A few months ago, my wine-expert nephew Mathew from Vancouver visited us, so of course we took him to Woodinville. He came with us to our usual haunts but when we went to an exclusive wine party, he headed out with his friends for pours at other tasting rooms.

We met up again later that evening, where he opened a William Church 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. It was awesome. But when we returned to Woodinville a couple of weeks later (and again and again after that), William Church was not open. Unfortunately, many tasting rooms are closed on Sundays, which is the day we’re usually able to go there.

Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago, when my wine-expert sister (mother of my wine-expert nephew) asked me if I left her “an incredible bottle of wine from William Church” while she was in Spain. Sadly, the answer was no. It must have been her son, my nephew.

All this to say that I became even more bound and determined to get to the William Church tasting room in Woodinville. And finally we were successful over Labor Day weekend! We were not disappointed. The wine was fantastic, assistant wine maker Marcus Rafanelli was friendly and duly proud of the wines, and we were happy to take some wine home with us.

We will be going back soon too because we were invited to a release party for the 2006 William Church Syrah (just named in the top 100 wines in Seattle Metropolitan) and 2006 William Church Malbec on Sept. 12 and 13.

These wines are winning rave reviews! And I couldn’t agree more.

Cheers!