Bloom has begun in eastern Washington. Brittany Komm-Sanders, senior viticulturalist and vineyard manager at Precept Wine, noted bloom starting in Chardonnay and Malbec at Skyfall Vineyard in Yakima Valley on May 24th. Komm-Sanders noted that bloom began at this site on May 22nd last year.

At Sagemoor Vineyard in the White Bluffs region of the Columbia Valley, vineyard manager Lacey Lybeck also noted bloom beginning in Chardonnay on May 24th. Lybeck said other recent vintages looked as follows:

The following article was published in the May issue of Wine Enthusiast.

Baseball fans commonly refer to the period of time when numerous high-profile players took performance-enhancing drugs as the “Steroid Era.” In wine, it can be mused that we are now living in the “Additive Era,” in which it is not unusual for wines to be highly manipulated.

Wine color too light? Add some Mega Purple. Looking for more oak influence or additional tannin? Some oak extract could do the trick. Technology exists that can alter just about any aspect of a wine. The natural end point is making synthetic wine without grapes, which people are doing.

Read the rest of the article here.

Bud break is in full evidence throughout  Washington wine country, as contributing photographer Richard Duval can attest. He captured the morning sun bathing an estate vineyard of Watermill Winery in The Rocks District on this last day of April.

“The ever-greening of Washington’s vines will soon be in full swing,” Duval noted. “Visit any vineyard for a full on view of this almost daily change of scenery.”

Click on the picture to see a larger image.

The 2019 Washington State Wine Tour Guide is out! The tour guide can be viewed on-line here. Order individual physical copies here. For bulk orders for businesses, go here.

I wrote two articles for the guide this year. The first is titled, "Variety Show" and starts on page 16. The second is on Walla Walla Valley, starting on page 85.

Enjoy!

Below are my Wine Enthusiast reviews for April 2019. Wines are listed alphabetically by winery. Read additional information on how I review wines here. All of these reviews are freely available on-line at the Wine Enthusiast Buying Guide. See previous Wine Enthusiast reviews re-published in this space here. Search Wine Enthusiast's on-line database here. Read instructions on how to find Washington wine reviews at Wine Enthusiast here.

Eighty-four wines reviewed in the April issue of Wine Enthusiast.

Two Vintners continues to impress with a strong series of wines from the 2015 and 2016 vintage – far too many to list here so make sure to scroll down. Winemaker Morgan Lee’s mastery of Rhone varieties is on full display with wines like the Two Vintners 2016 Make Haste Cinsault Yakima Valley $25 (90 points, Editor’s Choice). This wine is a superb value with a compelling sense of purity. Meanwhile the winery’s Columbia Valley Syrah is again one of the best values on the market (Two Vintners 2016 Syrah Columbia Valley $21, 91 points, Editor’s Choice).

Bud break has begun in eastern Washington. Hedges Family Estate reported seeing wooly buds on their Red Mountain Cabernet Franc on Monday April 8th. Sagemoor Vineyard in the Columbia Valley, meanwhile, saw bud break in their Chardonnay, pictured here, on April 11th. The latter is about the same as 2017, when bud break was noted in Chardonnay in the Columbia Valley on April 12.

Screwcap, DIAM, and Nomacorc (pictured here) are the three most popular alternative closures in Washington

Below is a tabulation of closure choice and cork taint data from my tastings for Wine Enthusiast in 2018. I have also included data from 2017 and 2016, previously published. Here are eight takeaways.

1. Natural cork continues to be the most frequently used wine closure

Natural cork closures continue to make up about three quarters of the market in Washington (74.15%). While this number was down slightly from previous years, additional data would be needed to say whether this represents a trend or is just normal variance. Note that in the natural cork category, I include all 1+1 corks and related variants, as well as any agglomerative corks that are not guaranteed to be free of potential taint.

2. Cork taint remains a significant problem with natural cork closures

Below are my Wine Enthusiast reviews for March 2019. Wines are listed alphabetically by winery. Read additional information on how I review wines here. All of these reviews are freely available on-line at the Wine Enthusiast Buying Guide. See previous Wine Enthusiast reviews re-published in this space here. Search Wine Enthusiast's on-line database here. Read instructions on how to find Washington wine reviews at Wine Enthusiast here.

108 wines reviewed in the March issue of Wine Enthusiast.

Below are my Wine Enthusiast reviews for February 2019. Wines are listed alphabetically by winery. Read additional information on how I review wines here. All of these reviews are freely available on-line at the Wine Enthusiast Buying Guide. See previous Wine Enthusiast reviews re-published in this space here. Search Wine Enthusiast's on-line database here. Read instructions on how to find Washington wine reviews at Wine Enthusiast here.

Playing catchup on recent wine reviews. 110 wines reviewed in the February issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine.

The focus of the May issue of Wine Enthusiast is wine and technology. I wrote a series of articles on this topic for the issue. They include:

An interview with Marc Noël of Nomacorc
Science and the future of winemaking
How technology is improving wine at home
How wine in the restaurant industry is evolving

Enjoy!

I've had a variety of articles published in Wine Enthusiast in recent months. The first marks Seattle as one of the magazine's top 10 wine travel destinations of 2019. In a separate article that was part of our Pacific Northwest dedicated issue, I talk about why Seattle should be your next travel destination.

In that same Pacific Northwest dedicated issue was also an overview of Washington wine, an article on where to eat and drink in Woodinville and Walla Walla, winemakers changing Washington wine, and also a look at women in the Idaho wine industry.

Enjoy!

Coming to a Washington vineyard very soon – spring color and bud break! Contributing photographer Richard Duval captured this bit of fauna beauty in Walla Walla a few years back. He intends to re-visit for some badly needed spring sun this year.

February brought an abundance of snow to Washington wine country. Undeterred by the cold and the drifts, contributing photographer Richard Duval spent a day in Yakima Valley en route to the Washington Winegrowers Association conference in Kennewick.

The following article appears in the March issue of Wine Enthusiast.

In Washington’s earliest days as a grape-growing region, the state was thought too cool to successfully ripen many warm-climate red grape varieties. Subsequently, cool-climate white grapes, especially Riesling, dominated production and brought early acclaim.

The sun never sets on vineyard work in Washington wine country. With spring inching closer, vineyards need pruning and shaping.

From opposite ends of the state, contributing photographer Richard Duval captured two such examples last week. Under grey skies, Greg Osenbach pruned estate vines at his Whidbey Island Winery. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles due east, a cold but clear morning illuminated the freshly pruned vineyard of Two Mountain Winery in Yakima Valley.

The following article is from the Winter issue of Washington Tasting Room Magazine.

Six new AVAs on the horizon, a stellar vintage for white wines, greener packaging and new winery management are among key trends shaping the state’s wine industry

Washington saw its sixth straight warm vintage in 2018. Near perfect weather conditions in September and October capped off the growing season, with winemakers expecting high quality wines to result. Here’s a look at some of the trends we saw this year in the state’s wine industry.

A newly proposed program by the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) would allow state penitentiary inmates to work at a Walla Walla vineyard and hopyard. The program would be run in partnership with a local management company, Walla Walla Vineyard Management (WWVM). The goal is to provide inmates with skills that could be used upon release.

Well, 2019 is here, and everyone needs a New Year’s resolution or two, especially ones that are achievable. This year, my resolution is to drink more Riesling. Specifically, it is to drink at least one bottle of Riesling per month, each month in 2019.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! May your holidays and New Year be filled with family, friends, and, of course, great Washington wine.

Below are my Wine Enthusiast reviews for December  2018. Wines are listed alphabetically by winery. Read additional information on how I review wines here. All of these reviews are freely available on-line at the Wine Enthusiast Buying Guide. There is also a freely available Wine Enthusiast Tasting Guide app. See previous Wine Enthusiast reviews re-published in this space here. Search Wine Enthusiast's on-line database here. Read instructions on how to find Washington wine reviews at Wine Enthusiast here.

116 wines reviewed in the December 1^st and 31^st issues of Wine Enthusiast.

Washington growers and winemakers consistently use one word when describing the weather during 2018’s harvest: perfect.

“It was the best weather I’ve ever seen,” said Dick Boushey, who manages vineyards in Yakima Valley and Red Mountain. “We probably harvested some of the best fruit I’ve ever picked.”

Below is a look at what was picked, when, and where in Washington during October 2018.

Harvested ended for some growers in warmer sites toward the end of September, whereas for others it stretched into mid to late October and even into early November for larger production wineries.

2015 is the third in what I refer to as Washington’s ‘staircase vintages’ from 2013-2015, where each growing season was a step up in heat accumulation from the previous one (read a recent post comparing these three vintages here).

Three warm vintages result in very different wines

After a vintage in 2012 where heat accumulation was a near perfect match for 20-year historical averages in Washington, 2013 through 2015 saw three increasingly warm growing seasons. While it is tempting to characterize each of these years as simply producing ‘warm vintage wines,’ side-by-side tastings reveal significant differences.

Below are my Wine Enthusiast reviews for November 2018. Wines are listed alphabetically by winery. Read additional information on how I review wines here. All of these reviews are freely available on-line at the Wine Enthusiast Buying Guide. There is also a freely available Wine Enthusiast Tasting Guide app. See previous Wine Enthusiast reviews re-published in this space here. Search Wine Enthusiast's on-line database here. Read instructions on how to find Washington wine reviews at Wine Enthusiast here.

181 wines reviewed in the November issue of Wine Enthusiast.