The Wine Knows

One item of note as we prep for our Riesling competition this weekend: The noble white wine grape of Germany and Alsace is produced throughout the Pacific Northwest. In fact, I'm a bit amazed at how many various appellations are represented on wine bottles.

For the second consecutive year, a wine from British Columbia has won best of show at the annual Northwest Wine Summit. This year, however, the victorious wine was more "traditional."

The winner was Mission Hill Family Estate for its 2006 Select Lot Collection Riesling Icewine.

The Toasted Oak restaurant and Wine Country Welcome Centre wine shop in downtown Oliver, B.C., is up for sale. No price is listed, but you can view the listing here.

The Rolling Stones and Ex Nihilo Vineyards in Okanagan Centre will release an Okanagan Valley ice wine next month in honor of the Stones' song Sympathy for the Devil. Just 222 cases of half-bottles of the sweet dessert wine will be release at a price of $125 per bottle.

Sinclair Philip, the force behind the fabulous Sooke Harbour House, also is a national leader in Canada's Slow Food movement.

Eric Degerman, Wine Press Northwest managing editor, sat down recently with Philip to talk about the Sooke Harbour House, Slow Food and a number of other subjects. Watch the interview here:

This afternoon, we had two couples over for an Easter meal. As the various toddlers screamed through the house, the adults enjoyed a glazed ham, green bean casserole and freshly baked bread.

For me, ham means rosé. I haven't gotten around to drinking up all my '06 rosés, so I rooted around in the cellar and found a Joie Wines 2006 Rosé, a pink blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir.

North of Kelowna, B.C., a resort community called The Rise features a Fred Couples golf course and an on-site winery operated by none other than Tilman Hainle.

One of the great gems in the Pacific Northwest is the Sooke Harbour House in Sooke, British Columbia. This gorgeous destination is southwest of Victoria on Vancouver Island and is world renowned for its luxury accommodations, wine list and cuisine.

Harry McWatters is stepping down as president of Sumac Ridge Estate Winery in Summerland, British Columbia. He was a founder of the winery, which has been a shining example of success in the emergence of the Okanagan Valley as a world-class wine-producing region.

Last week's blast of cold weather that swept into the Pacific Northwest helped British Columbia wineries finally finish their 2007 harvest - well into 2008.

Lisa Cameron of the British Columbia Wine Institute reported that 24 wineries harvested 520 tons of ice wine grapes this season, with everything wrapped up Thursday.