William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

Öküzgözü is one of Turkey’s five most import native grapes.  *Turkish Wine FAQ : It seems appropriate to add this FAQ to the top of this post. New to you varieties from different countries and producers merit clarification. Diren is the winery. Öküzgözü is the grape. Öküzgözü translates as the eye of the bull.  Derives its name from the fact that the fruit has large, black berries that resemble a bull’s eye.  Pronunciation of "Öküzgözü" is similar to: "Oh! + couscous + zoo"  Öküzgözü grape produces light/medium style wines. Often compared to Beaujolais wines. It can be served chilled. Native Turkish varietals include: Öküzgözü , Kalecik, Karasi, Bogazkere, Emir and Narince (first 3 red, last 2 white). These are the five most important native Turkish grapes. Turkey has 800+ indigenous grape varieties - it may be a founder nation for grape domestication around 7,000 years ago. During the long period of the Ottoman Empi...

Taste Washington Appellation Seminar Columbia Gorge AVA There are always opportunities to educate yourself. This year I have expanded my knowledge about the Columbia Gorge AVA. During the weekend of Taste Washington I attended a seminar featuring wines made from grapes grown in the Columbia Gorge. While I was familiar with some of the wines and wineries in this AVA, at this seminar I was introduced to new winemakers, wineries and vineyards. The focus was on wines made from higher elevation vineyard sources in the Columbia Gorge AVA. "A world of wine in 40 miles." The Columbia Gorge was carved out by the epic Missoula glacial floods  around 15,000 years ago. The area where I live in eastern Washington was once covered by the flood waters of the short lived Lake Lewis, before breaking free and creating the Columbia Gorge. Glacial erratics , large boulders carried by glacial ice, were deposited hundreds of miles from their origins as far as the Willamette Valley in Or...

Washington Wine Dazzles at Taste!  I don't always develop a relationship with my facebook followers , this month though, I've been interacting with a new follower, Kimihiro. For the last two months he's been quick to “like” many of my photographs and posts. As I've learned, he is a fan of Washington wine, but little Washington wine is available to him. He's been quite taken with what I've shared on facebook about Taste Washington and I've encouraged him to attend next year. But he told me, “I can't attend that because I'm in Japan! But I really love WA wine:).” This has driven home, again, how important I feel it is to showcase the treasures produced by Washington winemakers. It is a privilege and responsibility to share my Washington wine experiences with my readers and followers. My conversation with Kimihiro began with Taste Washington. My “reflections” on Taste Washington have grown into this post. Admittedly, it is no simple task to e...