Every time we travel to Manson, in WA’s Lake Chelan AVA, we always visit Hard Row to Hoe Vineyards for excellent wines and notorious stories. It is a must-stop, because of the wines and because of the friendly and knowledgeable co-owners, Judy and Don Phelps, and Julian Shaver. During our trip last month, we were delighted that Judy joined us. And we toasted the winery’s 20th anniversary. She and our tasting room hostess Becca kindly poured us five impressive wines. Their website proclaims “Exceptional Wines and Notorious Stories from Lake Chelan.” That is exactly right. Read on for details.
Category Archives: Riesling
Swirl Around BC 2025
Last month, we were delighted to attend Swirl Around BC 2025 Wine Expo, an event in Vancouver held by Wines of British Columbia to celebrate BC wine. About 60 wineries participated, and the two of us managed to share small pours from 14 of them. BC wine is indeed worth celebrating. In addition, we talked to several wineries about the provincial program that enables BC wineries to use grapes from outside the province while recovering from the deep freeze in Jan. 2024. We tasted some of these wines with fruit grown from Washington and Oregon, but made in BC. All are delicious!
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Swirl Around BC 2024
In September, we had the pleasure of attending Swirl Around BC 2024 Wine Expo, an event in Vancouver held by Wines of British Columbia to celebrate BC wine. Forty-five wineries participated, and the two of us managed to share small pours from 15 of them. BC wine is indeed worth celebrating. In addition, several winemakers told us the good news that they are working with Washington state vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills and Wahluke Slope AVAs to source their fruit, following an unprecedented BC crop shortage due to the area’s deep freeze earlier this year. Continue reading
Treveri
We finally visited Washington’s incredible Treveri Cellars, just south of Yakima, and are still trying to figure out why it took us so long. Treveri is a family-owned sparkling wine house, which has served its bubbles at White House State Department receptions and the James Beard Foundation in New York. After tasting pours from numerous bottles offered by our amazing hostess, Karlee Reynolds, we understand why there is such a buzz. For example, Karlee, a hospitality queen, told us that about 1,000 people stopped by the tasting room over the Memorial Day weekend. Of note, prices of the bottles represent an affordable luxury.