William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

My first Oregon Malbec. Loved it! This is the first-ever LIVE Certified wine from Silvan Ridge Winery. Their 2011 Malbec, sourced exclusively from Gold Vineyards in Talent, Oregon. LIVE stands for "Low Input Viticulture & Enology" and refers to the practice of reducing the amount of raw materials (inputs such as pesticides, fertilizer, water, chemicals, fuel, etc.) used in vineyard and winery production. Silvan Ridge Winery was founded in the southern Willamette Valley near Eugene, Oregon in 1979, They are best known for their Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, and an effervescent Early Muscat. Hello Malbec. "Yaba Daba Doo!" This Oregon Malbec impressed. I encourage you find this wine and enjoy it with your best friends. Add Silvan Ridge Winery to my list, and yours, of must visit Oregon wineries. Well done. Definitely a Wine of the Week ! Need to find more of this wine. Tasting Notes Silvan Ridge Winery 2011 Malbec: Nose : Soft, with ...

About the time I started middle school, my parents decided to stop exchanging gifts on Christmas. Yep, no Christmas gifts kiddies. The rational for this, as it was explained to us, was that the Three  winesmen   Wines  Kings in the Bible visited the baby Jesus on the 6th of January and gave him gifts. This is known as the day of Epiphany and "Three Kings Day." So, growing up we exchanged gifts not on December 25th, but 12 days later on the 6th of January. We were not a particularly religious family, but this aspect of the Bible was observed at our home. Yes, with grumbling. Grandmother though, she always gave us gifts on Christmas! Sharing this story with you is about letting you know that it's okay if you don't give me a Christmas gift this year. You can always give me a gift on January 6th. That's a joke. I started this list a month ago. And I'm late posting it. That's what I'm sharing today. Keep in mind you can give the gift of wine o...

This time of year gets away from me. Whoosh, like the horse I was riding the summer I spent working with my grandfather when I was 16 years old. One moment all was fine, then I was struggling to stay saddled while the horse tried to scrape me off with tree branches! I'm hanging on. And enjoying the thrill of the ride as I do. Cheers! 8th Anniversary + Milestones Last week marked the 8th anniversary of this blog - 12 December 2006 was my first post . Admittedly, I've been most serious about this blog since summer 2010 after attending the Walla Walla, Washington Wine Bloggers Conference . Thank you Zephyr Adventures . I needed that infusion. I'm gradually improving my photography efforts. A better camera, a fetish for lenses and slowly adding more lighting equipment. And trying to take more time for image composition. My photography friends remain an inspiration. Thank you all. The last couple of years, infused by wine blogging friends, industry connections, w...

I could not resist posting today about this wonderful wine. This month I have several forthcoming posts about wine and wine related products. While I am working on a post about Columbia Crest Reserve wines and uber talented Columbia Crest Head Winemaker, Juan Muñoz-Oca, I could not resist first sharing my enthusiasm for this wine. Did you know that Columbia Crest has a Reserve line of ultra-premium Washington wine? Sourced from premier vineyard sites and meticulously hand-crafted in their Petit Chai, a "winery-within-a-winery" Columbia Crest Reserve wines represent the height of winemaking skill by Columbia Crest Head Winemaker, Juan Muñoz-Oca. These are special limited production wines. Hand of the Head Winemaker and his Reserve Sauvignon Blanc. Regular readers should know that I am a big fan of Sauvignon Blanc. My participation these last three months with #WinePW a twitter group of mostly food bloggers, has brought a greater focus to my wine and food pairi...

#WinePW Wine Pairing Weekend Holiday Entertaining! December is holiday festive party time! Our job this month is to create some great sparkling wine and appetizer pairings. If you see this early enough, please join us December 13th at 8 a.m. Pacific Time. We’ll be chatting on twitter using #WinePW about our creative holiday sparkling wine pairings. We’d love to have you join us! Sparkling Wine and Appetizer Pairings. ~.~ This month I wanted to pair a Washington Sparkling wine with something I enjoy serving. I thought spicy prawns on a stick would be perfect. I chose wild shrimp for this recipe because they taste better. Thankfully, I found some medium sized wild shrimp which were perfect for an appetizer on a stick. Cooking time was minimal and could be done as guests arrive. If you don't like spicy you can omit or reduce the amount of chili used. Actually, I reduced the amount of chili for this recipe and I still sneezed like crazy when I was measur...

"Each purchase helps send low income, capable young women to college through the O Wines Opportunity for Success Scholarship program." Two months ago on the #WineMuse podcast show , I enjoyed speaking with winemaker Katie Nelson of O Wines . Following up, I am happy to review her red and white wines. They were very good. Our October winemaker conversation  included speaking with Katie Nelson, Winemaker for 'O' Wines in Washington State. Each purchase of 'O' Wines helps fund scholarship to send young women to college through the 'O' Wines Opportunity for Success Scholarship program. Yes, drinking wine can support Scholarship. O Wines was established in 2006 in Woodinville, Washington by Stacy Lill and Kathy Johanson with a mission to fund college scholarships for low income, capable young women so they can achieve their greatest potential through education. Since the introduction of the wines to the Pacific Northwest in 2008 followed by a...