August is Washington Wine Month, and as this 31-day celebration winds down, we wanted to look back on some of the bottles of splendid juice we’ve enjoyed in the last month or so. Most importantly, we celebrate Washington wine every month. But during August, there are even more reasons to rejoice. For example, many wineries, restaurants, bars and wine shops are holding “WAugust” promotions and discounts. Find details at the list of WA Wine events for this last week in August. Meanwhile, here are 12 excellent WA wines we’ve recently tasted.
Category Archives: Horse Heaven Hills
ANC
We have a long history with Ali and Jarrod Boyle, owners of Alexandria Nicole Cellars (ANC), so we didn’t stop smiling when we saw them again recently and tasted their wines. We first wrote about ANC when we launched this site in 2007, inspired by some fabulous wine at ANC’s new (at the time) Woodinville tasting room. Subsequently, we were among the initial members of their original wine club, and attended many of their harvest parties. We first visited Destiny Ridge Vineyard in 2009, and we glamped there in 2011, when most people hadn’t even heard the word “glamping” yet. And we drank ANC Quarry Butte as our go-to wine during the Seahawks’ road to their Super Bowl win in 2014. From day one, we’ve always said it’s the people, the wines and the events that make a winery special. And ANC continues to check off all those boxes.
Andrews Family Vineyards
Two weeks ago, we visited with the dream team at the beautiful Trothe facilities at Andrews Family Vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills in Washington state. While we tasted their recent vintages, I told Jeff Andrews – innovative managing partner of the winery and Andrews Family Vineyards – that I’ve run out of superlatives to describe their wines. Previous words I’ve used after tasting three vintages: world-class luxury wines, magic, opulent, stunning, magnificent, exceptional, elegant, impressive, classy, remarkable, incredible and amazing. So Jeff helped me out. He called them “sophisticated wines with finesse.” We agree. Read on to learn about our visit with Jeff, acclaimed winemaker Ray McKee, and extraordinary vineyards manager Todd Chapman. Continue reading
Maltby
What a treat – we spent an afternoon with two exceptional Washington winemakers, John Bigelow of JM Cellars and Morgan Lee of Two Vintners Wines (et al) in April at their tasting rooms at The Vault in Maltby. Not surprisingly, their wines were exceptional and their stories kept us both intrigued and laughing at the same time. And we finally met Alice, Morgan’s sweet Black Lab, who has a stunning red wine named after her. We tasted that wine, along with several of Morgan’s mouthwatering Syrahs and his excellent Grenache Blanc, along with John’s stellar (and unreleased) Founder’s Reserve, and his amazing Grenache, Malbec, and two styles of Chardonnay. Read on for details.