Black Hills Estate Winery always rocks with incredible wines. And now Black Hills rocks with two 2024 “Hiatus Collection” wines, sourced from the Rocks District but crafted in the Okanagan Valley — Nota Bene and Ipso Facto. The B.C. winery’s decision to use grapes from Washington-Oregon was not easy. However, two consecutive winters of extreme cold damaged many of their vineyard blocks, so Black Hills made the difficult choice to source “exceptional vineyards in Washington and Oregon” for their 2024 Hiatus Collection. “The name Hiatus captures this chapter: a pause with purpose.” Both these wines have the wow factor. And as someone who was born and raised in British Columbia, and now lives in Washington, I’m all in!
Category Archives: Merlot
Woodward Canyon Wines
Woodward Canyon wines are Washington state classics. The second-oldest winery in Walla Walla consistently produces premium, age-worthy wines. In 1981, Rick and Darcey Small founded this pioneering winery on land that Rick’s family farmed for multiple generations and is now the estate vineyard. We’ve been writing about Woodward Canyon wines since this website launched in 2007. Consequently, I was delighted to recently talk to Jordan Small, their daughter and current general manager and co-owner (with her brother Sager), and taste a number of their standout wines. Earlier, we tasted and wrote about Old VInes Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 and 2023. Here are the remaining wines we sampled.
Orr Wines
We recently tasted the exciting lineup of Erica Orr Wines at Seifert & Jones in Bellingham, our favorite local wine shop. And we finally met Erica, whom we’ve know about for years but somehow hadn’t met before. In 2005, Erica started an enology business, running a wine lab to help WA winemakers in Woodinville. And while she still helps them, she also decided to create her own wines in 2013. Tim Johnson, a WA wine expert who works at S&J, joined Erica to pour her delightful wines, which have a wonderful QPR. Read on for our faves.
Top 40 Wines 2025
As always, we found it difficult to narrow down a list of our Top 40 wines in 2025, but ultimately we chose those wines that made a lasting impression. Not surprisingly, we tasted hundreds of wines last year. Some, we bought at wineries and retail outlets. Others, we tasted at wine events such as Taste Washington and Swirl Around B.C. Likewise, some fine folks shared their bottles with us, while others kindly sent us samples.
Overall, our 2025 list features 11 sparklers, 13 rosés and whites, and 16 reds, from Washington, British Columbia, Oregon, California, England, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, South Africa, and New Zealand. Some are on the list because of their exceptional quality (with a matching high price point). On the other hand, others are simply excellent value wines. Moreover, we waited until the beginning of the new year, so we could also include wines we adored over the holidays.
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