The Wine Knows

You might recall awhile back that I posted a list of Northwest wine shops, wine bars and wine clubs, seeking feedback on which I might be missing. I received information on more than 50 places I didn't know about.

As a follow-up to last week's blog item about how interest in Syrah appears to be waning in the marketplace, I got the following note from Chuck LeFevre, owner of Esquin Wine Merchants in Seattle.

With high gas prices and flying becoming increasingly less convenient, many folks are staying close to home this summer.

If your travels keep you within the Pacific Northwest and you decide the Oregon Coast is your destination, be sure to stop by The Wine Shack in Cannon Beach. Dean Reiman has operated this wine shop in the downtown area of this resort town for several years and provides an eclectic collection of regional and international selections.

If you've read about those self-serve wine-tasting machines but haven't yet seen one in action, check out our video below.

The Enomatic has been around for at least a couple of years and has been in action in various areas of the country. Now, it's in Oregon wine country.

Jeff Hellam is the owner of Hellams Vineyard, a wine shop in La Conner, Wash., that specializes in Northwest selections.

Wine Press Northwest correspondent Jon Bauer recently caught up with Jeff at his wine shop and asked him to talk about some of his favorite picks from Washington.

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.

We're busy working on giving our Web site an overhaul. Part of this will be a much easier-to-use searchable database of wine shops, wine clubs and wine bars.

I have compiled a list of 161 wine shops, wine clubs and wine bars from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho. I am inviting you to look over the list and let me know of any I'm missing.

A user comment over the weekend about Leonetti being overpriced made me wonder what the price threshold is for wine lovers.

For example, would you spend $2k for a special bottle of Screaming Eagle, or do you get squeamish about any bottle of wine over $35?

Today, the Financial Times published an article about Seattle online retailer Amazon.com planning to sell wine.

There's already some buzz about this amid wine blogs.

Here is my question to you: Do you buy wine online, and what has been your experience?

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting article today on Wilfred Wong and Beverages and More, a large California wine retailer.

At issue is the fact that Wong, who tastes 8,500 wines per year (not the 3,000 mentioned in the article), rates wines on a 100-point scale for the company, which then takes his ratings and uses them to promote the wines in their dozens of locations. The article questions whether the consumer can trust Wong's evaluations, or if they are just there to help the company sell wine.