Monday, February 27, 2012

It Just Keeps Getting Better: The 2012 Seattle Wine & Food Experience


If you weren’t in attendance at yesterday’s tasting bonanza, you missed out tremendously. The 2012 Seattle Wine & Food Experience was a huge success and this year’s event brought together some of the Northwest’s finest wines, beers, ciders and spirits as well as delectable bites from a variety of area restaurants. I took a much different approach this year than I have at previous wine events: I didn’t drink wine. Well, I had a few tastes of wine at the event, but I wanted to switch it up a bit and focus more on our local beers, ciders and spirits (also, I had the privilege of attending an Oregon wine event the night prior, so I definitely didn’t miss out on the fine juice that state has to offer!). So, without further ado, my favorites this year of the 2012 Seattle Wine & Food Experience.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

From the Vine to your Glass: The AVAs of Washington




"AVA". It’s a term you’ve no doubt heard, but might not know much more about other than it means “wine region”. Well, in this edition of “From the Vine to Your Glass” we’re going to take a look at what AVAs are, and briefly explore the AVAs that make up Washington state.

AVA is short for “American Viticultural Area” and is a grape growing region distinguished from others by geographic features. The boundaries for these areas are requested by wineries, and actually set by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (or TTB for short). To name an AVA on a wine label, at least 85% of the grapes used to make the wine must be from that specific area. Here in Washington, we have some very well known AVAs, and others that you may have not have ever heard of. Washington has 12 AVAs at this time, but that is expected to change in the near future. So what and where are they? Let’s take a look see shall we?