Wine of the Week Columbia Crest 2013 Reserve Sauvignon Blanc Horse Heaven Hills

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 pairing planning. When I was contemplating opening this special bottle of Columbia Crest Sauvignon Blanc, I spent some time contemplating what food to pair it with. Yes, this post is about the wine, but it is also about how more enjoyable a wine can be with a proper pairing.

Tasting Notes Columbia Crest 2013 Reserve Sauvignon Blanc

Color: Pale gold.
Nose: Toasty with ripe mango, passion fruit, mineral quality.
Palate: Tropical, zippy, grapefruit, passion fruit.
Wine expanded after 45 minutes. Honey suckle breeze, serious flavors, solid, dry, citrus with salinity, almost grassy with essence of mandarin on the savory finish. Focused and balanced. Killer finish. Hawaii was on my mind. Wonderful.

Thoughts: Loved this wine. And it was a fantastic pairing with King Crab Salad. I had two leftover King crab legs, so I decided to make a simple salad/appetizer. This turned out to be a wonderful match. The flavors of the crab salad complimented and enhanced the flavors of the wine. Very pleased with both. Strongly Recommended.

King Crab Salad.

King Crab Salad Recipe:
I decided to class up the presentation by serving this salad in martini glasses.

1. For the dressing I used lime juice, salt and black pepper.
2. Stirred dressing until the salt dissolved.
3. Added olive oil to the dressing and stirred.
4. Added shredded crab meat to the dressing.
5. Added sliced celery to dressed crab and stirred.
6. Layered mixed greens in martini glass first.
7. Added sliced avocado on top of mixed greens.
8. Added the dressed crab meat on top of avocado.
9. Topped with fried wonton.

This wine and crab salad were made for each other. Enjoy.

Blend: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Closure: Natural Cork
ABV: 13%
Production 75 cases
SRP: $24
Purchase direct from the winery

Visit the Columbia Crest Winery
Hwy 221,
Columbia Crest Dr.
Paterson, WA 99345
Telephone (509) 875-4227
Open Daily 10:00am - 4:30pm

Columbia Crest Winery, Paterson, Washington.

If you are ever passing through the Tri-Cities where I live, the Columbia Crest winery is about a 40 minute side trip from Richland. They have a very nice facility and an impressive tasting usually available. My last visit was in October during harvest. Lovely time.

Well, we should have a new #winemuse podcast show uploaded this month - look for it. A bunch of wine related posts almost ready to go as well. Thank you for the new twitter follows and positive feedback. It has been a true pleasure and privilege to share so many wonderful wines this year.

Cheers!

Review: Sho Chiku Bai, Unfiltered Sake

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William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

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