photo: Mechanical harvester. When I arrived at the vineyard, I saw the mechanical harvester 3/4 of the way down the row. I parked my car and hoofed it to grab some photos of the harvester in action. The Syrah clusters looked good to me. Photo: Vineyard manager Ramon riding the harvester. The tractor pulling the harvester was not moving too fast, so I was able to reach the harvester, grab some shots and then walk back to where I started. Looking at the clouds of dust, I noticed that the soil in the vineyard is fine and powdery. After walking down the rows, my boots looked like they were covered in talcum powder. Photo: End of the row.

Photo: Alexandria Nicole 2009 "a squared" Cabernet Sauvignon. Jarrod and Ali Boyle are producing wonderful Washington wines at their Alexandria Nicole Cellars winery. A wise and loving husband, Jarrod named the winery after his wife Ali. This summer I had an insightful visit  at their Paterson winery and a grand tour of their Destiny Ridge vineyard during véraison . This weekend my wife and I had the pleasure of being guests at the Alexandria Nicole Cellars annual Harvest Party. Photo: Ali Boyle rolling a wine barrel while husband Jarrod cheers her on. Thankfully, we did not have to drive ourselves to the party at the winery. Two large bus coaches received our group of revelers in Richland and delivered us all to the winery. The hour long trip was ameliorated by glasses of Alexandria Nicole Cellars Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. The only way to travel. Photo: Chef Magaña in charge of Oysters and Dinner. The Harvest Party was, well, a party. Oysters on