Usually you think of something like a dry cracker when you are trying to get a taste out of your mouth to retry a wine. I came across a couple of wine stewards who employ strange but effective palate-cleansing means: Teriyaki Beef JerkySmoked Almonds With Jalapeno* Weird. Very weird. But effective! I think that the [More]

How about a moderate alcohol (10.5%) crisp, lively wine with a teeny-tiny touch of sweetness? Check out the Whidbey Island Winery Island White. What a chugger! From grapes grown on Whidbey Island! A blend of Madeleine Sylvaner and Madeleine Angevine! (HUH?) These grapes seem to combine the raciness of a Loire Muscadet, a little bit [More]

One of the great pleasures of my job is traveling all over the Seattle area and beyond, leaving no grocery store or wine shop unturned. Although I am there to sell wine, I keep finding myself buying wine. Why? In the strangest of places if you look right (to paraphrase a song…free bottle of wine [More]

I have been anti-zinfandel for the past few years. For me, they were the epitome of everything I hated about new world wines: boozy, hot, over-extracted, port-like, no acidity. Needless to say, I had strong feelings about zins. Reflecting upon my tender youth, I recalled some of the first wines that I really dug, when [More]

One of the cool things about the Washington wine industry is the dogged determination of a few wineries to keep making wine from grapes that are a tough sell. Like Lemberger. Not only does it sound like that infamously stinky cheese, but its stoic, Germanic name isn’t sexy like, say, Syrah. However, Lemberger is a [More]

Click on the title of this post; I’m guest blogging for basic juice again!

Today I was pouring wine at a grocery store; the wine buyer has a little nook behind the produce section. I guess the staff is a little sloppy with the spit bucket and have been splashing the produce. The produce guy was chiding them, so I responded, “Hey, we’re just marinating the tomatoes.” In honor [More]

Wow, it’s true. Washington Wines Can Age (WWCA)! Last night I had two wines that proved WWCA and I was quite impressed. The first was a 1999 Cayuse Syrah (might have been the En Chambertin); it actually tasted like a syrah and was downright Rhone-y. Very elegant with a nice gaminess. I had a 2003 [More]