The Wine Knows

I do not typically purchase a lot of California wine (there are exceptions for sure: Petite Sirahs and anything by Navarro are prime examples). Yet today, I ordered a bottle of Napa Valley Cab.

"What? Why, Andy? Are you losing it?"

Did you really hate the venue for last month's Taste Washington? You won't have to worry about it again because the event hall at Pier 30 is being torn down.

That's right: A 3-year-old event center will fall prey to the wrecking ball.

A couple of weeks ago, we selected the Barnard Griffin 2003 Merlot ($17) as our Wine of the Week.

This wine made the top 100 last year in Wine Specator, a ranking that did more for Washington's largest family-owned winery than any other promotion. Owner/winemaker Rob Griffin said he sold an amazing amount of wine, especially considering it was ranked No. 96.

Today marks the end of the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival, one of four annual wine festival's held in British Columbia's major wine region.

The Okanagan Valley "gets it." About a quarter-century ago, Harry McWatters from Sumac Ridge Estate Winery visited the Tri-Cities Wine Festival, at that time considered one of the region's top wine festivals. McWatters took ideas back north and was instrumental in starting the Okanagan Wine Festival.

The nine little Sangiovese vines in my backyard are looking great, with plenty of healthy shoots and leaves. It is fun to see the vines come alive.

Last week when I was in Southern California, I spoke with a number of growers and winemakers from Napa, Sonoma, Paso and Temecula. Because of cold, wet weather all winter and spring, California vineyards are about a month behind, and industry insiders are a bit nervous. If they don't get a warmer-than-usual late spring and summer, harvest could be a nail-biter.

Chateau Ste. Michelle has announced its summer concert schedule. Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster this Saturday.

June 25: Elvis Costello.

July 3: Fiona Apple.

July 7: Lyle Lovett.

July 13: Linda Ronstadt.

That's what I often hear when a conversation turns toward screwcaps vs. corks.

Where's the romance that comes from the satisfying "pop" when a cork is extracted? Indeed, that's seems to be the biggest barrier to screwcaps.

On the first day of the Riverside competition, I was treated to dozens of Rieslings. What a wonderful and refreshing treat!

I was paired with Jim Trezise from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation; Debbie Zachareas, a sommelier and wine merchant in San Francisco (who specializes in German wines) and Eric Olsen, winemaker for Clos du Bois in Sonoma County and former white winemaker for Chateau Ste. Michelle.

I flew back last night from Southern California after another successful Riverside International Wine Competition.

This judging is well-represented by Wine Press Northwest, as two of our magazine's panelists (Coke Roth and me) are judges, and it is run by WPNW columnist Dan Berger.

I landed in Ontario, Calif., about an hour ago and am now in Riverside to serve as a judge for the annual Riverside International Wine Competition.

This will be my third year as a judge in this prestigious wine competition, which is run by Dan Berger of Santa Rosa, Calif. Northwest wines tend to do very well in this competition (of course, NW wines do well in most competitions anymore).