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: Syrah
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.
R|A Family Wines
We attended the launch of R|A Family Wines in Seattle last week, and all we can say is wow. Well no, actually, there’s a lot more to say about this exciting new collaboration in Washington winemaking, with its roots in The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. R|A stands for Reynvaan and Andrews – representing a friendship spanning generations between the two co-founding families. Matt Reynvan is the acclaimed winemaker of Reynvaan Family Vineyards, while entrepreneur Rob Andrews comes from a family with a long-held connection to the land.
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What’s In Our Glasses in January
What’s in our glasses in January? We enjoyed some fine wine lately, and subsequently posted about these great seven bottles on social media. However, in case you missed our posts, you can catch up here. In addition, we welcome you to follow Write for Wine on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. Read on to find out details about what’s been in our glasses this month.