Summer Sippers and BBQ Reds

Oh summer! The time of crisp white wine or refreshing rosé during sultry warm afternoons or evenings on the deck or patio, or at the lake, ocean or pool. The time of rich reds at barbecues with family and friends. And the wines that pair well with a celebratory toast to Independence Day.

Here are some of our favorite whites and rosés to sip with a summer salad, or seafood such as prawns, scallops, sushi, crab or halibut. Or you can simply drink pink without food, watching the sunset reflected in its pretty color. In addition, here are some beautiful reds to pour at your BBQ.

There are so many wonderful wines to explore this summer. But we had to keep our lists short. As a result, these represent only wines that we have tasted in recent months, either at tasting rooms, events or in samples sent to us by wineries. Specifically, these wines are from Washington state, Oregon, California, New Zealand and Italy.

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Albariño – Our Newest Summer Sipper

We recently attended a virtual tasting, sponsored by Rías Baixas Wine and Snooth, featuring eleven Albariño wines and noteworthy comments by Snooth’s co-founder/CEO/chief taster Mark Angelillo and Lyn Farmer, James Beard Award-winning wine & food writer.

Rías Baixas Albariño comes from Galicia, located in the northwest corner of Spain, which more closely resembles coastal Ireland than it does other parts of Spain.

While we have enjoyed an occasional glass of Albariño in the past, it was an eye-opener to discover there is lots of variety, style, texture and diversity in Albariño wines; but they are consistently tasty with minerality, creaminess and zesty citrus, stone fruit and tropical fruit flavors. And they are very affordable.
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A Lovely Rosé for Warm Weather

At Taste Washington last month, we had a wonderful chat with Kit Singh (left), co-owner and winemaker at Lauren Ashton Cellars, and met Sam Mosman (right), vineyard manager of Lonesome Spring Ranch Vineyard. To our delight, Kit poured us a sample of LAC 2017 rosé, which is being released to the public on April 21-22 at their tasting studio in Woodinville’s Hollywood District.

We also received a bottle to sample, which solidified our enjoyment of that initial taste. This wine confirms a constant in our posts about LAC — Kit Singh makes great wine. It’s that simple.
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