Oregon and Washington helped lead the United States to its best performance ever at Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) in 2026, with an Oregon Pinot Noir earning one of only 50 Best in Show medals awarded globally. In addition, a Washington winery claimed its second consecutive Platinum award – the second vintage in a row that its Cabernet Franc has notched that honour.

The Awards helped solidify the reputations of two established Pacific Northwest appellations in particular, as their wines showed ‘a strong level of consistency’, according to Oregon-based DWWA Panel Judge Bree Stock MW. ‘Oregon’s best Pinot Noirs were very compelling, particularly from established Willamette Valley sub-AVAs such as Dundee Hills, where the wines showed aromatic definition, layered spice and the capacity to age’.

The Washington wine submissions showed ‘real strength and perform well, with Walla Walla Valley standing out for Cabernet Franc and Syrah that has depth, savoury complexity and a clear regional voice’, Stock added. ‘Royal Slope Riesling was another bright point’.

Oregon excellence: Pinot Noir, Cabernet and white wines

Domaine Serene, one of Oregon’s top producers, took home Best in Show – given to just 0.3% of the nearly 17,000 wines tasted in 2026 – for its 2023 Aspect Pinot Noir. The wine is sourced from the winery’s highest-elevation estate vineyards in the Dundee Hills, one of Willamette Valley’s prime winegrowing appellations. In fact, every one of the previous three Best in Show winners from Oregon (in the 2016, 2020 and 2023 competitions) has been a Pinot Noir from Dundee Hills.

The judges gave Aspect a score of 97 points, noting its ‘impressive craftsmanship’, ‘outstanding fruit’, supple palate and ‘textbook Dundee Hills aromatics of cherry cola and sassafras’. Domaine Serene also earned a Gold medal and 96 points for its ‘seductive’ 2023 Grace Vineyard Pinot Noir, a single-vineyard bottling from its Evenstad Estate, as well as Silver medals for three other Pinot Noirs and two sparkling wines.

To be recognised with a collection of medals ‘is deeply meaningful to our entire vineyard and winemaking team’, said Michael Fay, Domaine Serene’s vice president of winemaking and viticulture. ‘These awards reflect our commitment to wines expressing the character of the Dundee Hills and Willamette Valley while representing the world-class quality Oregon brings to Pinot Noir and sparkling wine. This recognition gives us an important opportunity to introduce more consumers to our wines and the remarkable region we are proud to call home’.

Another 2023 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir, an ‘elegant’ and ‘stylish’ selection from Alexana’s sustainably farmed estate vineyard, won a Platinum medal, scoring 97 points. ‘I see it as a high water mark for us,’ said general manager Jeff Lewis.

‘It’s the coalescence of so many things’ – including the work of new head winemaker Tresider Burns, new director of viticulture Drew Herman, the estate’s conversion to organic farming and a shift in winemaking approach.

Being recognised as ‘one of the great wines of the world’, Lewis added, ‘is a validation of the direction in which our team – in terms of farming and winemaking – had been evolving after 20 years, continuing to push ourselves in a really meaningful way to make wines of unique personalities that express what we feel is so special about Alexana and the Dundee Hills’.

Oregon wineries also collected three other Gold medals, for a total of four, including for Amaterra’s excitingly complex 2022 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (96 points) and Watermill’s rich, supple 2021 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (95) from The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater in Walla Walla Valley, where Bordeaux varieties and Syrah thrive. And bhn’s compelling, layered, off-dry Oregon Riesling 2023 (95) became the first orange wine from the state to receive Gold at DWWA.

In all, the state racked up 72 medals, a new high.

Washington wine winners: Walla Walla and Wahluke Slope reds

Washington winery Echolands earned a Platinum for its ‘lush,’ ‘harmonious’ 2023 Blue Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Franc (97), from one of the coolest sites on the Washington side of Walla Walla Valley. This follows the same wine’s Platinum success last year for the 2022 vintage – quite an achievement for a winery that was founded in 2018 and released its first wines in 2020.

‘The Walla Walla AVA is an incredible place in the world to grow winegrapes’, said Echolands winemaker and general manager Brian Rudin. ‘There is a great diversity of options for winemakers: the higher-elevation, cooler and silt-laden slopes are a sweet spot for Bordeaux varieties, especially when aromatics and elegant textures are the goal’.

The state also saw its strongest-ever Gold medal performance in 2026, with five diverse wines achieving that honour. ‘Washington State continued to have a strong showing with their characteristic powerful styles of wine,’ said James Tidwell MS, DWWA Regional Chair for the USA and Central America. Its medal total for the year came to 46.

While most of the Washington winners were red wines, Echolands’ harmonious 2024 Frenchman Hills Vineyard Block 1 Riesling (96) became the first Gold medal winner from the Royal Slope AVA. ‘We’ve always revered these two vineyards [Blue Mountain and Frenchman Hills] as the best-suited sites in Washington for their respective varieties’, commented Rudin.

UpWest’s 2023 Syrah (95) secured another first: Gold for Washington’s Wahluke Slope appellation.

Two Washington icons also took home Gold. L’Ecole No. 41 demonstrated the benefit of working with a suite of mature vineyards with its 2022 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (95), from vines averaging more than 20 years old. That was just one of its four medals. Like Echolands, Spring Valley Vineyards put Cabernet Franc in the foreground in its 2023 Uriah (96), a blend with 40% Merlot, also from Walla Walla Valley.

Walla Walla’s parallel strength with red Rhône varieties was on display in the robust, meaty Francisca’s Vineyard Syrah 2023 (95) from Hoquetus Wine Co., a tiny producer with a wide range of wines, from Riesling to Roussanne and Nouveau-style Syrah to amphora-fermented Mencía.

Decanter’s annual awards: a guide to global wine standouts

Launched in 2004, DWWA is widely regarded as the global benchmark for wine quality based on its rigorous tasting process, its international reach and the expertise of its judges (245 of them in 2026, more than one-third of them Masters of Wine or Master Sommeliers). ‘With so many choices available, consumers often look for reassurance when selecting a bottle, and the DWWA medals help simplify the decision’, commented DWWA Co-Chair Ronan Sayburn MS.

Twenty-three years on, DWWA has become the world’s largest wine competition, awarding medals in five tiers: the 50 Best in Show, then Platinum and Gold (all scoring 95+ points), followed by Silver and Bronze.

In 2026, US wines won a total of 466 DWWA medals – nearly double the country’s previous highest tally. With two Best in Show wines, five Platinum and 32 Gold (one in the Top 35 Value Golds list), this is the biggest haul of top-tier medals the country has brought in at the competition.

Although California, Oregon and Washington continue to dominate, Texas took home its first Gold medals, while Virginia and Pennsylvania both achieved their third consecutive years with Gold medals. Wineries in Massachusetts, Missouri, Colorado and North Carolina claimed Silver medals.

The full list of 2026 winners from around the world can be found at awards.decanter.com.

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Washington is a winemakers’ playground. Unburdened by strict rules, they can freely experiment with grape varieties, wine styles, vine-growing practices and blends to produce some of the most impressive wines in the US.

Here, Rhône varieties such as Syrah are transformed into wines that don’t mimic their predecessors, but rather express their own regional character or follow winemakers’ unbridled imaginations.

‘You’re free to make your own wine the way you choose,’ says Brian Rudin, winemaker and general manager of Echolands Winery, a two-time Decanter World Wine Awards Platinum winner that also makes multiple Syrah bottlings.

‘You don’t need to make it the way your grandparents did.’

Syrah has been a leader among these experiments since it was planted in Washington 40 years ago, with a rapidly developing range of styles true to the terroirs of the Walla Walla Valley, Red Mountain AVA and beyond.

The grape variety appeals to winemakers and wine lovers for creating approachable, food-friendly wines with ripe fruit flavours, complexity and general lushness.

The rise of Washington Syrah

‘Syrah can be a good introductory wine to newcomers – and we certainly need newcomers – but, at the same time, satisfy the needs of the most advanced wine aficionado,’ says Dick Boushey, a pioneering Washington grapegrower.

‘Syrah’s diversity and adaptability are its strengths. Syrah can take the increased heat that we have seen up and down the West Coast. So, it is a variety that is sustainable for the future.’

The first Washington Syrah plantings are credited to Mike Sauer and his family in 1986, in their Red Willow Vineyard in Yakima Valley.

By contrast, Cabernet Sauvignon was introduced to the state in 1941, with Merlot following in 1965, according to the Washington State Wine Commission, bringing the state renown with bottlings from the likes of Leonetti Cellars and Quilceda Creek.

However, Syrah is now a close competitor with Merlot for the second most-planted red variety, with more than 6,300 hectares to Cabernet’s 19,400+ hectares.

Besides being bottled as a single-varietal wine, Syrah is also used in many blends with other Rhône varieties or Cabernet, a decisive factor in its growth.

Producers such as Columbia Winery and now-closed McCrea Cellars encouraged the early plantings of Syrah, while the bold, modern wines from the likes of K Vintners and Cayuse Vineyards helped put Washington Syrah on the radar of a wider range of wine drinkers.

How Washington Syrah styles differ by region

Washington’s major wine regions yield several distinctive styles of Syrah, according to Boushey.

In the warmer parts of the broad Columbia Valley AVA, the wines tend to be inky, ripe and dark – similar to bold California wines.

In cooler areas, like the foothills of Yakima Valley, the wines show more acidity, savoury notes and lower alcohol levels.

In southeastern Walla Walla Valley, where the AVA spreads across the border between Washington and Oregon, Syrah has become the signature variety of The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater.

Here, the cobblestone-filled soils become the main story, leading to wines with signature notes of earth, meat, iodine and herbs.

‘The radiant heat from the exposed basalt stones contributes greatly to the profile that Rocks wines carry,’ says Trey Busch, winemaker of Sleight of Hands Cellars, a Washington winery that owns Stoney Vines Vineyard in The Rocks. (Because the district falls entirely within Oregon, many Washington wineries end up making wines from both states.)

Busch continues: ‘The vines spend more time "shut down" during the hottest days, preserving energy and simply surviving in such a harsh climate. The vine roots also go extremely deep since there is not much soil or moisture-holding capacity.’

How Washington Syrah styles are shaped in the vineyard

Straddling the windswept ridgeline of Red Mountain, WeatherEye Vineyards makes its own Syrah and provides fruit to wineries such as Liminal and MTN/ART.

There, vineyard manager Ryan Johnson has been fine-tuning the viticulture to coax out Syrah’s best qualities. Working with a little less than three hectares of the 16-hectare vineyard planted with Syrah, he became one of the few Washington growers to use the échalas system, with each vine is trained on its own tall stake.

Since Red Mountain is hot, windy and dry, Ryan increased the vine density, creating more natural shade to protect the fruit. As a result, he gets complex, singular wines from this site.

‘Syrah is very site-driven and also very strongly influenced viticulturally,’ Johnson explains. ‘You can farm it conventionally, you can grow it like Cabernet, you can treat it in the cellar like generic reds, and you'll get a generic red wine. But if you match the right training system, the right terroir and the right clone, and then manage your irrigation and nutrition at the highest level, you’ll get that ultimate expression.’

Responding to current market demands, more young Washington winemakers are turning towards lighter wines, Syrah included.

Since 2019, Kelsey Albro Itämeri of Itä Wines has been picking the fruit she sources from Les Collines Vineyard in southeastern Walla Walla very early to avoid overripeness.

That way she doesn’t need to make water or acid additions to adjust the alcohol level and balance of the wines. As a result, Itä Syrah comes in at only 12% abv, with low levels of tannins.

‘If you want to taste the place, Syrah does an excellent job of doing that,’ says Itämeri.

‘It is also delicious. It’s a little bit wild and a little feral and has some magnetism to it. It’s not just fruity. It is also savoury. It has the edge. It makes you think. As people grow in their love of wine, they don’t just want a fruit bomb, they want a wine that is interesting.’

11 Washington-made Syrahs to try

Wine selection and tasting notes by Gwendolyn Elliott

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By the time the Continental Congress formally approved the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776, winemaking in North America already had a relatively long and uneven history.

The earliest attempts date back to the early decades of European settlement and involved experiments with native grape species.

Typically characterised by high acidity, lower sugar levels, and distinctive flavour profiles, these native grapes produced wines markedly different from their European counterparts, prompting repeated (and often unsuccessful) attempts to establish plantings of Vitis vinifera imported from the Old World.

One of the most notable of such attempts was undertaken by Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States and passionate wine enthusiast, who planted European grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot at his Monticello estate in Virginia.

Despite more than three decades of stubborn experimentation, Jefferson never succeeded in producing a reliable vintage from these vines.

Vitis vinifera’s failures in North America were long attributed to factors such as unfavourable climate, soil conditions, or poor vineyard practices, but a far more significant element at play was likely the presence of phylloxera.

This microscopic root-feeding pest native to North America that would later decimate European vineyards once inadvertently introduced there in the 19th century.

More substantial viticultural progress came with the arrival of Franciscan missionaries in the American southwest, who cultivated the Mission grape, a variety imported from Spain – via Mexico – and later identified as Listán Prieto.

This grape became the foundation of California’s early wine industry, demonstrating the region’s capacity for sustained viticulture.

Indeed, while wine production expanded across the United States, it was California that laid the groundwork for what would become the epicentre of American winemaking, driven in large part by European immigrants bringing both technical expertise and commercial ambition.

Among them were Agoston Haraszthy, a Hungarian who established Buena Vista in Sonoma in 1857, and German immigrant Charles Krug who founded his namesake winery in Napa Valley in 1861.

Prohibition: Time for a reset

As Europe grappled with the devastation of phylloxera towards the end of the 19th century, the United States was laying the groundwork for a constitutional alcohol ban.

Nationwide prohibition officially began in January 1920. Its impact on American wine was immediate and severe.

Most commercial wineries ceased operations altogether, bringing what had so far been a growing and increasingly ambitious industry to an abrupt halt.

Wine production, however, did not disappear entirely. Wineries such as Beaulieu Vineyard and Beringer were able to survive the dry years by producing sacramental wine for religious institutions.

At the same time, a legal loophole created a parallel informal economy centred around domestic winemaking, particularly in immigrant-heavy urban areas like New York, Chicago, and Boston.

By the time Prohibition was repealed in December 1933, only a small fraction of America’s wineries were still operational.

The industry’s entire commercial infrastructure – vineyards, distribution networks, oenological expertise, and consumer culture – had to be rebuilt almost from scratch.

California Chablis, jug wine and post-Prohibition rebirth

For much of post-Prohibition America, wine was primarily an inexpensive intoxicant, often sweet, and produced in ‘Port’ or ‘Sherry’-style expressions that bore little resemblance to their Old World counterparts.

Yet, beneath these high mass-market volumes, some producers began investing seriously in quality and in the long-term potential of American wine.

One of the most transformative moments came in 1938 with the arrival of Russian-born winemaker André Tchelistcheff at Napa’s Beaulieu Vineyard.

Widely regarded as one of the founding architects of modern Californian wine, Tchelistcheff introduced a new level of scientific rigour and technical precision to viticulture and winemaking, drawing heavily on European high standards while adapting practices to Californian conditions.

Through direct mentorship and broader industry influence, Tchelistcheff helped shape a new generation of winemakers, including figures such as Robert Mondavi, Warren Winiarski of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, and Miljenko ‘Mike’ Grgich of Grgich Hills, who would play defining roles in the rise of modern American wine.

Robert Mondavi, in particular, proved instrumental in reshaping the narrative surrounding Californian wine.

Rather than relying on (then common) European-inspired names such as ‘California Chablis’ or ‘Napa Burgundy’, he championed varietal labelling, placing grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay front and centre.

Mondavi also promoted wine as part of a broader cultural lifestyle connected to gastronomy, music, art, and conviviality, helping (re)position it as an aspirational product rather than a merely functional one.

By the 1970s, the United States was producing wines capable of competing with the world’s finest.

British wine merchant Steven Spurrier was sufficiently convinced of such progress that, in 1976, he organised a blind tasting in Paris pitting leading Californian wines against some of France’s most prestigious labels.

The outcome of what would become known as the Judgment of Paris stunned the audience, the jury, and the industry as a whole: Californian wines triumphed in both the white and red categories, defeating celebrated Burgundies and Bordeaux.

The tasting marked a watershed moment for American wine, securing its place on the global fine wine map and fundamentally altering international perceptions of what the country was capable of bottling.

Napa Cab and The Critics

In the years that followed this landmark moment, Californian winemaking increasingly shifted towards a style defined by power, ripeness, and opulence, producing wines marked by intense fruit concentration, elevated alcohol levels, deep extraction, and generous use of new French oak.

This evolution was strongly shaped by the rise of influential critic Robert Parker Jr, who tended to favour this bold, ripe stylistic approach, rewarding it with higher marks in his influential 100-point scoring system.

This philosophy gradually spread beyond California, in a phenomenon referred to, sometimes critically, as Parkerisation.

From Bordeaux to Tuscany and Rioja, producers increasingly embraced riper fruit, softer tannins, later harvesting, and more assertive oak regimes.

They often sought input from influential international consultants such as Michel Rolland, in pursuit of the high critic scores they felt could elevate reputation, demand, and revenues almost overnight.

As the 20th century drew to a close, the United States had entered an entirely new phase of its wine history.

No longer a country merely striving to prove its legitimacy to the global wine establishment, it had become one of the principal forces shaping its direction, aesthetics, and economic dynamics.

A multi-layered landscape

Modern American wine is a remarkably nuanced landscape, one that mirrors the equally complex history of the country itself and the multitude of cultures, migrations, and traditions that shaped its social fabric.

California continues to dominate both production volume and the premium sector, but has become far more stylistically diverse than the blockbuster Cabernet stereotype often associated with it.

Powerful Napa Cab still occupies a central place in the state’s identity, yet California today produces an extraordinary range of styles, from refined coastal Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to Mediterranean varieties such as Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan, and Vermentino.

Zinfandel (arguably America’s most emblematic grape) is also being reinterpreted in more nuanced and site-specific ways.

Meanwhile, fellow West Coast states have, over the past few decades, firmly joined the race for quality wine production.

Oregon has established itself as a leading cool-climate region, particularly for elegant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, while Washington State has earned acclaim for structured Cabernet Sauvignon, Rhône varieties, and vibrant Riesling.

On the East Coast, New York’s Finger Lakes region has steadily built a reputation for refined, high-acid, cool-climate wines, particularly Riesling and Cabernet Franc.

Centuries after Thomas Jefferson’s failed experiments, Virginia has also finally found its winemaking identity, acclaimed for Cabernet Franc and Viognier, grapes well suited to the state’s humid continental climate (though producers are successfully working across a wide range of styles and varieties).

Beyond these, quality wine is produced in almost every American state, from the Mediterranean varieties of Texas to the cool, fresh, and unexpectedly refined whites of Michigan.

Across the country, winemakers now express a striking diversity of approaches and philosophies, with an increasing emphasis on regional identity over homogenised stylistic consistency.

The story of American wine may have begun as a matter of trial and – significant – error, but in the span of a semiquincentennial it has morphed into a deliberate, confident, and increasingly self-assured expression of place, as diverse and expansive as the country itself.

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While cooler-climate regions in the US, such as Oregon’s Willamette Valley, are better known for sparkling wine, a growing cohort of Washington state winemakers have been producing fizz worthy of fireworks.

The state’s principal appellation, the Columbia Valley, is larger than the country of Belgium and a growing region of extreme diversity.

Across its microclimates, sub-appellations, and high-elevation vineyards, traditional sparkling varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir seem to grow as well as the human talent required to transform those grapes into premium wines.

As US wine drinkers prepare to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday on the Fourth of July, here are five reasons to consider a bottle of Washington state fizz for the festivities.

Five sparklingly good reasons to choose Washington state fizz for your Fourth festivities

1. A range of prices puts Washington bubbly in reach of most buyers

Entry-level, traditional-method bottles from established Yakima-based producers such as Treveri start below $20. Newer upstart brand Tirriddis prices its value House line at just over $20 a bottle.

Gabriel Crowell, co-founder and director of winemaking at Tirriddis in Prosser, attributes this competitive edge to the state’s established agricultural infrastructure and what he calls the ‘pursuit of flavor’.

‘What makes sparkling so unique is that you have the option of flavor, but you have the possibility of being able to actually produce enough cases to get a traditional-method Pinot Gris to St Louis, Missouri.’

2. Cool-climate varieties are grown with success across the state

‘I’m always looking for the coolest spots,’ says Chris Sherry, who crafts traditional-method sparkling wines for his brand Elentone in the Woodinville wine district north of Seattle.

He sources fruit from higher-elevation vineyards within the rugged Columbia Gorge.

His preferred sites, such as Celilo on Underwood Mountain and nearby Rainmaker in White Salmon, are further west in the Gorge appellation.

These areas are closer to maritime influences from the Pacific Ocean, and benefit from more moderated temperatures as well as an extended growing season.

‘It just helps things ripen a bit more evenly,’ says Sherry.

3. Styles are suited to every taste

From natural, low-intervention styles, to extended lees ageing, or bottlings made using non-traditional grape varieties, there is something for everyone on Washington’s sparkling spectrum.

Grosgrain winemaker Matt Austin, who helped popularize pet-nat (pétillant naturel) in the state with his Red Mountain Lemberger, now produces a traditional-method wine from the variety, albeit in a largely hands-off style.

‘We still make that wine in a fairly natural way, with no fining, filtration, or cold stabilization, to keep it a little more wild and textural,’ Austin says.

4. Washington fizz is fantastically food friendly

Picnic salads, corn on the cob, burgers, barbecue: few wines are better with a variety of traditional cookout foods than Washington’s many high-acid bubblies.

In Walla Walla, Kinhaven winemaker Kasey Davenport suggests seafood with her fizz, The Four Stars.

‘We love it with oysters, Dungeness crab pasta salad, or a lobster roll.’

5. You can toast to the promise of a brighter tomorrow (like a State official)

Second-generation winemaker Christian Grieb of Treveri in Wapato, Washington, says his brand’s Blanc de Blancs Brut Zero has made its way to the nation’s capital more than once.

‘We’ve been served at the State Department on several occasions,’ Grieb says.

‘We love its mission, which is American diplomacy through American food and wine.’

10 great Washington state sparkling wines to try

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Washington wine came of age with Chateau Ste Michelle, a winery founded in the 1930s.

Between the 1980s and 2021, the winery built enduring relationships with Washington grape growers and renowned wine producers like Ernst Loosen and the Antinori family, cultivating vineyards throughout the state and becoming the global ambassador of Washington wine.

A quality wine industry grew alongside it, with lodestars like Leonetti, Cayuse and Quilceda Creek setting a high bar for wines from Bordeaux and Rhône varieties.

And times were good.

‘Easy growth meant there was an incredible opportunity for almost anyone interested in wine to get into the wine business,’ says Jeff Andrews owner of Trothe.

Recent years, however, have seen uncertainty and industry contraction.

Today, Washington wine is facing the same challenges as the wider wine industry – declining alcohol consumption, competition from other beverage categories, and the economic fallout from tariffs.

In 2023, having changed hands from corporate ownership to private equity, and contending with the same contraction as the rest of the wine industry, Chateau Ste Michelle reset its grape supply by ending grape growing contracts with more than 40% of its farming partners.

‘That’s 65,000 people whose livelihoods and families depend on the Washington wine industry. We're now in balance, but obviously it wasn’t easy to do,’ says former-CEO David Bowman [Bowman was interviewed for this article just before it was announced he was being replaced as CEO by David Richardson].

Chateau Ste Michelle returned to local ownership in 2025, acquired by the Wyckoff family, a Washington agribusiness and winemaking company, spurring optimism and 'an expectation we're going to sell better wines at higher prices – wines that speak more to place,' says Bowman.

Bringing back balance

Washington’s historic association with value, specifically as a value alternative to comparable wines from California or Oregon, has been risky.

The key is to find the intersection between sustaining consumer appreciation for good value while cultivating equal appreciation for the expressive, high-quality wines the state’s terroirs can produce.

How then can Washington bring true ‘value’ through commercial sustainability to its winemakers and industry while continuing to deliver something better every year for customers?

Fresh styles, expression and lonely wineries

Kelly Austin, co-owner of Grosgrain in the Walla Walla Valley AVA, describes this as a moment, 'for estate wineries to shape the story'.

The Cascade Mountains bisect Washington, running north-south from British Columbia to California.

Of the state’s 21 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), 20 are east of the Cascades, and some see less than 250mm of rain a year.

It’s a hard landscape to grow grapes. But there’s fantastic variety there too, in which adventurous winemakers can express all manner of varieties in unique – occasionally lonely – settings.

Vintners are ‘willing to take a real risk to build unique estate programmes’, says Elizabeth Keyser-Hadley, winemaker at Rocky Pond Winery, the only winery in the tiny Rocky Reach AVA.

Wind gusts through this northern section of the Columbia River canyon during spring, and grapes are small and thick-skinned, with rich tannin profiles.

This is evident in wines like Rocky Pond’s Tumbled Granite series; the 2024 white, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Roussanne and Muscat Cannelli, expresses lively acidity and minerality.

So too Grosgrain’s velvet-textured skin-contact Semillon from Evergreen Vineyard in the Ancient Lakes AVA, or Syncline Winery’s vibrant expressions of Picpoul Blanc, Furmint, and traditional-method sparkling in the Columbia Gorge AVA, among many others.

And, stylistically, there’s been a change in direction too, particularly with refreshing wine styles that unify ‘tension and place', says Mark McNeilly, founder and winemaker of Mark Ryan Winery.

Lighter styles, like Kiona’s Chenin Blanc and Lemburger (Blaufränkisch), and Chateau Ste Michelle’s Estival, a Horse Heaven Hills Sauvignon Blanc are on trend, ambassadors for a next generation of wine drinkers.

‘Wineries are focusing on the varieties and styles they are truly passionate about, and that resonates deeply, create a specific statement of site and intent,’ says Jeff Andrews, owner of Trothe in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA.

More than just wine

In step with the rest of the wine industry, aligning Washington wine with lifestyle – nature, friends, family, food, experiences – further emphasises quality over value.

This lifestyle focus has added cachet in a region with dramatic lakes, waterfalls and mountains: ‘all of the things people love about the Pacific Northwest,' says Co Dinn, of Co Dinn Cellars in Yakima Valley.

Washington’s storybook landscapes – snow-capped mountains, evergreen forests, the chiselled, 80-mile long Columbia River Gorge, the vast, arid Horse Heaven Hills and Walla Walla Valley AVAs, and the coastal Puget Sound – expand ‘sense of place’ beyond AVA borders and state lines.

The Yakima Valley offers river rafting, hiking, and cycling which integrate seamlessly with wine tasting at close to 100 venues in the town of Prosser’s Vintners Village.

At some venues, such as the Two Vintners Winery in Woodinville, a play area and foosball table set a dynamic, family-friendly, and welcoming mood.

Other arrangements are much more extensive. In the 1980s, Vince and Carol Bryan established both their own winery and what is now a world class concert venue, the Gorge Amphitheatre in Columbia Valley AVA.

With its sweeping views of basalt cliffs, tufted hillsides dotted with sage grass, the contour of the Columbia River below, and shifting light at sunset, it’s an ethereal backdrop for live music

Everyday connections

‘We think about reaching a new generation of wine lovers every day,’ says Kimberly Harris, co-owner of Bayernmoor Cellars in the Puget Sound AVA.

‘Food is the perfect gateway for guests who are newer to wine.’

Chef Tori Barr’s food and wine programme for Bayernmoor emphasises discovery, pairing the same wine with three different ‘bites’ and an ice cream social as playful entry points.

Washington state’s 2024 Tourism Economic Impact Report notes that tourists in Washington spent the largest part of their travel budgets on food and drink, with a total spend of $6.1 billion in 2024.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, other wineries like Analemma Wines in the Columbia Gorge AVA, Wapato Point Cellars in Lake Chelan, Echolands in Walla Walla, and Freehand Cellars in the Yakima Valley, are among the many adding dining options to their offerings.

If you build it they will come but there’s more to it than that.

‘We are figuring out how to connect with a new generation, and we can’t just wait for people to find us,’ says Kelsey Itameri, owner and winemaker of ïta wines, specialising in minimal intervention and carbonic wines, in Walla Walla.

‘We need to reach out to them – and we will.’

Trothe’s Jeff Andrews says: ‘We still offer incredible quality-to-price ratios. However, our real opportunity today is positioning ourselves as the premier discovery choice.

‘Washington isn't just the budget pick anymore. Some of the most exciting wines in the world are being made here.’

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This is our second annual list of Decanter’s Top 50 US Wines. My hope is that our list of wines inspires conversation and sparks disagreement.

That it makes people take note of the regions beyond those you think of first when you think of the wines being produced in America’s wine country. There are some spectacular wines throughout the US.

I feel like we’re in the process of both getting started and figuring it out. I guess that’s life in a nutshell. I work with a very small team of freelance writers, and I’m the only full-time person at Decanter in the US, so, with limited resources, we are doing what we can to maximise our scope.

We’ve expanded and moved coverage around in some areas, done more in others, and, regrettably but necessarily, less in others. It is a challenging landscape for media, and while it hasn’t been a perfect year for our US team or me when it comes to expanding coverage, I think we’re moving in the right direction.

A year for white wines

Over the course of the year, Decanter gave about 30 100-point scores to current-release wines in 2025. Those numbers are split nearly evenly between Bordeaux, Napa and the Rhône Valley.

Only three of those wines were white wines. The iconic old vine Roussanne from Château de Beaucastel and two Chardonnays, one from Australia’s Margaret River and one from the Willamette Valley.

That meagre number includes my first-ever 100-point wine, the 2023 Bethel Heights Chardonnay, which you’ll read more about later, but this rudimentary analysis stands in stark contrast to what we’re seeing in white wine production and quality here in the US.

There was no better year for white wine than 2025, and it is reflected in our countdown. A cool vintage in Washington (and Oregon’s) Columbia Valley created two 97-point white wines, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Roussanne, from a region that is often too hot to achieve the balance necessary for white wines to really shine.

Chardonnays from the Willamette Valley, Sonoma Coast and Santa Barbara continue to impress in 2025, with warming conditions often having them outpacing their Burgundian cousin, Pinot Noir.

There are 13 Chardonnays in this Top 50 list, including a stunning wine from the Santa Cruz Mountains.

For good measure, there’s also Carricante from Sonoma County, a Chenin Blanc from Mendocino and a Finger Lakes Riesling that we thought were exceptional.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: 50-41

Tasting notes and scores are linked in this list

50: Barboursville Vineyards, Octagon, Monticello, Virginia, USA 2017

49: L’Aventure, Estate Reserve, Paso Robles, California 2022

48: Apollo’s Praise, Dry Riesling, Lahoma Vineyard, Finger Lakes, NY 2024

47: Joseph Phelps, Proem #5 Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County, California, 2022

46: Valdemar Estates, Las Canteras Syrah, The Rocks District, Columbia Valley, Oregon, 2023

45: Domaine de la Côte, La Côte, Sta Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California, 2022

44: Résonance, Koosah Vineyard Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2023

43: Rebrook Cellars, Montagna Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, 2022

42: Ridge Vineyards, Lytton Springs, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California, 2023

41: Argot, Sage Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, 2022

Wines of place and wonderful places

Our first 10 wines show a fantastic range, welcoming Virginia, while Texas shows up a little further up the list, both for the first time.

We also have a repeat producer, Apollo’s Praise, representing the Finger Lakes. California is still the big dog, making more than 80% of the country’s wines. The Golden State appears 30 times, with most of our coverage in Napa and Sonoma, and that shows here.

There are a couple of wines from regions in the state that I cover, cooler climate appellations like Mendocino, the Santa Cruz Mountains, and we’ve seen more coverage from our Santa Barbara County correspondent, Vanessa Rason, resulting in more wines on this year’s list.

Oregon, both in the Willamette Valley and the Rocks District, which is technically part of the Columbia Valley (with Washington), is well represented, with 15 entries. A further validation of the state’s incredible terroir and talent.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: 40-31

Tasting notes and scores are linked in this list

40: Reynvaan Family Vineyards, Stonessence The Rocks District, Walla Walla Valley, Oregon,2022

39: Thomas Fogarty, Damiana Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, 2023

38: Ernest Vineyards, Joyce Vineyard Chardonnay, West Sonoma Coast, California, USA 2022

37: William Chris, Enchanté, Texas Hill Country, Texas, 2023

36: Evesham Wood, Cuvée J Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2023

35: Devison Vintners, Malbec, Walla Walla Valley, Columbia Valley, Oregon, 2022

34: Minus Tide, Chenin Blanc, Sterling Ranch, Mendocino County, California, 2024

33: Beaux Frères, Rogue Vines Chardonnay, Ribbon Ridge, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2023

32: FUTO Estate, CFX, Napa Valley, California, 2022

31: Gran Moraine, Dropstone Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2022 

The beauty and bravery of small producers

The reality is that this list is almost exclusively comprised of small producers. There are a few brands that are part of larger corporate entities, but this Top 50 features many small family businesses making some of America’s best wines.

In a challenging time for wine and for small businesses, there is plenty to be hopeful about here. Sure, some of these wines are hard to find, but their quality and recognition stem from being produced in small lots, with incredible attention to detail, immaculate farming, and undeniable winemaking talent.

From the likes of the talented Joe Ryan making the wines at Sonoma Coast’s Ernest Vineyards, to the long-time commitment to the Willamette Valley of the Casteel family at Bethel Heights, and the young bootstrapping upstarts at Minus Tide making imaginative and classic wines.

I’m more proud of that element of this list than anything else. I hope you will seek out these wines and the producers making them; they deserve your support.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: 30-21

Tasting notes and scores are linked in this list

30: Jett, Skysill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Valley, Columbia Valley, Washington, 2022

29: Paul Lato, Le Souvenir, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara County, California, 2022

28: Hirsch Vineyards, Raschen Ridge Pinot Noir, West Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County, California, 2022

27: Abbott Claim, X Omni Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2022

26: Cimento, Cabernet Sauvignon, Stone Valley Estate Vineyard, The Rocks District, Columbia Valley, Oregon,2021

25: Kathryn Kennedy, Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, 2022

24: Purlieu, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, California, 2022

23: Centennial Mountain, Carricante, Sonoma County, California, 2022

22: Crowley, Phoebe Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2023

21: Storm Wines, Duvarita Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California, 2023 

The rising tide of American wine

In what has to be described as a challenging time for the wine industry and America’s global reputation more broadly, American wine is more ready than ever for an international audience.

Long looked at as a land of bombastic and overripe wines, America’s current generation of talented winemakers has turned this narrative on its head. Chasing balance and freshness, this crop of American wines shows typicity and place through the restrained use of new oak, eschewing over-ripeness and higher alcohols in favour of acidity, minerality and balance.

It’s an exciting time for American wine. The wines defy the stereotypes of the Parker era; those days are in the past and the future is very bright.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: 20-11

Tasting notes and scores are linked in this list

20: RAEN Winery, Fort Ross-Seaview Sea Field Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California, 2023

19: Drew Family Cellars, Radiolaria Chardonnay, Mendocino Ridge, Mendocino County, California, 2023

18: Paradigm, Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, California, 2021

17: Littorai, Mays Canyon Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California, USA 2023

16: The Black Square, Cabernet Sauvignon, The Rocks District, Walla Walla Valley, Oregon, 2022

15: Bryant Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, 2022

14: White Walnut Vineyard, Estate Chardonnay, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2023

13: Bedrock Wine Co, Areio e Vento e Amor, Contra Costa County, California, 2022

12: Di Costanzo, Montecillo Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Moon Mountain, Sonoma County, California, 2022

11: Granville, Koosah Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2023 

Number one

In a year of brilliant white wines, it was no surprise to me that the top wine on this list would be a Chardonnay and upon further consideration, a cool climate wine at that.

The High Wire Chardonnay tells a captivating story: that of a pioneering family, the Casteels, who purchased vineyards planted in 1978 upon their arrival in the Willamette Valley a year later.

A story of resilience, as this California heritage planting, Wente Clone, on its own roots, did not reliably ripen until fairly recently. It is a brilliant wine made by one of the country’s best winemakers, Ben Casteel.

You can read all about it here; it’s the first wine (and only so far) that I’ve ever given a perfect score to.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: The Top 10

Tasting notes and scores are linked in this list

10: Pilcrow, Granite Lake Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain Napa Valley, California, 2022

9: Domain Jean François, Sanford & Benedict Proprietor’s Vineyard The Twelve Rows Chardonnay, Sta Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California, 2021

8: Prophet & Poet, Ghost Cat Upper Barn Chardonnay, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County, California, 2021

7: Gård, Roussanne, Grand Klasse, Royal Slope, Columbia Valley, Washington, 2022

6: Cathiard Vineyard, St Helena, Napa Valley, California, 2022

5: Rhys Vineyards, Blanc de Blancs, Mt Pajaro Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, 2018

4: Martin Woods, Hyland Vineyard Pinot Noir, McMinnville, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2023

3: Colgin Cellars, IX Estate Syrah, Pritchard Hill, Napa Valley, California, 2021

2: Occidental, Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California, 2022

1: Bethel Heights, The High Wire Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2023 

Top 50 US Wines 2025: How the selections were made

The selections for Decanter’s Top 50 US wines were chosen from over 3,500 wines tasted and reviewed between December 2024 and November 2025. To be considered, they must be current or soon-to-be-released wines; library wines are not eligible.

They were selected to show a range of styles, places and exciting and emerging winemaking talent. This is not intended to be a list of the top-scoring wines of the year, but wines that show the brilliance and diversity of America’s winemaking talents and regions.

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2022 will be a memorable vintage for me, as my first in the role as Decanter’s (then) US Editor, I found myself on Red Mountain as the harvest crescendo was reaching its climax. It was October, yet the weather was warm, clear, and sunny.

I even picked up doughnuts for the vineyard crew at Kiona.

Growers and winemakers alike were thankful for that unusually warm autumn, as it was a cool, challenging vintage, the likes of which the region had not seen in a very long time.

Columbia Valley vintage ratings

2022 4/5

A long cool vintage, with the requisite heat to move ripeness along, if only just. The story of the 2022 vintage is the story of patience and perspective. Cool conditions early made many uneasy, but for those who appreciate elegance, this is a unique vintage for Washington. Cool conditions led to lower alcohols, higher acidity, and fantastic white wines. Ageability is here, and the tannins, which can be unwieldy at times, are far more approachable in the 2022 vintage. It is a vintage that will be touted for its refinement and balance but may take a few years to be fully appreciated.

2021 3/5

A vintage beset by record-shattering temperatures, 2021, in terms of wine quality, was a vintage for those pursuing balance. The heat dome in June, coupled with continued hot weather through harvest, made acidity and freshness harder to come by for many Columbia Valley producers. Winemakers in slightly cooler sites benefited, as did those who relied on proactive vineyard management. Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon showed that they could take the heat for the most part, and many up-and-coming producers made wines that stood out by picking earlier and benefiting from sites with strong mineral character.

2020 3/5

In this slightly warmer-than-average year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced wineries to develop strategies to continue making wine. The best show finesse and balance, with fine examples, particularly from the Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs. In September, wildfires raged to the south in Oregon, complicating ripening and affecting some vineyards with smoke taint. However, there wasn’t the same widespread damage here as in parts of Oregon and California.

‘This was the coolest and wettest spring I can remember,’ says Washington State grower, Dick Boushey. ‘We had a late bloom by two to three weeks. There was snow and frost between bud break and bloom. Then it was consistently warm. And finally, the most fabulous fall I have ever seen.’

‘2022 was the second coolest vintage in the state’s history, after 2011,’ says Matías Kúsulas, head of winemaking and viticulture at Washington’s Gård Vintners, situated in the Royal Slope appellation. ‘Everything was delayed, but we were lucky to benefit from a very long season after veraison. No heat spikes, and a growing season, with a very long, warm tail.’

In summary, the 2022 vintage was a throwback to the region’s early days, when acidity was more pronounced and alcohol levels were lower. It was a fantastic vintage for white wines. I’d argue it was the best I’ve encountered in the Columbia Valley.

It was not a ‘set it and forget’ year for the absentee winemaker, however, and those who spent plenty of time in their vine rows made the best, and in some cases, fantastically elegant wines.

See all 300+ of the 2022 Columbia Valley wines tasted from Washington and Oregon

A snowy start

The cool start to the spring season followed a very wet winter, which recharged soil moisture in the dry region of the Columbia Valley.

For the most part, bud break lagged a few weeks behind more recent ‘average’ vintages, though some early budding occurred. A snowstorm hit the Columbia Valley, with blizzard conditions between April 11 and April 14, landing between bud break and bloom, pushing things back even further.

The bizarre, blizzard-like storm left multiple inches of snow on the ground throughout Eastern Washington and Oregon, from 2 to 5 inches (5-12cm), and saw temperatures dip into the low 20°s(-6C).

There was some bud damage to early ripening varietals, but as the growing season went on, it resolved into one known for its higher yields. Driven largely by the extremely small crop that marked the previous, 2021 vintage.

Warm weather and a perfect October

A late-blooming summer finally arrived towards the end of June, as the wetter-than-normal conditions finally tapered off and warm, dry weather moved in. July and August both saw above-average heat.

However, ripeness lagged so far behind that those two warm months did not put much of a dent in the impact of the cool, wet early season.

Most of the Columbia Valley’s harvest activity happens in September, but in 2022, very little fruit came in before October. In general, most winemakers needed every minute of the warm, dry October to bring everything home.

The month delivered, with perfect conditions, right up until 20 October. The early part of the month saw ten days of temperatures over 80°

These abnormal late seasons made for a perfect landing for the cool, unusual vintage. Finishing with above-average acidity and lower than typical brix. Elegance was out there for the winemakers who sought it.

Columbia Valley’s top 10 wines of 2022

(Full reviews are linked in the wine name.)

Cimento, Orselli Vineyard Syrah, The Rocks District 98 points

Gård, Grand Klasse Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 98 points

Martin Woods, The Rocks Syrah, The Rocks District 98 points

Avennia, Sestina, Columbia Valley 97 points

Betz Family, La Serenne Syrah, Yakima Valley 97 points

Devison, Phantom Lamb, Royal Slope 97 points

Gård, Grand Klasse Roussanne, Royal Slope 97 points

Jett, Skysill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Valley 97 points 

Reynvaan Family Vineyards, Stonessence, The Rocks District 97 points

Trothe, Sauvignon Blanc, Horse Heaven Hills 97 points

A Columbia Valley curveball

After all the drama, 2022 may be a vintage that further separates those who are meticulous about their vineyard sources from those who are not.

In a region that has one of the most predictable climate patterns in America’s various wine regions, 2022 threw winemakers and winegrowers a curveball.

‘2022 caught a lot of people out,’ says Alex Stewart, head winemaker at Matthews Estate. ‘We’re in a region that can be consistent to the point of boredom. The cool vintage surprise that was 2022 caused some winemakers who weren’t used to seeing this degree of vintage variation to freak out a little bit, and many people pulled the trigger too early.’

‘We were waiting on a freeze that never happened. Some people may have picked a little early, which can create a mid-palate void,’ says Matías Kúsulas.

In a region that is largely a desert climate, it can be common for winemakers not to spend much time in the vineyards. The reliable conditions create a ‘set it and forget it’ attitude.

But in a tricky year for the typically predictable Columbia Valley, attention made all the difference.

‘You had to have people in the rows,’ says David Wanek, proprietor of Cimento in The Rocks District, ‘and if you didn’t, you can have variability. 2022 was a challenging year in the vineyard, managing the canopy, dealing with heat spells and needing to drop fruit.

‘There were a lot of variables to try and get control of. Having a firm grasp of the farming really allowed us to do it the right way.’

Washington’s best white wine vintage yet?

Rhône varieties had a fantastic 2022 vintage, with Grenache, Syrah, Roussanne, and Viognier all shining.

The most compelling story for me is about the white wines that came from 2022. The acidities capture what is far too often missing from white wines from this region. A fresh and lively character that can balance the ripeness that this region easily achieves.

The vintage created extraordinary white wines for the Columbia Valley. The ability to retain acidity has created multi-dimensional wines from Sauvignon Blanc, to Chardonnay, to the Gård Roussanne, Grand Klasse, a runaway for the best white wine I’ve ever tasted from Washington.

‘We had nights at 45° in the summer,’ recalls Kúsulas. ‘It allows the grapes to retain their acids. The fruit had high levels of both malic and tartaric acids, which means you can produce more lactic acid, creating texture and a complex mouthfeel.’

‘2022 turned out to be a fantastic year for white wines in Washington, says Trothe winemaker, Ray McKee. ‘Thanks to a late and remarkably cool start to the growing season. A mild, mid-April frost trimmed the crop a little, particularly in our white varietals, setting the stage for concentration and nuance. That cool stretch lasted well into July, and it really shaped the vintage.’

Indeed, a cool, collectable vintage for lovers of fresher styles of wines, and for those new to these wines from Washington and Oregon, the top bottles below are a must-try, a brilliant introduction to the region in a cool year.

Columbia Valley 2022: 30 of the top wines tasted

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Oregon vintage report: Tricky Willamette Valley 2022 sticks the landing

In the Pacific Northwest, there are two larger wine regions. The Willamette Valley in Oregon, and much of Washington’s wine country within the Columbia Valley.

While the two regions may be somewhat proximate, the dynamic topography, namely the Cascade Mountain range, leaves them worlds apart in terms of the growing conditions and the style of wines they produce.

One produces, mainly anyway, cool climate grapes long known to hail from Burgundy in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and Washington’s Columbia Valley is mostly an arid, desert climate where you can grow anything from Riesling to Cabernet Sauvignon.

Oregon’s Willamette Valley in full swing

John Grochau, who makes the wines at his own GC Wines, as well as for a few other brands in the Willamette Valley, finds similarities between this year and a recent vintage. ‘I think this vintage is going to look pretty similar to 2023, when it’s all said and done,’ Grochau concluded. ‘We had a warm, steady and dry summer, producing small grapes with thick skins. We have a lighter crop this year, with some good concentration in the berries.’

It was, in general, a steady growing season, but things ramped up in August.

‘In late August, we had quite a bit of heat, advancing sugars in the grapes ahead of phenolic ripeness,’ Grochau said. ‘I was getting concerned about having to rush to pick, but some cool weather came in on the 6 September, and a bit of rain came in and slowed it down perfectly, giving the fruit more balance.’

September will be a busy one up and down the Willamette Valley, with cooler sites being picked towards the end of the month, while some of the warmer spots and particular varieties came off the vine in September’s first few days.

‘Our first pick was Albariño from the Columbia River Gorge on Friday, September 5, Grochau recalled. ‘We started harvesting Pinot Noir for red wine on September 10, and will likely be picking every day for the next few weeks. The grapes are coming along fast. The rest of September will be very intense, processing lots of fruit and working through the logistics of getting everything in at the right time in a small winery.’

Staying steady in Washington State

In the hot and dry conditions that are perennially a part of a desert growing season, winemakers concern themselves with things like dehydration and heat spikes, but so far, 2025 has really played ball.

‘2025 has been beautiful thus far, and we have a finish line in sight,’ reported Seth Kitzke, of Upsidedown Wine, sourcing from Washington’s Yakima Valley.

‘The spring warmed up quicker than anticipated and was pretty dry. This early warmth expedited our time through bloom and fruit set, requiring some serious attention to detail early on. This year we lacked the moisture that is usually present in our northern-facing sites, so we had to intervene a little earlier than usual.’

While things got off to a fairly rapid start, they slowed to a steady pace, letting the grapes take the time they needed so that phenolic ripeness wasn’t lagging behind sugar accumulation.

‘The warm spring had me worried for a bit about a hot year, but we tapered off to a very average year that has just been consistent. Without big stretches of high heat and only a handful of days over 100° (37.7 °C), the vines didn’t ever seem to fully shut down,’ Kitzke said.

‘I think this, combined with an earlier fruit set, really made for amazing depth and flavours early. The fruit has been tasting good since the start of August, which is unusual.’

Even though steady growing conditions have been the rule, there are a few curveballs that are keeping Washington winemakers on their toes.

‘The yields, specifically in our Tremasi Vineyard on Red Mountain, are really low for our Syrah,’ Kitzke reported.

‘I think that perhaps the warm spring gave the Syrah a harder time.

‘Cabernet Franc, I think, could be another varietal to keep an eye on. It coloured up very early, and the phenolics were ahead of Cabernet and Merlot for us. We already have two picks of CF in the door. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason why some varieties are ready before others this year.

‘You kinda have to throw your typical picking order schedule out the window this year and trust your palate!’

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Actor Kyle MacLachlan grew up in rural Yakima, Washington, and went to college in Seattle at the University of Washington.

MacLachlan starred in Dune, Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks early in his career, a resume that set him up as a cult figure of sorts.

A very successful actor, in both film, television and theatre, he has spent much of his life living between New York City and Los Angeles.

Yet MacLachlan always felt deeply drawn to home and – despite a vocal appreciation for a fine cup of coffee – believes in the state’s potential as a world-class place to produce fine wine.

Notes and scores for Pursued by Bear wines below

No place like home

For MacLachlan, the idea of making a Washington wine was a way to spend time with his father (who passed away in 2011). ‘My return to Washington was motivated by a few different things,’ he says.

‘A big reason was to spend more time with my dad, to be honest. He was getting older. When I was growing up, he was a gentleman farmer with orchards and gardens. He loved it. I knew he’d love those elements about the growing and making of wine, too.

He continues: ‘I always say that men’s relationships with their fathers are about doing things together, you’re not talking, you’re facing forward, doing something. Wine was something we could do together. I’d pick him up, and we’d drive to Walla Walla, and work on this. It was lovely for us to be able to do that for the first few years of this project.’

MacLachlan definitely had a Washington wine ‘a-ha!’ moment.

‘Indeed, it was a single vineyard red blend, a 1995 vintage from the Elerding Vineyard, near where I grew up in Yakima, made by Wineglass Cellars (which since closed in 2015) in the Rattlesnake Hills appellation,’ he recalls.

‘When I tasted that, I’ll be honest, I was sceptical, but it was delicious. Not long after that, I tasted a 1999 Dunham Cellars Syrah for my wedding reception, made by Eric Dunham (MacLachlan’s first winemaker). I knew there was something serious here.’

The Bard’s wine

In 2005, MacLachlan partnered with Eric Dunham at Walla Walla’s Dunham Cellars to release his wine Pursued by Bear, a nod to the odd stage direction in Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale.

It was initially a single Cabernet Sauvignon project, sourced from two vineyards in the broader Columbia Valley appellation, using 100% new French oak.

‘Growing up, there was no winemaking world here in Washington. Some of the earlier wines we produced at Pursued by Bear were quite good. It was validating, not just for me, but for my sense of pride in my home state.

‘I made 300 cases in my first vintage, at Dunham Cellars. I remember telling Eric, well, that was fun. And the winemaker Eric Dunham said: “No, now you have to sell it. And now you have to start thinking about the next vintage”.

‘Early on, I could pop in and pop out, and it was fun, but it was more something I did when I could. In 2014, I started getting really serious about it. I started paying attention to the different cooperages, the vineyard sources.’

Truth be told, MacLachlan doesn’t talk about his wines like your typical celebrity who has started a wine brand. He’s decidedly tuned in to things on both the growing and production side.

Citing cooperages, vineyards and appellations like someone who is clearly paying attention to how all of those things can impact the wine. He’s paying attention and learning as he goes.

A sense of place, and home

MacLachlan explains: ‘Eric [Dunham] introduced me to the wine community in Walla Walla, and I fell in love with it all. I have some credibility, too, because I’m not just some actor from Hollywood, dropping in to do a vanity project. I grew up here.’

In 2008, MacLachlan added a Syrah, the Baby Bear, which coincided with the birth of his son. He has added the Twin Bear bottlings since then, including a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon. The Twin Bear wines will be designated as single-appellation or single-vineyard wines.

These days, MacLachlan collaborates with long-time Washington winemaker Dan Wampfler, who currently makes the wine (alongside his wife, Amy) at Abeja Cellars, having also worked at Dunham Cellars and Columbia Crest.

While deferring to Wampfler – ‘I work with people who are really smart’ MacLachlan explains – he is involved in blending decisions.

‘I sit with them a couple times a year for blending,’ says MacLachlan, as well as weighing in on the oak selection.

A Washington boy through and through, MacLachlan knows that the region may have a style, or as he calls it, a ‘Washington profile’, while at the same time boasting a diversity of terroirs and vineyard sites.

‘We’ve been sourcing from the Sagemoor group in White Bluffs, and Les Collines in Walla Walla, which has a new vineyard manager, though the vineyard has been a prominent one here in Washington for a long time.’

MacLachlan assumed sole proprietorship of the brand in 2016. The same year, Pursued by Bear launched an entry-level red wine and a Chardonnay (which came online in 2023), aimed at larger production and national distribution, called Bear Cub.

‘That was the year that I seemed to have gotten very excited about this project, and started sourcing fruit from a number of different vineyards,’ he explains. ‘My exuberance led to us having more wine than we knew what to do with, which became sort of a problem, which we solved by making more wine.’

While the industry is experiencing a difficult moment, MacLachlan is fully committed to his home state and the wines that can be produced throughout Washington.

He’s navigated partnering and then going solo, growing the brand and notably developing relationships with growers and winemakers that show his belief in Washington’s wine community.

As Dorothy said, there’s no place like home.

The current releases of Pursued by Bear:

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Cadence on Washington’s Red Mountain

The Puget Sound is a part of the Salish Sea, a marginal sea, off the Pacific Ocean, which also includes the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia, extending north of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Puget Sound, which stretches from Deception Pass on Whidbey Island in the north to Olympia at the southern end, maintains a moderate maritime climate, creating wines that are uniquely distinct within the state of Washington.

The AVA goes from the Washington border with Canada, to well south of Olympia.

Scroll down for notes and scores of a selection of wines from the Puget Sound AVA

The Puget Sound is the coolest and wettest growing region in the Pacific Northwest, on the climatic edge of ripeness for Vitis vinifera.

In comparison to cool regions like the Willamette Valley and the cool Columbia Gorge appellation, which is shared between Oregon and Washington, the Puget Sound tends to have cooler spring and summer temperatures due to its proximity to the large body of water for which it is named.

Like the Columbia Gorge, it sits outside the larger Columbia Valley appellation.

A dramatic departure for Washington State wine

This means that the challenges to achieving ripeness have driven varietal selection. Pinot Noir is the most widely planted variety, followed by Riesling. In addition, aromatic white grapes have long been cultivated here, particularly on some of the 175 islands within the Puget Sound.

Varieties like Madeleine Angevine, Müller-Thurgau, Siegerrebe and red hybrid grapes like Regent and Marquette have thrived in the region.

Spencer Williams makes the wines at San Juan Vineyard, with vines planted on San Juan Island. The winery was founded in 1996. The Corliss family of wines operates San Juan Vineyard.

The fruit is pressed on the island, but the winemaking takes place in Walla Walla, where Williams also produces the Tranche wines.

‘The varieties themselves don’t present any inherent challenges,’ says Williams. ‘They are actually quite fun to work with, and they make unique and distinct wines. The real challenge is the growing conditions of the Puget Sound.

‘Some vintages are better than others, but there are no ideal growing seasons in this cool and wet climate. The picking window is quite short, and making the right picking decisions is crucial to achieving balanced acidity and ripe flavours while avoiding potentially disastrous disease pressure from prolonged exposure to moisture late in the season.’

A Pinot-focused future?

Given the climate, I have been dubious about the ability for Pinot Noir to get fully phenolically ripe here in the Puget Sound, however, a recent tasting, with a handful of the region’s producers have convinced me that it’s possible and that in warmer vintages, like the 2018 growing season, the wines can be of a very high quality.

Tom Wilson makes the wines at Chateau NoElle in Snoqualmie, Washington, where tall Douglas firs and Western red cedar trees hold dominion over the western foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

Like many producers in the Puget Sound, Tom also makes wines from Eastern Washington. A Syrah, Malbec and Cabernet Franc among others, from the Gamache Vineyard in the Columbia Valley AVA.

They made the first estate wines in 2017 and saw immediate affirmation with recognition from the Seattle Wine Awards and regional media, including Wine Press Northwest, which recognised both the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir they were producing.

The 2018 Pinot Noir, sourced from a vineyard in Auburn, Washington (note and review below), has been one of the most exciting wines I’ve tasted. Its balance and fruit depth astonished me, as did my clear lack of understanding of what was possible from this region. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the very least.

Bayernmoor Cellars, with vineyards in Stanwood, Washington, toward the northern end of the AVA, has also bet big on Pinot Noir.

‘The rewarding part is that Pinot loves warm spots in cool climates, like our site. When we finish the stress of the growing season and bring in the fruit, we are rewarded with

wonderfully ripe aromas and flavours,’ says Bayernmoor winemaker Larry Harris.

On edge

So much has to go right in the Puget Sound AVA for the wines to shine like the 2018 Chateau NoElle, DeVorah Creek Pinot Noir, for Wilson, it’s a constant challenge.

‘Where do I start? The two biggest threats are that of early rain in the fall,’ Wilson explains. ‘With the resulting onset of disease pressure in the form of powdery mildew and botrytis before adequate sugar accumulates and acids drop for still wine production. When this doesn’t work out, the good news is that we can still make high-quality sparkling wine.’

‘Then, there are the rain or wind events during flowering, which limit yields. The entire growing season is one organic spray after another. We average 12-13 sprays each year.

‘Then there’s deer, birds, bees… The resident population of flickers and robins have figured out they can hang on our nets and eat the fruit through the nets. It’s maddening!’ Wilson exclaimed.

Future sweet-spot?

As climate change has shortened growing seasons in established regions, the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean have kept appellations like Napa, Sonoma and the Willamette Valley in the viticultural sweet-spot.

Yet winegrowers in those regions are making adjustments. Northern exposures, which were once thought incapable of ripening fruit, have been seen as a way to manage a warming climate.

Vineyards are being planted closer and closer to the ocean in Sonoma and Oregon.

In the cool Puget Sound, it’s also setting the region up as one that can deliver reliable ripeness while maintaining crisp acids, lower alcohols and fresh fruit. ‘I tend to think viticulture in Western Washington may grow to some degree, but may be limited by available, suitable sites that remain affordable,’ predicts Chuck Jackson of Skagit Crest.

‘We believe the way forward is sustainable farming,’ Harris adds. Bayernmoor recently received certification as a certified Sustainable WA vineyard. ‘We focus on producing the highest quality fruit and not the highest quantity.

‘In this region, you cannot do both. Every season, we drop fruit to concentrate the flavours and increase ripening in the remaining clusters, resulting in greater complexity,’ Harris concludes.

Puget Sound top wines to seek out

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I did a lot of tasting in March that doesn’t really count towards my own tally.

In one instance, I was backing up our Napa Correspondent, Jonathan Cristaldi, at Heitz Cellars, with an epic vertical of about 45 wines, which you’ll hear more about later this year.

I also helped out our Sonoma Correspondent Ana Carolina Quintela on the Sonoma Coast. We tasted about 85 wines in one day with some of the region’s top producers.

For my own reviewing, I just about hit 150 wines in March. There were some real gems in there, mostly from Oregon and Washington, with a few delightful wines from California showing up as well and a single wildcard from Bolgheri from a virtual tasting I took part in.

March is also Washington wine month, and so I attended Taste Washington in Seattle, where I found a few new names that I’ll be seeking out to share with our readers soon.

Scroll down for scores and reviews of Clive’s selection of wines from his March tastings

An epic day in Napa Valley

My afternoon with Carlton McCoy and Jonathan Cristaldi got off to an early and somewhat auspicious start. My 8:25 am flight from Seattle to Sacramento boarded early, despite the sideways rain in Seattle. I was feeling pretty good about my ability to get into the Valley early and maybe even have a few minutes to gather myself. My airline would have other plans.

We waited 40 minutes for the pilot, who was doing who knows what, and then sat on the runway for another 25 minutes even though we were number one for take off. Despite that we landed only 15 minutes late, and it’s a quick jaunt to the rental car counter.

Surprise! They rented me a car with an expired registration, so that tacked on another 20 minutes to my waiting around, but before too long I was on my way.

If you’re lucky enough to ever visit the Heitz estate, it’s like going back in time to a Napa Valley that’s unrecognisable today. The old stone winery, built in 1898 has withstood many an earthquake, but the modern winery has crafted some of Napa’s most historic and undoubtedly elegant wines.

It was an epic tasting, and I don’t want to give anything away because you’ll be able to read all about it later this year in the Decanter print magazine. But, I’ll say it was a once-in-a-lifetime tasting experience.

Pigs and Pinot Noir

The next day, it was straight to work as I met up with my two fellow judges to taste blind through the 61 entries in Charlie Palmer’s Pigs & Pinot event. The wine side of things for this event, is taken care of by the legendary Bob Cabral.

I got to rub elbows with some of my favourite California Pinot people, including Ashley Holland and the inimitable Greg Brewer from Santa Barbara County.

There was fantastic food and wine, and great storytelling, from Tom Rochioli, Michael Browne and Bob Cabral himself, who apparently knows everyone.

Legendary Sonoma Coast

I was fortunate enough to join our Sonoma correspondent on a big tasting of over 80 wines on the Sonoma Coast. We had a great sit down with Ted Lemon at Littorai and Catherine Kistler at Occidental, who continue to craft delicious wines.

The Freeman wines and their beautiful estate continue to impress, as do some rising stars in the region, like Ernest Vineyards and their talented winemaker Joseph Ryan.

A cheeseburger from Graton’s classic stop, the Underwood Bar and Bistro, made the stop complete.

The cool side of Washington

Perhaps my biggest surprise when it comes to wine in over a year came from a fantastic day tasting with some producers from the Puget Sound AVA hosted at Bayernmoor Cellars in Woodinville, Washington.

This appellation is often forgotten as it is a complete departure from the rest of Washington state, with a focus on outside-the-box aromatic whites like Siegerebbe and Iskorka and, more and more, Pinot Noir.

I tasted delightful wines made in the very wet, and most of the year, equally cool region where I live. It was an exercise in open-mindedness for me that paid real dividends, and you’ll read more about it later this month. There were impressive wines made by people with a pioneering spirit right on the climatic edge.

The wine that was a complete shock to the system, which wholly reframed the region for me, came from a tiny producer in Snoqualmie, Washington, a place I associate with hiking and mountain biking called Chateau NoElle.

Its 2018 Revelation Pinot Noir from Devorah Creek Vineyard in the Seattle suburb of Auburn nearly knocked me out of my chair. In an age where terms like ‘awesome’ or ‘iconic’ are often overused, the word ‘revelation’ here is apt.

I took the wine home with me that evening to share with a few friends, and it got better over the course of the evening. It shows, for me, the future of Pinot Noir and perhaps Washington viticulture in this region next to the mighty Puget Sound. Winemaker Tom Wilson and his wife Lorrie are doing amazing things in very unexpected places.

In addition, there was a fantastic Washington state Sauvignon Blanc from Trothe, a great San Luis Obispo Chardonnay and the Gamine wines. They come from one half of Portland’s Division Winemaking Co duo, Kate Norris.

These beautiful Syrahs speak to the old world elegance that many love from the northern reaches of the Rhône Valley; these are worth seeking out for lovers of Syrah that goes beyond fruit and bombast.

You can see all the wines we taste in our Decanter database.

If you don’t subscribe to our weekly US newsletter, you can do so here.

Clive’s selection of top wines from March

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Buy tickets to Decanter Fine Wine Encounter New York

As you can no doubt imagine, our editorial team receive lots of wines for review.

It was a banner February for me. With very little travel, I found myself tasting a lot of wine – nearly 250 different wines from the West Coast in fact, the vast majority of which were from Washington and Oregon.

In addition to the virtual tastings, including an Instagram live with Ross Cobb of Sonoma Coast’s Cobb Wines and countless bottles opened at home, I was able to make a few visits to vineyards and cellars from Red Mountain, to Walla Walla and a couple of stops in the Willamette Valley.

Scroll down for scores and reviews of Clive’s selection of wines from his February tastings

One of the most iconic wine growers in the Pacific Northwest is Dick Boushey, and I paid him a visit in the Yakima Valley.

Over dinner we tasted a variety of Boushey Vineyard designates, showing the tremendous terroir and remarkable Syrah that comes from those hallowed vines in Grandview, Washington.

In Walla Walla, I was able to check in with Chris Figgins of the region’s stalwart brand, Leonetti. I also managed cellar visits to Valdemar Estates, which is doing exciting things with new vineyards, and Grosgrain, a wildly popular Walla Walla brand that’s thinking a bit outside the box.

Grosgrain has brought Washington wine drinkers Lemberger Pét Nat, the state’s first Ribolla and a delicious skin contact Sémillon bottling, which I really enjoyed. You’ll see more below.

Meeting a legend

In the Willamette Valley, I finally connected with living legend David Adelsheim, who has been vital to the region’s success since he first put down roots at his original vineyard in 1972. We talked about the early days of the Oregon wine industry and if he ever imagined what it has become.

I also tasted with several winemakers, including stops at Willakenzie Estate, Penner-Ash and Open Claim, as well as an exciting chance to meet with Junichi Fujita, who has a fascinating vineyard project in the works in the McMinnville AVA.

Below, you’ll find a selection of 10 of the most interesting wines I’ve tasted in February, with their reviews and scores.

I was bowled over by the Crowley Chardonnay ‘Phoebe’ from the Four Winds estate. This was my first experience with the wine, and it is an impressive expression of site and continues to show the capacity of the Willamette Valley to make some of the world’s greatest Chardonnay. I said what I said.

From Red Mountain, the Domaine Magdalena Cabernet Sauvignon from the biodynamic estate is a deliciously fresh and balanced bottle from the very hot appellation.

The wines of Delmas continue to impress me, and The Peddler in magnum only from the 2021 vintage was showing The Rocks District terroir at its finest, balancing savoury and umami depth with great freshness.

You can see all the wines we taste in our Decanter database.

If you don’t subscribe to our weekly US newsletter, you can do so here.

Clive’s selection of top wines from February

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The 2014 vintage in Washington State marked the beginning of evident warming trends in the region and beyond. It was a growing season that would break records for heat, but those records would be surpassed just a year later in the record-shattering 2015 vintage.

For those who cellared wines from the 2014 vintage in the Columbia Valley, now is the time to open them. In the words of Kenny Rogers, knowing when to hold them and when to fold them is key when it comes to cellaring wines.

While some 2014 bottles show exceptionally well, others definitely show their age. I don’t anticipate waiting will improve these wines.

Given the growing season and owing to the low natural acidity and the hot conditions, the longevity of these wines is likely limited to the next few years, with a couple of exceptions from the wines I tasted.

Scroll down for Clive’s scores and notes on 2014 wines from the Columbia Valley

The early reporting from Washington and Oregon in 2014 was an abundance of satisfaction, with winemakers quoted as citing ‘perfect chemistry’ and ‘even ripeness’ across varieties in the immediate aftermath of harvest.

There were also cautious voices concerned about the high temperatures and what that might mean for the future.

Pepper Bridge winemaker, Swiss-born Jean-François Pellet, found the heat concerning.

‘2014 was a challenging year,’ Pellet recalled. ‘It was so hot in August that we were sure we’d have to harvest early. However, it got so hot that the vineyard actually shut down. It was the hottest late August that I’ve ever seen here in Walla Walla.’

The heat is on

While spring was cool and dry, things heated up quickly in May, with high temperatures tracking at 15-20° above normal for much of the month. Compared to the prior vintage, things tracked similarly until it got very hot in June and July when ripening and veraison started happening well ahead of average.

According to Washington Wine Commission’s 2014 vintage overview: ‘July in Prosser (in the Yakima Valley) was the warmest on record, according to Washington State University (WSU).

‘For the season, WSU’s Prosser weather station recorded 3,092 Growing Degree Days (GDD)—a measure of heat accumulation—compared to a historical average of 2,627. Most Eastern Washington WSU weather stations also reported heat accumulation in excess of 3,000 GDD, quite warm for the state.

‘Meanwhile, Red Mountain, typically Washington’s warmest area, recorded a whopping 3,599 GDD, numbers more often associated with some areas of the Napa Valley,’ the report concluded.

‘2014 was definitely a warm year,’ says Ben Smith of Red Mountain’s Cadence. ‘It was also the first year for our new vineyard manager. He was caught out a little by how much water the vineyard required, so our canopies were pretty sparse.

‘It meant we had to dial back yields to match. We didn’t have to worry about berry size and could pour water on fairly regularly during August and early September, giving the vines a nice cool break and preventing any heat stress.’

A memorable year

Speaking to Adam Tolliver, winemaker at Corliss, it was indeed a memorable year. ‘The consistent above-average temperatures throughout all four seasons stuck with me,’ he recalls.

‘We experienced a dry, warmer-than-average winter followed by a gorgeous spring, both of which caused the vines to wake up and experience an early bud break.’

He continues: ‘The warmth continued, resulting in an even earlier bloom and veraison than we typically see. The temperatures spiked in July and August, and with prolonged temperatures above 95 degrees (35°C), vines began to shut down to conserve energy and protect themselves.

‘This slowed down the ripening of our grapes and allowed longer hang time and better flavour development. The key to avoiding detrimental damage in the intense heat was proper cluster shading in the fruiting zone and a lot of water through irrigation to cool and keep the vine hydrated.’

Crafting age-worthy wines in a hot vintage

So, how are winemakers approaching their craft when the temperatures soar, and most importantly, how are they crafting wines that their customers can cellar?

Red Mountain, where Corliss grows its vines, is Washington’s hottest appellation, and so vineyard management is essential if there is any hope in making a balanced, age-worthy wine.

Tolliver explains: ‘The success of the vintage started in the vineyard. We opened the interior canopy for good airflow while keeping the exterior fruiting zone shaded to protect the grapes from sunburn and shrivelling.

‘In addition, we do not focus on yield but on the quality of the fruit on the vine, thus dropping clusters that show signs of heat damage. When the fruit is harvested and enters the doors of the winery, it is then meticulously sorted, both clusters and berries, ensuring only the most balanced and uniform fruit enters the fermentation vessels.

He concludes: ‘If the starting product in the tank is exceptional, then you already have 9/10ths of the battle won.’

Time to drink up

For Pepper Bridge’s Pellet, a winemaker who knows the vineyard has the best chance. ‘We use the same blocks, so I know them well. It comes down to picking time, and you have to manage extraction.

‘Many wines are made to drink right away, and that’s okay. You have to make wines that are drinkable; they improve in three to five years, but after 10 years, often wines from hot regions don’t hold on as well.

‘As a result, many of my colleagues in Washington are making wines that are best to drink now,’ he says.

‘This is my dilemma,’ says winemaker Dan Wampler of Walla Walla’s Abeja. ‘How do I make an ageable wine in a hot region? We have made some changes in farming and production to make wines that are ready to go now but can also age. Walla Walla is hot, but compared to other parts of Washington, it’s far from the hottest, which certainly helps us.’

For many of these wines, time has brought out secondary characteristics, and for a few, notably the Corliss and Horse Power Syrah, they are really only beginning to show themselves.

2014 in the Columbia Valley: A look back

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‘The whole thing started in [19]99 when I was visiting Oregon’, says Ernst ‘Ernie’ Loosen, explaining the origin of the Eroica collaboration with Washington’s founding winery, Chateau Ste Michelle.

Having embarked on a joint venture with the Antinori family in 1995 at Col Solare on Red Mountain, Ste Michelle had shown an aptitude for international collaboration. As one of the largest producers of Riesling in the world, there seemed to be a natural synergy and collaborative opportunity between Ste Michelle and Loosen, the global spokesman for Germany’s iconic Riesling.

Seeing an opportunity in the northern reaches of America’s wine country for a grape of singular importance to his home region and Germany’s wine identity, Loosen made the first overtures.

He explains: ‘Kirk (Willey, CEO of Loosen Bros USA) and I wrote a four-page proposal and sent it to former [Ste Michelle] CEO Allen Shoup. He replied almost immediately and said, “let’s do it”.’

Notes and scores for vintages of Eroica below

Reclaiming Riesling

While Riesling was once the most expensive wine in the world, its reputation and pedigree had fallen on hard times.

‘I was a little frustrated with the state of Riesling in those days. Even Germany, in the 1980s and a little bit afterwards, I have to be honest, they pretty much [expletive] it up,’ Loosen admits. ‘A British journalist created this little booklet called “Super Plonk”. It was regularly that German Rieslings like Blue Nun, Black Tower, and Madonna would win that prize.’

‘It became known as cheap and sweet, and suddenly that became the reputation of Riesling,’ Loosen adds. ‘This was so crazy because, at one time, 100 years ago, Riesling was the most highly regarded, most expensive wine in the world, prized more than Burgundy. I knew there was nothing wrong with Riesling, but there was undeniably something wrong with the customer perception.’

Loosen thought that this collaborative opportunity would allow him and Chateau Ste Michelle to recast the image of Riesling in the single biggest wine market in the world, the US.

‘I thought, well, we Germans don’t seem to get it, so maybe this joint venture might help us re-establish this reputation here. The goal was to reinstate Riesling’s reputation and make the best Washington state Riesling we could. At that point, there wasn’t a global definition of Washington Riesling and I think Eroica helped establish that style,’ Loosen says.

Riesling in the desert

With only a few exceptions, grapes in Washington are primarily grown in a desert climate. This seems counterintuitive to the cool climate home of this delicate white grape.

‘We wanted the wine to be all about acidity; that’s the identity of Riesling, and we didn’t want it to go as sweet as we do in Germany. We landed on a style that we call feinherb in the very old days in Germany, a medium-dry style. The way my grandfather did it.’

The process has been an evolution. Changing the approach to viticulture has played a role in shaping the wines of the Eroica partnership in an effort to find a ‘sweet spot’ for a medium-dry wine in the desert.

‘When we first started, they were very proud of the Riesling they were producing from this place, Cold Creek Vineyard,’ Loosen remembers.

‘My god, it was like the hottest place you could possibly pick to grow Riesling. I got them to change that, and we’ve moved the production almost entirely to the Ancient Lakes area, which has a higher elevation and is much cooler. It’s one of Washington’s coolest appellations.’

Unique soils

The famous vineyards of the Mosel are known for their blue slates. In Eastern Washington and at the Ancient Lakes site, Evergreen Vineyard, there is a different stony composition to the soils, known as ‘caliche’.

A product of calcium carbonate bonding with other soil types, caliche forms a hard, white, impervious layer in the soil.

Ryan McAdams, vineyard manager for the Ste Michelle estates, explains: ‘There is a caliche layer throughout Evergreen; in some places, it’s just two to three inches, and in other places, it can be a few feet down. Caliche is a hard, solid layer of a rock-like material. We only get, say, eight inches of rain a year at Evergreen, but if you go out there in the spring, you’ll have standing water in the vineyard even if it hasn’t rained much because the caliche doesn’t let the water through.’

‘We have some soil diversity throughout the site, and the depth of the caliche can show up in the wines in different blocks of the vineyard. It helps to have that kind of diversity when we’re blending, giving us a palette of distinct flavour and aroma profiles to help us make our wine,’ McAdams concludes.

A range of styles

The main Eroica bottling has moved from a more Spätlese style in the first few years of release to today’s classic off-dry or feinherb style.

In addition, there is a range of Eroica bottlings from Eroica Gold, made in the Auslese style and the TBA or Trockenbeerenauslese bottling, known as Eroica Single Berry Select, fully botryised grapes, the Single Berry Select, sold in half bottles is Washington’s most expensive wine by volume. It’s a rare wine in the US.

In 2016, Eroica launched the XLC, a GG, or Grosses Gewäches-style bottling. Made in the traditional German style: ‘In 2016, I asked Bob Berthau, why aren’t we doing a dry wine in the style that my grandfather made,’ Loosen asked.

‘We use the exact same winemaking method we used historically, which I use for my GG wines today in the Mosel. This old technique of winemaking gives these wines an enormous ageing potential. We leave the wines on the lees for two years, and the result is stunning.’

Eroica: A selection of new and aged wines

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Modern winemaking, much like life at large, seems to exist at a crossroads.

As technological innovation pushes forward, it also seeks the wisdom rooted in ancient tradition, creating a paradox where ‘progress’ often depends on looking to the past.

In recent years, the revival of ancestral clay vessels – amphorae, qvevri, talhas, and tinajas – has gained significant popularity in cellars around the world, even as some have nearly disappeared from their places of origin.

Tabula rasa

In the United States, two Washington winemakers, Javier Alfonso of Pomum Cellars and Morgan Lee of Two Vintners, saw an opportunity to use Spanish tinajas – clay vessels that would enable them to lean on tradition, work towards a unique collaboration, and push boundaries that could drive the evolution of the state’s winemaking.

‘Washington is unique in that we have virtually no winemaking tradition to tie us to a particular style,’ explains Alfonso. ‘That makes us one of the most innovative wine regions in the world. Every winery, and there are over 1,000 of us, is experimenting with techniques that are “recycled” or reinvented from the old wine world’s past. I’m hopeful this will help define a particular style for Washington wine.’

In 2016, Alfonso and Lee acquired two rare, small-production tinajas directly from Spain and set out to experiment with these vessels. They each crafted a wine – one Syrah from Strand Vineyard and one Grenache from Boushey Vineyard – using the same technique of fermenting on the skins for eight months in the tinajas.

Bottling both wines simultaneously, their goal was to capture the true character of the grape varieties. This initial, small-scale experiment marked the start of a more significant commitment to utilising these traditional vessels in future vintages and a broader goal of eventually incorporating more tinajas into Washington’s wine production.

That all sounded like a promising plan – had one of these rare tinajas, among the only ones of their type to ever reach the US, not been broken.

The fragility of tradition

‘Devastating. It was the middle of the 2017 vintage, and I had not properly secured the tinaja to the new rack I had custom-designed specifically for it. In a rush to get something else done, I hastily moved the rack, and the tinaja just toppled over,’ says Alfonso.

This incident underscored the delicate nature of working with ancestral vessels. While they can last a lifetime, when handled carefully, they still carry an inherent fragility.

Historically, tinajas are crafted entirely by hand and fired in traditional wood-fired kilns, typically the size of a building.

Then there’s the clay and its quality. Derived as much from the essence of the soil as from the skilled hands grinding, kneading, and shaping it into these vessels. This human element – the artistry, intuition, and dedication to a timeless, time-consuming art passed down through generations – made each tinaja unique and irreplaceable.

To ‘complicate’ matters further, Alfonso’s broken tinaja had been crafted by Juan Padilla, the most renowned artisan in Villarrobledo, a town in the Spanish region of Castilla-La-Mancha.

Even worse, Padilla retired in 2022, leaving no apprentices to carry on his legacy – and Alfonso with no chance to get his singular tinaja replaced.

The Padilla pedigree

‘I own tinajas from other manufacturers, but Mr Padilla’s craftsmanship philosophy is completely different,’ says Alfonso. Padilla’s process was said to be so precise that it would take him months to shape and dry the tinajas before firing them at temperatures near 900ºC, using over 50,000 kg of pine wood.

This careful technique was highly appreciated by his clients because it made the vessels more durable without imparting any added flavour. Alfonso also adds that while other artisans often use internal coatings like beeswax to minimise excessive oxygen transfer, Mr. Padilla never did.

As a result, the walls of his tinajas were typically thicker and heavier than those of other makers.

‘He also believed that his tinajas would perform better over time as the tartrate coating built up in thickness,’ Alfonso adds. As the tartrate accumulates, it slows oxidation – one of the many qualities winemakers who focus on ‘low-intervention’ and terroir-driven wines appreciate in tinajas.

All of these elements have placed Padilla’s tinajas in high demand among famous clients such as Italian producers Frank Cornelissen, Giusto Occhipinti (Azienda Agricola COS), and Elisabetta Foradori (Azienda Agricola Foradori), and Spanish producers like Pepe Mendoza in Alicante, Bernardo Ortega in Castilla-La Mancha, and Javier Arizcuren in Rioja.

Each of them discovered Padilla exclusively through word of mouth, a quintessential, old-school rural artisan entirely detached from modern technology like email, cell phone, or social media.

After many attempts to contact him for this story, it became clear that Padilla had retreated fully into the quiet simplicity of his craft and lifestyle, leaving his legacy to speak for itself.

And then there was one

Morgan Lee, who still has his tinaja from Padilla at Two Vintners in Woodinville, Washington, has been experimenting with different varieties since his first vintage in collaboration with Alfonso.

‘I make Grenache every year, but I’ve also done a fermentation of Cabernet Franc once. I love how it accentuates its earth tones and adds complexity to this grape,’ says Lee.

Currently, the winemakers have no plans for another collaboration. ‘We would have liked to continue our Padilla experiment, perhaps with white and orange wines, but unfortunately, fate put an end to that just after one vintage,’ says Alfonso.

While Alfonso is unlikely to have the chance at another Padilla tinaja, he takes comfort in the fact that his expertise with these vessels has evolved over time. Both Pomum and Two Vintners work with tinajas from different makers and now regularly incorporate tinaja-fermented or aged lots into many of their wines.

‘Remember that this collaboration began eight years ago, and we’re now very comfortable using these vessels, which enables us to fine-tune our winemaking approach and achieve the precise results we aim for in our ‘modern’ wines,’ says Alfonso. ‘I still view winemaking as more of an art than science,’ says Lee.

‘However, honouring tradition doesn’t mean letting it hold us back. Instead, we use its wisdom as a foundation to innovate while staying true to the roots that shaped us,’ Lee concludes.

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Top Wines of the Year lists are far from novel, with most major publications compiling a list of their various takes on a ‘Top 100’ wines tasted in a given year. They may elicit controversy and second-guessing; but you know what they say about opinions, after all.

In my second year in this role, as our US coverage has continued to expand, it felt important to find a way to emphasise our commitment to both the depth and breadth of US wine.

In 2024, we’ve featured vintage reports from both the Sonoma Coast and Sonoma County separately, Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Columbia Valley that spans both Washington and Oregon.

Of course, we covered Napa, Paso Robles, New York State, and, for the first time, the Anderson Valley on California’s northernmost coast.

Scroll down for scores and reviews of the Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part one

There’s more to do, of course. We’re just getting started, and this countdown, revealed over the course of this week, will feature wines highlighted by several correspondents and contributing writers.

Jonathan Cristaldi, in Napa; Vanessa Rason, located in Santa Barbara County; Brianne Cohen in Paso Robles; and Maiah Johnson Dunn, up in the Finger Lakes, along with contributing writer Anna Lee Ijima and yours truly.

I personally enjoy these lists because of the conversation they create, the rare bit of controversy, and the attention that often results for smaller, out-of-the-way regions and producers. My aim with this list is to show that beyond the perfect scores of our Napa Valley vintage report, there are remarkable wines and winemakers across the US.

I made the final ranking decisions, and I’ve personally tasted most, but not all, of these wines, even if I haven’t scored them myself. I recognise that it’s not perfect, but I feel like it’s a great start for us, a very small team on this side of the pond.

My hope is that you may discover a new producer or three and enjoy exploring this list as much as I did putting it together.

The first 20 wines on our list include the only wine from outside the West Coast. I believe places like New York and Virginia make compelling wines, and hope that as we taste more of them, you’ll see them showing up on this list more frequently.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: 50-41

Tasting notes and scores are below

50: Apollo’s Praise, Riesling, Finger Lakes, New York 2023

49: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California 2021

48: Delmas, Viognier, The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, Oregon 2021

47: Hirsch Vineyards, Rosé of Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

46: Trothe, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Horse Heaven Hills, Washington 2021

45: Cain Vineyard & Winery, Cain Five, Spring Mountain, Napa Valley, California 2021

44: DeLille Cellars, Chaleur Estate, Red Mountain, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

43: Drew Family Cellars, Faite de Mer Farm – Radiolaria Pinot Noir, Mendocino Ridge, California 2022

42: RAEN Winery, Royal St. Robert Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

41: Pahlmeyer, Pièce de Résistance, Napa Valley, California 2021

Here are a few wines I’d like to highlight.

50: Apollo’s Praise, Riesling, Finger Lakes, New York 2023

The team at Apollo’s Praise is husband and wife, Kelby James Russell and Julia Hoyle, who also make the wines for the Finger Lakes outfit Hosmer. KJR was the longtime winemaker at Red Newt and is among the country’s most talented and exciting winemakers. This Kabinett-style Riesling and his drier bottling exemplify New York’s Riesling sweet spot. The Dry Riesling turned heads when I tasted it in London at our Decanter Fine Wine Encounter in November.

48: Delmas, Viognier, The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, Oregon 2021

My top white wine from the 2021 Columbia Valley vintage report. Honestly, I find domestic Viognier too often tedious. It tends to lack freshness and minerality and, in the worst cases, can move towards the flabby and fat side of the spectrum. The Viognier from Delmas shatters that boring mould. Brooke Delmas Roberston says: ‘We pick this Viognier when the skins are orange and freckly, and it’s at 25 brix.’ She also gives the wine 8-12 hours on the skins to build texture. The result challenges conventional thinking about ripeness and the variety itself. The honeyed palate of ripe apricots and macerated yellow peaches is shot through with streaks of salinity and bright, soaring piques of fresh ginger.

47: Hirsch Vineyards, Rosé of Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

The Hirsch Rosé of Pinot Noir is a very exciting wine. While I scored several of the Pinot Noirs and the Chardonnay higher when tasting with Jasmine Hirsch in the spring, this wine stands out. It is, I believe, America’s best rosé by some distance. Over vintage and made in the same fashion as the Pinot Noirs at Hirsch. Harvested at full ripeness with time in barrel, Jasmine Hirsch isn’t convinced that pink Pinot Noir should be made in a Provençal style, and after tasting this wine, it’s hard to argue with her.

42: RAEN Winery, Royal St. Robert Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

My love for the Sonoma Coast was cemented in January at a tasting there with several West Sonoma Coast Vintners member wineries. I was focused on producing a 2021 vintage report, but this preview of 2022 from Carlo Mondavi’s team at RAEN was a sterling wine. The Seafield and Bodega vineyards comprise this wine dedicated to Robert Mondavi. The smoky aromatics and pungent floral aromas of this wine are about the microflora of the vineyard. All native yeasts, unfiltered and unfined, with 10% new oak, it’s a wine of intensity and elegance and undeniably coastal.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Wines 40-31

Tasting notes and scores are below

40: Liminal, WeatherEye Vineyard Block 47 Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

39: Read Holland Wines, Peter Martin Ray Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California 2021

38: Kinsman Eades, Hierothesion, Napa Valley, California, 2021

37: Cadence, Coccinelle Bis Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, Oregon 2023

36: Cristom Vineyards, Louise Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

35: Force Majeure, Estate Syrah, Red Mountain, Washington 2021

34: Diamond Creek, Red Rock Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District, Napa Valley, California 2021

33: Bethel Heights, Casteel Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

32: Corison, Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena, Napa Valley, California 2021

31: Scarecrow, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa Valley, California 2021

39: Read Holland Wines, Peter Martin Ray Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California 2021

An exciting Chardonnay was a personal highlight among the 1300+ wines I tasted this year. It can be rare in this business to discover a complete unknown. I was tipped off to Winemaker Ashley Holland for an August feature about how California Chardonnay challenges the stale stereotypes associated with the variety. Holland brings a real exuberance to her ability to make wine from such a historically important vineyard. A charming and complex Chardonnay that comes from nearly 50-year-old Chardonnay vines, head-trained in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

37: Cadence, Coccinelle Bis Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, Columbia Valley, Oregon, USA 2023

This wine is a one-off for Cadence winemaker Ben Smith, who makes his wines exclusively from his Red Mountain estate vineyard, Cara Mia. A fun project made for charity, the humble Smith here shows that he can make some of the Northwest’s most compelling wines from anywhere he chooses. Walla Walla’s Christophe Baron gave Smith some fruit from one of his younger plots, and Smith showed his deft hand in producing one of the most compelling Syrahs from the region I’ve tasted, even in its youth.

32: Corison, Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena, Napa Valley, California 2021

Cathy Corison has remained a Napa Valley icon since she opened her doors in 1987. Consistently crafting benchmark wines, in this case from the Kronos Vineyard, planted in 1971. Embraced by long-time Napa Valley purists, sommeliers, and wine geeks, Cathy Corison is the winemaker’s winemaker, focusing on benchland sites between Rutherford and St Helena. Cathy’s quiet confidence and unwavering belief in what she’s doing has her never chasing style or trend but instead sticking to what she knows and has done, better than nearly everyone else, for almost 40 years. The 2021 Kronos Vineyard Cabernet is about terroir and vintage, embraced by her signature lightness, purity and precision.

Top 50 US Wines 2024: How the selections were made

The selections for Decanter’s Top 50 US wines were chosen from the over 3,000 wines tasted and reviewed between January and November of 2024. To be considered, they must be current or soon-to-be-released wines; library wines are not eligible.

They were selected to show a range of styles, places and exciting and emerging winemaking talent. This is not intended to be a list of the top-scoring wines of the year but wines that show the brilliance and diversity of America’s winemaking talents and regions.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part one –Wines 50-31

Wines are listed in reverse order from 50 to 31

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The Thanksgiving table includes a myriad of dishes and flavours, starting with appetisers to graze on as guests arrive. The buffet lineup of traditional dishes typically includes roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, casseroles and cranberry relish. Plates are filled with these favourites, and in one bite, you might get turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy. So, how do you pair wines with this array of flavours?

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A good starting point is to remember that the Thanksgiving table may not be the time to pour powerful, robust wines. Nor is it the time to fret about wine pairings with particular dishes. The goal is to serve a lineup of light-bodied, versatile and easy-drinking wines that can work with the multitude of flavours on the table. And most importantly, select wines that are likely to please your guests’ varying palates. Thanksgiving is a time to break bread and enjoy a hearty, home-cooked meal with those closest to you. Your wine selections accentuate this holiday tradition, not the featured attraction.

Pairing principles

Below are simple wine and food pairing principles for the Thanksgiving table and throughout the year. A good starting point is understanding what’s happening in the glass and on the plate and how those things can create an experience greater than the sum of its parts. These guiding principles of wine and food pairings are evergreen and are meant to enhance a delicious meal with tasty wines and fine company.

Wine and food pairings are more fluid than definitive. Tradition says that specific foods call for particular wines. Things such as oysters and Chablis or steak and Cabernet Sauvignon. With Thanksgiving mains, many point to Pinot Noir as the ideal pairing for a simple roasted turkey. Those combinations are examples of successful pairings, but other options exist. Oysters and sparkling wine (particularly Champagne), steak and Syrah, and turkey and Chardonnay work just as well.

Think less of the food or protein and more specifically of the preparation. When it comes to the turkey, is it deep-fried or roasted? With sweet potatoes, are they baked in a sweet casserole or roasted with pancetta? The preparation method or sauce may drive what wine will work best.

Food made with acid-based sauces (such as tomatoes, vinegar or lemon) goes well with Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay, or Pinot Noir. Rich sauces work best with high-acid wines to refresh or with rich, full-bodied wines to really step into the richness. If there’s any spice on the table, such as a spicy sausage stuffing, lower-alcohol wines with some residual sugar (like Riesling) will work well.

Matching food and wines with similar weights and richness is one key to pairing success. To do this, one must think of food and wine as both existing on a spectrum: Light-bodied wines with light dishes and full-bodied wines with rich or spice-driven dishes. So, with lighter vegetable dishes, such as green bean almondine or shaved Brussels sprouts salad, an acid-driven white blend might work best. An oaky red blend with spicy, toasty notes would pair well with a baking spice-dominant sweet potato casserole.

When thinking about wine pairings for Thanksgiving, consider whether you’d like to balance or accentuate the flavours on the table. For rich dishes such as buttered mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, or candied yams, you can balance the richness and fattiness with a high-acid, palate-cleansing white such as Riesling or Pinot Gris. In contrast, accentuate and step into the richness with a full-bodied, creamy Chardonnay.

A special occasion

Undeniably, Thanksgiving is, for many, one of the rare occasions when a family from near and far come together. So it may stand to reason that it’s the perfect occasion to break out that wine you’ve been saving for a rarer moment. It may be a self-serving opportunity to open something you’ve wanted to revisit from your cellar or a perfect occasion to share the magic of ageing wine with friends and family.

When it comes to sharing aged wines, its important that you prepare the wine properly, as well as those who are perhaps experiencing their first aged wine.

Opening an older wine can be a challenge in itself, given the variable conditions often found with older corks. Making sure to open the wine away from the table is a smart first step, as crumbling corks and decanting wines require space to execute properly.

There are a few different techniques for opening older, more fragile corks, and then a decision must be made on whether or not to decant your older wine.

In addition to managing the wine, it’s a good idea to manage the expectations of your guests, who may not have any experience tasting older wines. Helping them understand how wine breaks down over time and what to expect will heighten their enjoyment or at least help them anticipate how the experience of an aged wine will differ from what they know.

As the primary components of an aged Bordeaux or Pinot Noir turn from fruit to secondary and tertiary characteristics, those aged wines may not be the most appropriate to pair with the food, but rather the occasion, and they may show best as a before or after dinner toast.

Thanksgiving wine pairings: 10 American wines to try

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In 2021, winemakers, like the rest of us, were poised to rebound from the most challenging year in recent memory for, well, the entire human race. But the year was hardly a panacea, nor was it an easy bounce back from 2020.

The heat was extreme at times and unparalleled even for the hot desert climate that is home to nearly all of the Columbia Valley. Furthermore, there were still lingering issues from the COVID-19 pandemic regarding staffing and safety protocols, particularly in states like Washington and Oregon.

In addition, wildfires were once again a problem, although their impacts seem to be isolated to very specific parts of Washington State. I tasted a few wines (less than 10 in a sampling of over 300 wines) impacted by the Schneider Springs Fire, which was localised to some western parts of the Columbia Valley appellation.

However, while the best wines of 2021 undoubtedly show ripeness, there is elegance, balance, and a subdued freshness in those from the top producers.

Both Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah showed brilliance with refined tannins and minerality when diligence was exercised in picking decisions.

Columbia Valley 2021 red wines of the vintage

Gård, Grand Klasse Syrah, Royal Slope 98 points

WT Vintners, Boushey Vineyard Syrah, Yakima Valley 98 points

Columbia Valley 2021 white wine of the vintage

Delmas, Viognier, Rocks District of Milton-Freewater 96 points

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Columbia Valley 2021 wines

Columbia Valley vintage ratings

2021 3/5

A vintage beset by record-shattering temperatures, 2021 in terms of wine quality, was a vintage for those pursuing balance. The heat dome in June, coupled with continued hot weather all the way through harvest, made acidity and freshness harder to come by for many Columbia Valley producers. Winemakers in slightly cooler sights benefitted, as did those who relied on proactive vineyard management. Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon showed that they could take the heat for the most part, and many up-and-coming producers made wines that stood out by picking earlier and benefitting from sites with strong mineral character.

2020 3/5

In this slightly warmer-than-average year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced wineries to create strategies that allowed them to continue to make wine. The best show finesse and balance, with fine examples, in particular, coming from the Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs. In September, wildfires raged to the south in Oregon, creating difficulty with ripening and impacting some vineyards with smoke taint. However, there wasn’t the same widespread damage here as in parts of Oregon and California.

2019 5/5

It was a cooler year for the warm, largely desert-growing conditions, this and a cold, wet winter, delayed bud break and bloom delivering wines with great elegance, finesse, and balance. Challenging frost events in September and October contributed to smaller yields. The top wines show beautiful finesse and elegance balanced against Washington’s characteristic tannin structure and reliable ripeness.

The heat is on

Living in the Pacific Northwest, I experienced the late June heat dome first-hand. It was a horrifying experience, the likes of which I had never seen before. In Seattle, which typically sees summer temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s (21-26°C), it was 108°(42°C) for multiple days. Despite our coastal location, the air did not move. It was suffocating and it turns out, the deadliest weather-related event in Washington State’s history.

Trothe founder Jeff Andrews’ family has been growing wine grapes for generations in the Horse Heaven Hills, and with all that experience, the heat of 2021 still looms as a defining factor of the vintage. ‘2021 was the year that all the talk of warming trends and excessive heat projections became more than theory,’ says Andrews. ‘It was an undeniable reality. We recorded twenty days of 100°(37° C) or more at Andrews Family Vineyards between 2 June and 16 August. We’ve had warm-to-hot vintages in the past, but 2021 was something we had never experienced before.’

‘Since then, we’ve had one hot vintage after another. Even this year (2024), a “cool” vintage, has been very warm by historical standards,’ Andrews continues.

‘We’re doing everything we can to adapt to the annual onslaught of excessive summer heat, taking steps in the vineyard to produce the best fruit each vintage and preserve plant health for future vintages. We pay close attention to crop load, canopy size, water, and nutrition needs,’ said Andrews.

Columbia Valley 2021: top 10 wines of the vintage

(alphabetically and by score)

Gård, Grand Klasse Syrah, Royal Slope 98 points

WT Vintners, Boushey Vineyard Syrah, Yakima Valley 98 points

DeLille Cellars, Chaleur Estate, Red Mountain 97 points

Force Majeure, Estate Syrah, Red Mountain, 97 points

From the Sky Down, Solaksen Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 97 points

Gård, Grand Klasse Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 97 points

Gård, Winemaker Select Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 97 points

Quilceda Creek, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley 97 points

Trothe, Cabernet Sauvignon, Horse Heaven Hills 97 points

WT Vintners, Les Collines Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 97 points

A season of extremes

The challenges of 2021 were not only about heat. For many growers, it was the lowest-yielding vintage they’d seen in their careers, and several factors may have been at play.

The winter of 2020 included a late-winter freeze, and precipitation throughout that winter and into spring was lower than seasonal averages, leaving soils dry. Bud break came early, on the last day of March, and then it got cold for a stretch of about ten days, with temperatures below freezing. Hot temperatures followed, and bloom arrived in mid-May. It was windy and hot during bloom, creating challenges for fruit set and, ultimately, yield.

‘2021 was an interesting vintage,’ says Brooke Delmas Robertson, director of viticulture and winemaking for Delmas in The Rocks District AVA.

‘We saw extremes on both ends of the season. Hail and cool temps well into April, while the summer saw temps as high as 115° before the end of June. Residual freeze effects in the phloem (vascular tissue) of the vines and heat spikes too early in the season contributed to very low yields across all varieties, not just in The Rocks District but the Walla Walla Valley as a whole. Beautiful wines were made, but there are not a lot of them.’

The heat dome, which Delmas Robertson references, was the defining feature of 2021. It was an anomaly even in the hot region of eastern Washington and Oregon, where growers saw temperatures across the Columbia Valley go into the 120° (49°C ) range for several days.

See all 300+ Columbia Valley 2021 wines tasted from Washington State and Oregon

Pursuing balance

Most of the Columbia Valley is a desert, which means low disease pressure, ample ripeness and cool nights that allow for sufficient acid retention. For many winemakers, this ‘Goldilocks’ set of conditions, coupled with the ability to irrigate as needed, has made for relatively easy and reliable vintages over the last decade. As hot vintages become the norm, Washington winemakers’ ‘set it and forget it’ attitude from 10 to 20 years ago will be forced to change.

Those with estate vineyards, or a dedicated winegrower who is hands-on in the vine rows, will become essential as climate change pushes temperatures and shrinks picking windows, and certainly made a difference in 2021.

‘Being a viticulturist is a huge advantage when it comes to making wine,’ says Gård winemaker Matias Kusulas. ‘Being the head viticulturalist at an all-estate winery, means I have complete control in every block of every vineyard when it comes to decision making. Dialling in irrigation, fruit mass, and canopy management for a hot season is critical to good chemistry, the right aromatic and flavour compounds, and phenolic development – all of which are very important to a balanced wine. You can only do so much at the winery without negatively affecting the wine’s organoleptic profile. The best approach, to me, is paying close attention and focusing your efforts in the vineyard.’

‘The most important decision I made in 2021 was determining when to pick,’ says Trothe’s winemaker, Ray McKee. ‘It’s an important decision each year: picking determines how you capture the character of the fruit–perhaps underripe and green, or perfectly ripe, fresh, and vibrant, or possibly overripe and lacking nuance. The intensity of 2021 made the picking decision even more pivotal.’

‘As a wine-growing region, Washington has been getting steadily warmer since 2013, and I’ve learned a little more each year – my most important takeaway is that the picking window for great wines is actually relatively small. In 2021, it was still 90°(32°C) or above in October, when it’s typically in the 70s (21°C), and I picked Cabernet earlier than ever before to capture the variety’s vibrancy and avoid a one-note, baked-out wine.’

Columbia Valley 2021: 30 of the top wines tasted

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Women taking part in the study reported a greater intention to purchase a wine when it had ‘feminine’ cues on its label, researcher said. 

This effect was enhanced the more strongly participants identified with other women – something known as ‘in-group identification’, said researchers from Washington State University (WSU), writing in the International Journal of Hospitality Management.

Feminine cues were identified as including cute animals, female portraits and flowers, said the researchers, who acknowledged that both masculine and feminine gender cues tended to rely on stereotypes.

Study authors said the work responded to calls for more research about women consumers in the hospitality sector. 

They said 59% of wine consumers in the US are women, based on 2021 data, and few studies have focused on the perceptions of this group in an industry where a majority of winemakers are men.

In an initial test to pinpoint key gender cues, researchers asked 90 women to rate wine labels as more masculine or feminine. 

Labels with cute animals, flowers and female portraits were designated feminine, while masculine cues included labels featuring wolves and stags.

Wines displaying images of castles and bunches of grapes were rated neutral, said WSU. 

After this, 324 women were shown fictitious wines, and participants said they were more likely to buy wines with ‘feminine’ labels.

A participant’s level of wine expertise didn’t appear to affect this, although it did moderate taste expectations, said researchers.

‘Whether they were knowledgeable or less knowledgeable about wine, when they saw those feminine cues, they had a higher intention to buy the wine,’ said Christina Chi, study coauthor and a professor at WSU’s Carson College of Business.

‘When designing the labels, winemakers should involve more women in the process,’ Chi said.

A follow-up taste test involving 138 women found that participants were more likely to enjoy a wine when it had a ‘masculine’ label as opposed to a ‘feminine’ one, however.

According to WSU, researchers believe this might be related to ‘the incongruence between the expected flavour influenced by the feminine label and the actual taste of the wine sample’.

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Family-owned Antinori joined forces with Ste. Michelle to establish Col Solare as a 50-50 joint venture in Washington State in 1995.

They have collaborated on the project for the past 29 years, but the parties have now announced that Antinori will take full ownership of the estate.

Shawn Conway, CEO at Ste. Michelle, said: ‘It was a privilege when Ste. Michelle partnered with Piero Antinori three decades ago to create Col Solare and grow it into an elite Washington winery, and we are thrilled the Antinori family will carry this legacy into the future.

‘The fact that the Antinori family wants to grow its investment and commitment in Col Solare is a testament to the world-class quality, prestige and bright future of the Washington wine region.’

Altria Group sold Ste. Michelle to private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $1.2bn three years ago. The firm decided to offload some of Ste. Michelle’s assets, and Antinori emerged as a natural buyer.

In 2007, Ste. Michelle purchased an 85% stake in iconic Napa Valley winery Stag’s Leap, and Antinori acquired the remaining 15%.

They worked together for 16 years, but Antinori then became the sole owner of Stag’s Leap after purchasing Ste. Michelle’s 85% stake for an undisclosed sum last year.

At the time, family patriarch Piero Antinori said: ‘I have to thank Ste. Michelle Wine Estates for this great occasion that has been given to us.’

Antinori, a family-owned Tuscan producer that can trace its roots back to 1385, has now taken another opportunity after learning that Ste. Michelle was willing to sell its holding in Col Solare.

Piero Antinori, the president of Marchesi Antinori, said: ‘Our family has been fascinated by the unique terroir of Red Mountain AVA since the early 90s.

‘It’s an ongoing and exciting challenge for us to make Washington red wines distinctive and renowned for their high quality.

‘The full ownership of Col Solare, combined with the acquisition of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in 2023, in Napa Valley, is proof of how much we believe in these exceptional wine territories.’

Col Solare is Italian for ‘shining hill’. The winery is renowned for producing high-quality Cabernet Sauvignon.

Decanter’s US editor, Clive Pursehouse, described Col Solare’s 2019 Cabernet as ‘a study in refinement and elegance’ when he visited the winery in 2022.

The transaction is expected to complete this month, including the winery, the 12ha vineyard, the estate and the brand.

Ste. Michelle still owns Chateau Ste. Michelle, 14 Hands, Columbia Crest, Spring Valley Vineyard and Northstar in Washington State, plus A to Z, Erath and Rex Hill in Oregon, along with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte.

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Syrah in the US remains an enigma. Cult brands that emerged during the 1990s – Sine Qua Non on the Central Coast or Cayuse Vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley – are among the country’s iconic and most expensive wines.

But by and large, Syrah is still the perennial underdog of American wine. ‘There’s this assumption that Syrah [in America] is just this goopy, overly alcoholic, overoaked and overextracted wine,’ explains Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen, the winemaker-sommelier who produces WT Vintners’ Syrah from vineyards in Washington and Oregon.

The benchmark for Syrah is still encapsulated in the northern Rhône ideal. But to critics who claim that Syrah’s otherworldliness, its haunting florality and sanguine, sauvage complexities, can’t be found outside France, America’s Syrah growers have a firm response…

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 30 of the best Syrahs from across the US

‘Sorry, that’s just ignorance,’ says Christopher Bates MS, the winemaker and owner of Element Winery in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. The greatness that we tend to associate with the northern Rhône, that perfume, that spice, that earthiness, ‘isn’t necessarily derived from just one specific place’, he explains. ‘It’s linked to a style and mentality of wine-growing and winemaking, too.’

While pioneering Americans have been championing Syrah since the 1980s, in the broader scheme of history Syrah is barely nascent here, suggests Nikolas Krankl, whose parents Elaine and Manfred established Sine Qua Non in 1994. Today, Nikolas and his wife Julia, founders of Fingers Crossed Wine in Santa Barbara County, are among America’s next generation of Syrah champions. ‘The gift and the curse is that we don’t have that history,’ says Julia. ‘But that also means we can be as creative as we want.’

The most provocative Syrahs grown in America are still a testament to that pioneering spirit – explorations of untried sites, blending from different climates and terroir, experiments in whole-cluster ferments and earlier picking.

Across the spectrum

From Washington and Oregon to California and New York, the kaleidoscope of American Syrah is vast and wildly unsung. California is where you’ll find the greatest spectrum of diversity. In the chilly, windswept pockets of Sonoma or the Central Coast – San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara or sub-regions such as the Santa Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley – you’ll find Syrah that’s often shockingly spry, laser-etched and perfumed. And, unlike in the northern Rhône these days, there’s an abundance of exceptional Syrah at a compact 12% alcohol.

Those seeking wines with more muscularity are directed further inland to warmer areas of Santa Barbara, such as the corridors of the Ballard and Happy canyons, or Paso Robles, where Syrah is intense and ripe but moored to that resinous, smoky allure of chaparral.

Further north, Syrah also flourishes in the Columbia Valley – particularly in areas such as the Yakima and Walla Walla valleys – which straddles the border between Washington and Oregon. Syrah here ‘is never short on fruit but can go into this feral, spicy place that’s an interesting bridge between the Old World and the New World’, says Lindsay-Thorsen.

Click here to see tasting notes and scores of 16 additional top Syrahs from across the US

The alluvial plain of the Oregon side of the AVA, littered with cobblestones reminiscent of the galets roulés of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, is an epicentre of Syrah in the Walla Walla Valley. Made famous by Cayuse and designated with its own sub-region, the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater AVA, which is home to a roll call of standout producers and winemakers, including Sean Boyd, founder of Rotie Cellars and Proper Wines.

‘There’s this fingerprint here [in the Rocks District],’ Boyd asserts, ‘this Rocks-funk that’s deeply savoury – like earth and olive tapenade – that can be so polarising and visceral.’ And yet so distinctly American, too.

See notes and scores for 30 of the best American Syrahs

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For many years now, America’s fine wine epicentre has been in that special valley between the Vaca and Mayacamas mountain ranges that we all know as Napa. First established in the 19th century, the Napa Valley’s quality and reputation are known throughout the world of wine.

But as crucial as Napa is to America’s wine identity, it doesn’t capture the totality of what is a very large and dynamic place. America’s west coast is far from being a monoculture of Cabernet.

Beyond that famous valley and up and down the country’s western coast, a new vanguard of American winemakers ply their skills and creativity, pushing their respective regions and, by extension, American wine in new directions.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for nine wines from four of the US west coast’s most dynamic producers

The western states of California, Oregon and Washington share nearly 2,100km of coastline (roughly the distance from London to Gibraltar), and are wildly varied and distinctive in their climate, topography and geology.

Many of these regions are perfectly positioned to craft wines of elegance and sophistication – wines that communicate their terroir with poise to capture the imagination of fine wine collectors and a new generation of wine enthusiasts.

Alban Debeaulieu

Abbott ClaimWillamette Valley, Oregon

Alban Debeaulieu grew up in France. He wasn’t born into a multi-generational wine estate, but wine was always around. Growing up in the Rhône valley and with relatives in the Loire, the young Debeaulieu learned to appreciate wine rather than how to make it.

Upon completing his master’s degree in oenology at Dijon’s Université de Bourgogne, the first steps in his journey to Oregon began, unbeknown to him. In 2012, he started out in Beaune, working with Véronique Drouhin. She then convinced Debeaulieu to go to Oregon to work at Domaine Drouhin in the Dundee Hills for harvest in 2013. He never left.

Debeaulieu believes the arc of his young career was uniquely American. ‘The opportunities I was given wouldn’t have come to me so quickly in France,’ he states. After completing harvest at Drouhin’s Oregon estate, he worked for two years as Jesus Guillén’s assistant winemaker at the unique, somewhat mysterious, family-run White Rose Estate. Then, in 2016, he went to 00 Wines, where he was reunited with the man who would become his mentor, Burgundy consultant Pierre Millemann, who had been one of his teachers at the university in Dijon.

Antony Beck, son of the South African wine magnate Graham Beck, lured Debeaulieu to his current estate, Abbott Claim, in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. The two of them built the project together, with Millemann continuing to consult through the 2022 vintage.

Debeaulieu is a big believer in whole-cluster winemaking, and is inclined to use as much of the lees as he possibly can, an approach he learned from Millemann and has fully embraced. He takes almost opposing approaches to the Chardonnays, which come from a variety of vineyards within the Eola-Amity Hills AVA, and the estate Pinot Noirs, which come from the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. ‘We believe in making wines of place first. And nearly as important, they must be ageable wines,’ he says.

‘A lot of the subtleties of place for white wine come from the wine’s texture, depth, length, umami, minerality and body. These are all details of place in wine. You can’t get those nuances in Chardonnay with a delicate press. We go very deep with our pressing. We want lees and tannins, which give the wine depth and life. We ask everything of the fruit and then let it sort itself out through oxidation. It’s more natural this way as well. The lees do a lot for us.’

The Pinot Noir, in contrast, is made quite delicately. ‘We manage a combination of low-yielding parcels with high tannin loads from the soils and climate of the Yamhill-Carlton,’ Debeaulieu says. ‘We’ve always been picking much earlier. In my first vintage, some of the appellation’s more experienced winemakers even told me I was making a mistake. I said, “We’ll see.”’

Debeaulieu’s natural aptitude and instinct, as well as a formidable winemaking education, have come together in one of America’s most talented young winemakers. A sense of purpose is blended with his Burgundy-taught commitment to terroir and deference to tradition, married to American pragmatism and an appreciation for that special place, the Willamette Valley.

Abbott Claim, X Omni Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2021 97pts

Abbott Claim, Due North Pinot Noir, Yamhill-Carlton, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2021 99pts

Chris Peterson

Avennia and LiminalWashington State

Chris Peterson is unquestionably one of Washington’s most gifted winemakers. He crafts wines that embrace what the state’s warm growing regions give him, but has an uncanny talent for coaxing refinement and sophistication from wines sourced from the state’s top vineyards.

Peterson embraces a pursuit of balance and elegance that remains largely elusive in the winemaking styles of many of his Washington contemporaries – making wines of mineral and savoury expression, eschewing monochromatic declarations of New World fruit.

He graduated with a liberal arts degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. Working as a FedEx driver, he decided that was not the career he was looking for. ‘I had grown up in Yakima Valley and was aware of the developing Washington wine industry when I was younger,’ Peterson explains. ‘As an American in my twenties, I was more interested in beer. What fascinated me, though, as I went tasting in the Yakima Valley, were the questions I developed about wine. Why is this one different to that one, and why is this completely different to that?’

His FedEx job ended around the fortuitously timed launching of the Walla Walla Community College oenology and viticulture programme. He was one of 10 students in the programme’s inaugural class, graduating in 2003. Then, just as Peterson finished his studies, an opportunity at the burgeoning Woodinville winery DeLille Cellars came up. There, founding and executive winemaker Chris Upchurch gave Peterson plenty of room, and he went from enjoying some of the mundane elements of the daily work, such as topping barrels, to exploring wine and its artistry.

‘As I started tasting and learning more, particularly about French wine, I really found myself drawn to the guys who were doing things on the artistic side. Maybe one of my most influential experiences was reading Andrew Jefford’s book The New France.’

Peterson honed his skills early. In blending trials with Upchurch, he was directed that a particular wine might be made from six barrels of Cabernet from the Klipsun vineyard, but Upchurch wouldn’t specify which barrels. Tasting them consistently, Peterson found nuances in each, so he would ultimately start crafting wines based on the intricacy of each barrel, as opposed to taking a broader approach. The wines got better.

‘I took full advantage of the room he gave me to manoeuvre and learn as I went,’ Peterson says. ‘As we increased the number of bottlings we made, there wasn’t a recipe, so I got to have a significant role in crafting those wines.’

Peterson met Marty Taucher at DeLille Cellars in 2009, and when Taucher shared his plans to launch Avennia, Peterson saw an opportunity to move towards artistry. ‘We talked about sourcing from the best, and often not the warmest vineyard sites. I’ve zeroed in on a few coopers that worked with our desired style. I wanted that kind of New France approach. I was thinking maybe those older ways could be new again – that it’s not about technology. It’s about making wines that are reflective of Washington but may express some of the style that they’re inspired by.’

Avennia, Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Franc, Horse Heaven Hills, Columbia Valley, Washington, USA 2021 96pts

Avennia, Gravura, Columbia Valley, Washington, USA 2021 95pts

Liminal, WeatherEye Vineyard Block 47 Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Washington, USA 2021 96pts

Samra Morris

Alma Rosa Winery & VineyardSanta Barbara County, California

At 80 years old, Richard Sanford – one of the founders of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, planting some of its first Pinot Noir vines back in 1971 – beams when he’s thinking of Samra Morris, the winemaker chosen to lead Alma Rosa, a winery he founded in 2005. ‘Having grown up in war-torn Bosnia,’ Sanford explains, ‘she has no fear! With a gentle hand, she has been masterful in crafting wines of finesse, balance and place from a new vineyard planting at the Alma Rosa estate.’

Morris arrived in the US in 2012 from Sarajevo. She comes from a family of scientists; her father was a professor of agriculture. While studying for her bachelor’s degree, she wanted to be a brewmaster. ‘After I finished my bachelor’s degree, I took an internship at a brewery, and it turns out, I really don’t like the smells that come out of the brewing process. I hate them, actually,’ Morris explains. Pivoting, she began her graduate studies focused on winemaking.

Morris left Bosnia for the US after marrying an American airman. She was fortunate to discover that her new husband was stationed at Travis Air Force base, near Fairfield, about 40 minutes’ drive from Napa.

Morris started working in Hestan Cellars’ Napa Valley tasting room. She recalls asking the winemaker, Thomas Rivers Brown, about working a harvest shortly after she joined the team. Following a vineyard internship at St Supery, she did three harvests as a cellar intern with Brown at Mending Wall. More cellar and tasting roles followed, as did some very technical work at a wine-kegging company in Sonoma.

When Debra Eagle, who had hired her at Hestan, relocated to the Sta. Rita Hills in 2018, Morris said ‘keep me in mind’. The following year, a call came with an offer to become the assistant winemaker at Alma Rosa. Shortly after Morris arrived, the winemaker quit; she was quickly promoted.

The Sta. Rita Hills represent a viticultural playground. The proximity to the ocean, long growing season and soil variability, including diatomaceous earth (fossilised skeletal remains of tiny aquatic plants), allow varieties such as Pinot and Chardonnay to grow alongside Grenache and Syrah.

All of this creates conditions for Morris to play with. Her wines marry bold umami flavours and ripe fruit with delicate acidity and balance. Bright candied fruits, savoury, herbaceous flavours and an ever-present oceanic salinity create contemplative wines in all grape varieties used. Ripeness is balanced brilliantly with ocean-side freshness.

Alma Rosa, Radian Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California, USA 2021 95pts

Alma Rosa, Rancho La Viña Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California, USA 2021 95pts

Ross Cobb

Cobb WinesSonoma Coast, California

Ross Cobb is the most decorated of the four winemakers we’re meeting in this article. For me, his wines represent the pinnacle of American Pinot Noir. The wines are ethereal, aromatically beguiling, delicately textured and worthy of any superlative you want to throw at them.

Cobb has serious credibility in the sommelier community, too, as perhaps evidenced by his Pinot Noir’s mention in the 2022 film The Menu. He attributes a large part of his success with sommeliers and collectors to calibrating the wines he’s making to the best Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays in the world.

‘I’ve gone to Burgundy 14 times since just before I started Cobb Wines in 2000, and each time I’ve taken my wines and other California Pinot Noirs,’ he says, ‘I’ve tasted these wines relative to some of the legendary wines of Burgundy, which has impacted the evolution of my wine and my choices in winemaking. That’s been a big part of my success in reaching this kind of style.

‘After tasting $20,000 of Morey St-Denis wines with collectors in Miami, I opened a couple of my 2019s – the Doc’s Ranch Chardonnay and the Diane Cobb Pinot Noir. The wines held up. These kinds of tastings, though, have really helped me refine my winemaking style, and it has certainly evolved towards a Burgundian approach.’

Cobb’s wines are distinctive. He believes they stand out on the West Sonoma Coast because of his use of whole clusters and restraint in the use of new oak, though he opts for a lengthy élevage – he usually releases his wines three years after vintage. ‘Lots of winemakers talk the talk of a more restrained style, but they still go for ripeness, and the wines tend to rely on new oak,’ he says.

Cobb’s parents Diane and David planted Coastlands vineyard in 1989. They were among the first to establish vineyards in the western reaches of Sonoma, including a vineyard nursery with 18 different clones of Pinot Noir. Cobb went to UC Santa Cruz and studied agroecology, with a focus on soil science, while his parents were breaking new ground on the Sonoma Coast.

After graduating from college, he arrived at Williams Selyem in 1998, where he learned winemaking with Burt Williams and Bob Cabral. He’s made wines at Flowers and Hirsch, among others. ‘Ross made some of the most beautiful wines that have ever been made at Hirsch,’ says general manager and winemaker Jasmine Hirsch.

For Cobb, it all goes back to his parents’ work at Coastlands. The vineyard was planted on the vines’ own roots, dry-farmed; there have been no herbicides and no tilling in 25 years. It calls to mind the tortoise and the hare. That farming approach has become fashionable, much like Cobb’s style of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which remains elusive to many, but he has mastered.

Cobb, H Klopp Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, California, USA 2021 97pts

Cobb, Emmaline Ann Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California, USA 2021 98pts

See notes and scores for nine wines from four of the US west coast’s most dynamic producers

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Ronan Sayburn MS, Eugenio Egorov and Ben Gubbins tasted 49 wines with 3 Outstanding and 17 Highly recommended.

US Merlot: Panel tasting scores

49 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 3

Highly recommended 17

Recommended 27

Commended 2

Fair 0

Poor 0

Entry criteria: Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their current-release Merlot red wines from any recognised US wine region, containing a minimum of 75% Merlot if in a blend with other varieties

It’s 20 years since the protagonist in the movie Sideways – Miles, a dedicated Pinot-phile – expressed his utter disdain for Merlot. Not long after the film came out, figures released by market analyst Nielsen showed a 16% jump in sales of Pinot Noir against the previous year, along with a 2% decrease in sales of Merlot. A study carried out by economist Stephen Cuellar of Sonoma State University and two colleagues, and released four years after the movie, showed a similar effect.

The small drop in Merlot sales, despite the devastating put-downs of Miles, may be an indication of the continued popularity of this variety with many consumers – it’s soft, approachable, easy to pronounce and can offer rich and deep, ripe fruit. At one time, it was even talked about as a potential contender for Cabernet Sauvignon’s crown.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the US Merlot panel tasting

Merlot is an émigré from Bordeaux, where it found fame post-phylloxera thanks to its ability to graft well (at a time when vineyards around the world needed replanting); prior to that, it was only a minor blending variety. The most widely planted variety in the Bordeaux region, it also marries well in a blend with Cabernet Sauvignon and thrives in the cooler, damper soils found in St-Emilion and Pomerol. Nowadays, it may be falling out of favour as winemakers question its ability to remain elegant in the slowly increasing temperatures now found in Bordeaux.

The wines we tasted were principally from California, but also from Washington and New York states. Eugenio Egorov commented that there were some rather predictable wines, with big alcohol and oak dominating in some cases. Most of the wines we tasted here were at 14%-15% alcohol, and the best of those balanced these levels with ripe but elegant fruit and fine tannins. Ben Gubbins commented that there seemed to be a lot of winemaking influence rather than pure fruit expression, and the cooler climates often fared better.

See all 49 wines from the US Merlot panel tasting

The Washington wines we tried showed very well, with six landing in our top 20 (90-95pts) and 14 more rated Recommended (87-89pts). Sadly, New York showed less well and its wines received some of our lowest scores. These wines showed a soft, jammy, quite simple style that was pleasant to drink but didn’t show a great depth or structure.

Washington showed an overall step up in quality and more harmony between nose and palate. Generally, the wines were quite fine and elegant, with tighter blackcurrant fruit and less weight and alcohol. California (12 in the top 20), and especially Napa, fared the best, with wines that were sweet and ripe on the nose, with elegant fruit and sage-like aromas, soft tannins holding up a broad, velvety palate.

As with many wine regions, it comes down to the producers, some of whom wish to make more commercial, easy-drinking wines and others something finer. At its best, Merlot from the US can show the elegant and generous fruit one would expect to find in a good Bordeaux vintage.

US Merlot panel tasting scores

The following wines all scored 90 points or above. Wines were tasted blind.

The judges

Ronan Sayburn MS is CEO of the Court of Master Sommeliers European chapter and runs his own consultancy and wine training company, RS Wine Academy. A Co-Chair of the Decanter World Wine Awards, he is also a previous winner of the UK Sommelier of the Year competition

Eugenio Egorov is head sommelier at AA five-star The Stafford in London. Born in Ukraine, he began his hospitality career in restaurants in Italy and Florida, USA, before moving to London in 2014, where he rose through the ranks as a sommelier at the likes of 45 Park Lane and The Dorchester

Ben Gubbins is general manager and WSET wine educator at Vagabond Wines in London. A native of Chile, he previously worked as UK & Europe sales director for Dos Andes Wines before joining Vagabond in 2013

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At the end of 2023, the United States was home to 269 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs). These are meant to denote a specific sense of place – and, arguably, quality. Winemakers see these boundaries as a key piece of their marketing message.

However, when the AVAs cross regional political borders, does that impact consumers’ understanding of them and muddle any clarity that conversations about a sense of place and terroir hope to communicate?

The AVAs at a glance

Five of these crossover viticultural areas are located in the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia Valley, Columbia Gorge and Walla Walla Valley AVAs cover vineyards in both Oregon and Washington. Meanwhile, Snake River AVA includes land in Oregon and Idaho, and Lewis-Clark Valley includes vineyards in both Washington and Idaho.

According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) website, a multi-state AVA may contain no more than three contiguous states. Fruit may come from any of the states within the appellation and must be vinified within approved state borders as well.

Defying political lines

For winemakers in this part of the country, terroir trumps politics when it comes to drawing borders.

‘The Walla Walla Valley (which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year) is a fully contained valley at the foothills of the Blue Mountains in Southeastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon, and the AVA was drawn to follow the natural contours of the valley,’ explains Ryan Pennington, chief operating officer of L’Ecole N° 41.

‘The ideal use of the appellation system in America is when it mirrors the natural landscape and the growing conditions for wine grapes to the greatest degree possible. Walla Walla Valley is a great example of that. It just so happens that it crosses two US states.’

L’Ecole N° 41’s estate vineyards are on the Oregon side of the AVA, but the winery is in Washington. Pennington says that because both the estate vineyards and the winery fall completely within the boundaries of the AVA, they can use the Walla Walla Valley AVA on labels.

Toeing the line

It gets a little tricky with nested AVAs, such as The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. The Rocks, for short, was created in 2015 to highlight a single soil series – a cobbly loam soil, according to Delmas’ Steve Robertson, one of the AVA’s architects.

Although it is within the Walla Walla Valley AVA, its boundaries reside completely in Oregon. For wineries with facilities in Washington, this poses a major problem, as producers are not allowed, by law, to bring fruit across state borders and still use The Rocks District AVA on their labels.

These rocky soils, reminiscent of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, are what drew French vigneron Christophe Baron of Cayuse and Bionic Wines to The Rocks District area in the late 1990s.

Although Baron was one of the first to plant in the region, he finds more value in the broader Walla Walla Valley moniker and feels it will lose impact if it becomes subdivided by nested AVAs.

‘I think we should definitely take advantage of the name Walla Walla Valley,’ says Baron. In addition, keeping the distinctive wines from The Rocks District as part of the larger AVA helps raise the profile and reputation of Walla Walla, especially on a global scale.

To Baron, The Rocks District holds no gravitas: 33 members of the Rocks District Winegrowers association identify with the region, either as sourcing or growing fruit. Yet, because Baron’s winery and vineyards are completely within The Rocks District AVA, he is one of only five winemakers who can legally use The Rocks District AVA on his labels. However, he refuses.

Robertson, though, is not deterred by the fact that The Rocks District is allowed to appear on a scant few bottles. He points out that there’s nothing precluding winemakers from including The Rocks District on their website or marketing materials.

There’s also a matter of size. Currently, 191ha are planted in The Rocks District – that’s the equivalent size of Côte-Rôtie. ‘Delmas makes 1,100 cases of wine at full capacity,’ says Robertson. ‘Everything about us is small.’

Given the boutique nature of most labels, the majority of wine is sold direct-to-consumer or solely at outlets within the Pacific Northwest. At the current scale, there isn’t much need for branding in a big way – for now. ‘We’re in it for the long play,’ he says, and as the AVA grows, he believes it will earn its recognition over time.

The role of US states in wine labelling

Melanie Krause is the owner and winemaker at Cinder Wines in the Snake River Valley AVA, Idaho’s first appellation and one that crosses its border into Oregon. She sources mostly from Idaho vineyards but does make a single-vineyard wine from Emerald Slope Vineyard in Oregon. Although she has the right to use Oregon in the name, she opts just to label it as Snake River Valley AVA.

When asked if she thought there could be benefits to adding a well-known winemaking state like Oregon on the label, she shrugged. ‘I’m not super interested in screaming Oregon at the top of my lungs for one tiny little block,’ she says. ‘There’s got to be a greater breadth of varieties and sites for me to really want to go the whole hog about advertising Oregon versus the Snake River Valley.’

For Krause, it comes back to the fact that an AVA signifies a unique terroir and, by extension, a quality. ‘Most of our customers, who are premium-priced wine consumers, are used to seeing AVAs on wine labels,’ she says.

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Ronan Sayburn MS, Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW and Ben Gubbins tasted 48 wines, with 21 highly recommended and 26 recommended.

Washington GSM: Panel tasting scores

48 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 0

Highly recommended 21

Recommended 25

Commended 2

Fair 0

Poor 0

Entry criteria: Producers and UK agents were invited to submit their latest-release, blended red wines made using Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, either entirely or predominantly, from any Washington State AVA region.

A GSM blend is often associated with the Southern Rhône, especially Châteauneuf-du-Pape, where most of the blend is commonly Grenache, with some Syrah and Mourvèdre.

In Washington State, in the US northwest, the proportion of the most dominant variety in the blend is often not more than 50%, and it’s not always primarily Grenache. 

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the Washington GSM panel tasting

Some wines in this tasting were led by Syrah (14) or even Mourvèdre (nine). So, as Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW commented, styles may be more like you’d find in a Languedoc blend (including a handful that had small percentages of other blending varieties in the mix, such as Cinsault, Carignan or Counoise).

The flavours here are very different from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with the warm roadkill and spice flavours replaced by sweet blueberry, black kirsch cherry, blackberry and dark chocolate and coffee oak flavours, a liquid form of black forest gateau.

The vineyards in Washington lie on the eastern side of the Cascade mountains (except for a very few in the Puget Sound and Columbia Gorge, which also spills across into Oregon), largely protecting them from the wet weather from the direction of Seattle.

Whereas Pinot Noir in Oregon enjoys a cool north Pacific influence, Washington vineyards are arid, enjoying hot days and cool nights.

This diurnal shift in temperature works the vines to produce complexity in their grapes. Hot summers, during which irrigation is needed, are followed by sub-zero winters that can cause frost damage to the vines.

See notes and scores for all the Washington GSM panel tasting wines

While it was disappointing not to have any wines rated as Outstanding, three came close on 94-points – a ‘high silver’ in terms of medal equivalents – and in all, 43% of the wines tasted received a Highly Recommended score of 90-94pts, which shows a very high level of good wines and winemaking skill.

There was undoubtedly consistency in quality, commented Ben Gubbins, and stylistic diversity. We encountered no wines with cork taint, some with (acceptable) Brettanomyces and only one oxidised wine, so the wines were well made across the board.

Alcohol mostly topped 14%, but it was integrated into the generous fruit. Evidence of winemaking innovations such as large or neutral oak formats, amphorae and concrete eggs showed the use of progressive production techniques.

Gubbins noted that it was refreshing to see producers carving out their own style and not attempting to emulate the Rhône, or Barossa Valley in South Australia – another area well known for GSM blends.

And Cherutti-Kowal also commented on the regional character on show, with Yakima Valley and Red Mountain particularly strong among the higher scorers.

Washington GSM: Panel tasting scores

The judges

Ronan Sayburn MS is CEO of the Court of Master Sommeliers European chapter and runs his own consultancy and wine training company, RS Wine Academy. A previous winner of the UK Sommelier of the Year competition, he is also one of four DWWA Co-Chairs.

Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW is a widely published wine writer, consultant, educator and WSET lecturer. She is a regular judge and contributor for Decanter, and from this year is the DWWA Regional Chair for Tuscany.

Ben Gubbins is general manager and WSET wine educator at Vagabond Wines in London. A native of Chile, he previously worked as UK & Europe sales director for Dos Andes Wines before joining Vagabond in 2013.

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When you ask other Washington winemakers who their favourite winemaker is, nearly all of them will say ‘Ben Smith.’ His consistent smile and non-existent ego in an industry that is flooded with attitude makes him a breath of fresh air.

Ben Smith is humble, polite and unassuming. In his adopted hometown of Seattle, the avid outdoorsman, talented amateur photographer and family man is not a winemaker who necessarily stands out in the crowd.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from a Cadence vertical tasting

Yet the impetus for Ben Smith’s winemaking career is markedly out of the ordinary. Smith is one of Washington state’s most consistent, talented and accomplished winemakers of the last 25 years, and it’s all because he won a contest.

Unlikely beginnings

‘The genesis of this whole thing is the 1997 Boeing Winefest, ’ Smith explains. The Boeing Employees Wine and Beer Makers Club launched in the early 1970s, at much the same time as Washington’s nascent wine industry. Smith is not the first Boeing alumnus to turn professional winemaker, but he is undoubtedly the most accomplished. The annual competition is a serious effort; these are engineers, after all. The club was large enough at one point that it was sourcing up to 45 tonnes of fruit each year for its 200 members.

After winning top honours with his wines in both 1995 and 1996, Smith entered four wines in the 1997 edition, judged blind. Over 400 wines were entered. Four wines are awarded ‘Best of Show’ each year.

‘When they unveiled the fourth place wine in the ‘Best of Show’ category, and it was mine, I was a little deflated after winning the previous two years, ’ Smith recalls. ‘Then they unveiled the third place wine, which was also mine and second, mine again. And finally, I took first place too.’ Smith’s wines were a Bordeaux-style blend, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Merlot and a late-harvest Riesling.

A week or so later, he and Gaye – still only dating at the time – were out on Red Mountain. The two spotted a rusty ‘for sale’ sign on a four-hectare parcel along Sunset Road, and they bought it. (Smith calls it the best financial investment he’s ever made.) The couple married and launched the winery in 1998. Smith left Boeing for a good 18 months later.

A little different, always

Cadence pioneered vineyard-designate Bordeaux-style blends in the state of Washington. ‘It was a marketing challenge for us when we first released the wines,’ McNutt explains. ‘There was, of course, Bordeaux, but for American and Washington wines, shops and restaurants were confused about where they belonged on the list. Was it Cabernet or Merlot?’

The ‘red blend’ has become de rigueur in Washington these days, given the diversity of varieties that grow well in the warm desert climes of the eastern part of the state.

Cabernet Sauvignon is the undisputed number one grape in Washington state year after year in terms of vineyard acres and tonnes harvested. In 2022, about 61,000 tonnes of Cabernet Sauvignon were harvested, to just 2,700 tonnes of Cabernet Franc.

Cabernet Franc is, however, the single most important variety in Cadence’s catalogue. ‘Cabernet Franc has all the structure of Cabernet Sauvignon, and it offers so many additional complexities on top of that. It’s why we love it,’ Smith proclaims. McNutt adds, ‘On Red Mountain, it’s always reliably ripe; you don’t get any of the green, pyrazine character. It’s always such a star for us, particularly aromatically.’

‘In 1998, I tasted some Cabernet Franc that Chris Camarda (of Washington’s Andrew Will) had from Sheridan Vineyard. It was pencil lead; it was violets. I was mesmerised to see what wine from this state could be. That’s when we fell in love with the variety here in Washington.’

‘We are always the earliest pick of red fruit on Red Mountain, every single year,’ Smith notes. ‘I joke that when the others see us picking, they start sampling.’

As it happens, one long-time Red Mountain winemaker I spoke with made that exact comment to me sincerely. ‘When I see Ben out there picking, I know it’s time to start looking at the fruit,’ they said with a smile.

‘It’s absolutely a stylistic determination on our part and one that we…,’ Smith pauses. Despite all their success over the last 25 years, you can tell making proclamations about how good the Cadence wines are still makes Smith a little bit uncomfortable. ‘Well, you can judge for yourself. But it fits our style, a little more acidity, and the tannins aren’t quite so soft.’

Cadence at a glance

Established: Cadence was established in 1998 after Ben Smith left his career at Boeing. Smith and Cadence co-owner, wife Gaye McNutt planted their estate vineyard Cara Mia on Red Mountain in 2004.

Area planted: 3.25ha

Winemaker: Ben Smith

Cadence annual production: Between 24,000 and 30,000 bottles

Wines:

Bel Canto: Cabernet Franc dominant blend

Camerata: Cabernet Sauvignon dominant blend

Coda: Known as the leftovers, this blend delivers on balance and value

Cara Mia Cabernet Sauvingon: 100% Cabernet from the estate vineyard

Cara Mia

The wines from Cadence are all a product of their Red Mountain estate vineyard, purchased in 1998 and planted in 2004.

In November of 2003, they were finally able to get the water rights for the vineyard. It was planted the following year. They got help from Jim Holmes, one of the legendary founders of Red Mountain. One of Washington’s most highly regarded vineyard managers, Ryan Johnson of WeatherEye, planted it for them.

‘There aren’t many people who will take on someone else’s project and treat it like their own. Ryan really did that for us, and it’s an important part of everything we’ve been able to do since,’ Smith proclaims.

‘Before the first vine went into the ground, we invested hundreds of hours planning the layout of the vineyard,’ says Smith. ‘Our first Red Mountain innovation was to orient the vineyard rows 11 degrees off true north-south to adjust for latitude and provide even sun exposure between morning and afternoon.’

‘Our second Red Mountain innovation related to geological analysis,’ Smith continues. ‘We dug 31 soil pits at regular intervals throughout the vineyard to a depth of 2.5 metres. A geologist reported the material and chemical composition of the strata in each pit. Washington State University geologists confirmed that we have perhaps the most unique and varied soil profiles of any vineyard site they’ve seen on Red Mountain.’

Click here to see tasting notes and scores from recent releases by Cadence

The vineyard consists of three major soil types. There are deep cobblestone soils, clay, fractured basalt and sandy loams. Two of these soils, the cobblestones and clay, haven’t been found in other vineyards in the Red Mountain AVA.

According to the team at Cadence, the physical makeup of the cobbles and clay is similar to the Pomerol and St-Emilion plateau in Bordeaux. They believe they match perfectly for their chosen varieties of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot.

The art of the blend

There may be a direction and house style that Cadence aims for, but vintage will dictate the blend. They don’t use the same percentages year in and year out. There is no predetermined formula.

‘The barrels and clonal selections that do and do not play well with each other surprise us year after year,’ McNutt explains. ‘Educated guesses are often wrong. We need to honestly taste the glass in front of us. Barrels that might have a strong element on their own may not bring that element to the blend.’

‘Likewise, a barrel that was not necessarily a favourite fills a hole or adds a spark or other dimension in an unexpected way. We’ve also found that single barrels can suddenly dominate a blend in a manner that far exceeds their raw percentage of the blend.’

It’s in their blending that the partnership between Ben and Gaye really shines. Smith, ever the engineer, leans into structure and the technical side, while McNutt is the hedonist of the two.

They have a definite philosophy with their two Cara Mia blends, Bel Canto and Camerata. ‘With Bel Canto, we’re looking for the fabulous Cabernet Franc aromatics and plushness with the addition of complexity and backbone,’ says McNutt. The wine is always a Cabernet Franc dominant blend with Merlot and Petit Verdot.

Cabernet Sauvignon leads Camerata. ‘Camerata is always about structure up front and brilliant fruit to back it up. We go for balance always,’ McNutt continues. ’Balance between acids, fruit and tannin. Balance between elegance, structure, complexity and integration.’

‘We go for ageability and balance all the way around,’ McNutt adds. ‘It can be challenging for people who just want that big, fruit flavour hit when you open it. Now, looking back at our wines 25 years, we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. That’s really gratifying.’

Beyond just showing ageability, these wines show they are improving with 10 to 20 years in the bottle. Cadence makes a strong case for the wines that balance power and elegance with undeniable harmony that Washington is capable of producing.

Cadence over time: a vertical from the Red Mountain producer

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QUICK LINK Washington State 2020: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Red Mountain is Washington’s hottest-growing region. Perched above the Yakima River, it is a nesting doll of sorts, found both within the Yakima Valley and larger Columbia Valley AVAs. In 2020, of the Red Mountain vineyard sites I tasted from, nearly all managed to escape the impact from the wildfires.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Red Mountain 2020 wines tasted

‘The vintage actually began in October 2019,’ explained Ben Smith of Cadence. ‘There was a series of frost events that caused wood damage in young vines and bud damage in older plantings. As a result, yields were low to moderate.

‘The growing season progressed rapidly, with warm temperatures through bud break, flowering and fruit set,’ said Smith. ‘July and August continued quite hot, with the first real break occurring around 15 September, when temperatures dropped to the mid- to high-20°Cs. This gave winegrowers who prefer higher ripeness levels a little more hang time. We began harvesting Merlot on 3 September and completed harvest on 18 September with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

‘During harvest, wildfires in the Cascades generated smoke that settled into the Columbia Valley,’ added Smith. ‘This caused smoke taint issues in some but definitely not all vineyards. Cara Mia was completely unaffected by smoke.

‘While there were winemakers who wrote off their production from the entire state, many wineries and vineyards produced perfectly sound, unaffected wine.’

Jason Gorski, director of winemaking at Delille Cellars said that, overall, 2020 should be considered a warm vintage in Red Mountain. He repeated Smith’s assessment of the growing season, saying that the warm temperatures ‘kept us very busy for the early season’.

‘Then the smoke moved in, blocking sugar accumulation in the grapes, so [growing] had a brief pause until conditions improved,’ Gorski continued.

‘Typical Washington State weather set in around mid-September with moderate temperatures and welcome, large diurnal swings. By the time an earlier-than-normal frost showed up in the long-term forecast, we had already harvested all of our grapes. The only blocks affected were those we had left hanging for a late harvest.’

Red Mountain 2020: The top-performing producers

• Cadence
• Delille Cellars
• Liminal
• Quilceda Creek
  

Red Mountain 2020: The top 10 wines tasted

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Walla Walla 2020: Vintage review and top wines

Washington 2020 score table: Top wines tasted

Harvest 2023 in the Pacific Northwest: What winemakers are saying

QUICK LINK Washington State 2020: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

The Walla Walla Valley is a cooler growing region than Washington State AVAs that lie further west. The region, which sits in the far southeastern corner of the state and extends into the northeastern corner of Oregon, sees lower temperatures and much more rain than Washington’s desert AVAs, with 28cm of annual rainfall.

In 2020 many producers were fortunate in escaping undue impact from the wildfires. As one side-effect of the smoke was a slowing of ripening (as it obscured the sunlight), many wines show real elegance and a savoury edge.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Walla Walla Valley 2020 wines tasted

‘We narrowly escaped the threat of wildfires, so the 2020 vintage in Walla Walla was fantastic for us,’ said Doubleback winemaker Josh McDaniels. ‘We saw a combination of above-average temperatures and slightly below-average yields. The wines are concentrated, rich and some of the best we’ve made.’

‘There is a distinctive freshness and length to the tannin structure of 2020 wines,’ said Valdemar Estates winemaker Devyani Isabel Gupta. ‘We prefer to harvest with more fruit freshness and tension in our wines, and 2020 brought this tension in spades.

‘Initially, the 2020 growing season seemed like it would come in early and fast,’ she added. ‘In 2020, when the smoke moved in around the middle of September, the lack of sun exposure led to cooler temperatures. And the poor air quality delayed us receiving fruit for about two weeks.’

Gupta continued: ‘During this time, it was certainly stressful, as the impacts of the smoke were unknown. We had harvested almost all our Yakima Valley and Red Mountain fruit, but our Walla Walla Valley sites were still hanging. In Walla Walla Valley, specifically, air movement from the Blue Mountain range seemed to improve our air quality relative to Yakima Valley and areas near the Okanagan National Forest.’

Walla Walla Valley 2020: The top-performing producers

• Doubleback
• Valdemar Estates
• Leonetti Cellar
• Figgins Family
  

‘Our biggest success was to be able to produce most of our core wines without smoke issues,’ explained Jesús Martínez Bujanda, owner and CEO of Valdemar Estates. ‘We were very careful to separate every lot to avoid any cross-contamination, and we were able to get rid of any fruit we had doubt about. So we are very happy about the 2020 wines we are releasing.’

Gupta agreed: ‘We were fortunate with our Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon sites harvested after the smoke events. Phenolic-marker testing showed a minimal-to-no risk of smoke taint. Plus, the additional ‘hang time’ was also on our side, as the two-week delay preserved acidity and freshness while flavours and tannins developed.’

That luck did not extend everywhere, however. ‘We did have Grenache and Petit Verdot sites from the Columbia Basin that were not as fortunate and were declassified and then later destroyed,’ she admitted.

Walla Walla Valley 2020: The top wines tasted

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Washington 2020 score table: Top wines tasted

Walla Walla Valley for wine lovers

In uniquely challenging year, beset by wildfire smoke and the chaos of the pandemic, Washington State made some wonderfully balanced wines in 2020. The best show great ripeness, well-managed tannins and fresh acidity.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the top Washington State 2020 wines

The smoke which blanketed the region in September seemed to have a mixed impact. The producers I spoke with were mainly unconcerned about their wines and I found little troubling the samples I tasted. But at least one producer I spoke to, Betz Family Winery, decided not to make any wines in 2020 out of concern for smoke taint.

‘Of course, 2020 had the additional challenge of Covid-19,’ said Jason Gorski, director of winemaking at Delille Cellars. ‘We wrote out protocols for what to do if the whole winemaking team got sick and guidelines to the rest of the company outlining what they’d need to do with fruit already in the winery if we all went down.’

‘We isolated ourselves and made sure to avoid any potential exposure we could,’ Gorski continued. ‘And we had additional concerns for our essential partners during that time: picking crews, vineyard staff and trucking companies. While people got sick here and there, operations continued, and we were able to make wine and keep the business moving forward. We were fortunate.’

See all Washington State 2020 vintage tasting notes and scores

Washington State 2020: top five wines of the vintage

DeLille Cellars, Harrison Hill, Snipes Mountain 97 points

Quilceda Creek, Tchelistcheff Clone 412, Horse Heaven Hills 97 points

Cadence, Camerata, Red Mountain 96 points

Doubleback, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley 96 points

Trothe, Cabernet Sauvignon, Horse Heaven Hills 96 points  

Predictable beginnings

The 2020 vintage in Washington began fairly predictably, following a cold close to the 2019 growing season. October of that year was the second coldest recorded since 1895, with record-low temperatures and early-season snow. November and December were extraordinarily dry, followed by a very wet January. Drier months followed into spring.

Bud break began across the state in mid-April, similar to recent averages, and flowering was slightly ahead of recent years, beginning in the third week of May. The warm, dry spring was followed by a classic Northwest cool, wet ‘Juneuary’ for the first part of the month. This slowed ripening a little, but warm weather in July brought on veraison by the third week of the month.

Harvest began across the state by the third week of August, slightly ahead of longer-term averages but tracking normally for the recent warm-vintage trends seen across the state.

‘In a uniquely challenging year, Washington made some wonderfully balanced wines in 2020. The best show great ripeness well-managed tannins and fresh acidity.’

A challenging finish

Things heated up further in September and then what had been a fairly normal vintage took a destructive turn. A record-breaking wildfire season in Oregon had an intense impact on air quality throughout the Pacific Northwest. There were fatalities and an immense loss of property, with more than 400,000ha of forest burned. The wildfire smoke made its way to Washington State, and hazardous air quality forced a halt to the harvest.

The smoke blocked out the sun which stalled sugar accumulation in grapes that remained on the vine. Evidence of smoke taint varied from region to region throughout Washington State meaning that 2020 was not a complete loss as it was in parts of California and Oregon.

When the smoke cleared, warm temperatures gave way to a freeze on 25 October but by then most of the fruit had been picked. Overall, yields were down – in some cases significantly– increasing concentration in varieties with smaller berries and clusters.

The resulting wines

The most enjoyable Washington wines from 2020 are expressive and powerful with balanced tannins. Bordeaux varieties, particularly Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc, stood out. The top wines show ample fruit concentration, minerality and a savoury character, the terroir of the state’s various AVAs showing through in both taste and structure. Tannins in Washington can become unruly, but talented winemakers use them to build wines of complexity and structure that will age for a decade or more.

Paul Golitzin, president and director of winemaking at Quilceda Creek, said 2020 was a vintage with ample silver linings. ‘It was undeniably a challenging year for all of us, and stressful with the wildfires to the south, but we were fortunate to navigate through it and produce some of our best wines ever. It’s a classic vintage for Quilceda Creek – the wines have tremendous concentration and depth.’

‘Overall, the 2020s offer a bit of extra concentration from the low yields,’ said Delille’s Jason Gorski. ‘These are wines with a present but accessible tannin structure. The vintage provided ample fruit flavours to complement our house style, which leans towards elegance, balance and freshness. We are very proud of the wines produced despite the demanding circumstances.’

Washington State vintage ratings

2020 3/5

In this slightly warmer than average year, the Covid-19 pandemic forced wineries to create strategies that allowed them to continue to make wine. The best show finesse and balance, with fine examples in particular coming from the Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs. In September, wildfires raged to the south in Oregon, creating difficulty with ripening and impacting some vineyards with smoke taint, however there wasn’t the same widespread damage here as there was in parts of Oregon and California.

2019 5/5

A cooler year for Washington’s warm, largely desert-growing conditions, delivering wines with great elegance, finesse and balance. This, combined with a cold, wet winter, created delays in bud break and bloom. Challenging frost events in September and October contributed to smaller yields. The top wines show beautiful finesse and elegance balanced against Washington’s characteristic tannin structure and reliable ripeness.

2018 4/5

A warmer-than-average year that began with a cool spring, a hot May and then a cooler June which growers have come to expect. Hotter temperatures in July and August sped things along. Wines were lush and ripe with both higher alcohols and yields.

Washington State 2020: Top-scoring wines

See the Washington State 2020 score table with all wines scoring 94 points and above

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Producer profile: Trothe, plus seven wines tasted

Oregon’s Willamette Valley 2021: Vintage report and top-scoring wines

Our US correspondent Clive Pursehouse deciphers the 2020 vintage in Washington State tasting and rating more than 100 wines.

Despite the year's challenging conditions, he found, the best wines have balance of tannins and power. The Cabernets and Bordeaux varieties in particular stood out.

In the state's top wines, there is ample concentration of fruit balanced with minerality and a savoury character - the terroir of the state's various AVAs showing through in both the taste and structure. Tannins in Washington can become unruly, but the most talented winemakers use them to build wines of complexity and structure that will age for a decade and more.

Here we present a quick and easy way to see tasting notes and scores for the 39 wines that scored 94 points or above.

The most recent events took place between 10-12 August and included an awards dinner, barrel auction and gala evening. The fundraising proceedings – combined with the ‘Bid for Bottles’ auction, which was held over the holiday season in 2022 – raised $4m, matching the total raised in 2022.

‘With our partners and host winery Chateau Ste. Michelle, we can create awareness for and attract consumers to the world-class Washington wine industry, said the organisation’s executive director Jamie Peha.

The fundraiser kicked off with ‘TOAST!’, a dinner and awards ceremony to honour some of Washington’s long-standing industry giants as well as emerging leaders. The Lifetime Achievement award was given to Ted Baseler, who retired from a 34-year stint at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates in 2018, having spent 18 years as the company’s CEO.

Friday’s ‘Winemaker Picnic and Barrel auction’ saw over 900 guests in attendance. It included pourings from 100 Washington wineries paired with high-end picnic foods supplied by Seattle area restaurants. The auction featured yet-to-be-released barrel samples from 35 Washington wineries during a live bidding. The highest bid was for Long Shadows 2020 Feather Cabernet Sauvignon, which sold for $4,000.

The August programme concluded with the largest fundraising event, a gala evening. A live auction featured luxury travel experiences, wine lots and other ‘money can’t buy’ packages. The highest-grossing lot of the evening was an eight-night African safari from Betz Family Winery, which sold for $120,000. The paddle raise for Seattle Children’s grossed $1.9m.

The Auction of Washington Wines was established in 1988. Now in its 36th year, it has raised more than $63m since its beginnings. The organisation strives to support the growth and awareness of Washington State’s wine industry through events which benefit the community.

‘It is our joint mission to support the industry and the community through the important work of our three philanthropic partners: Seattle Children’s, WSU Viticulture & Enology Research, and Vital Wines,’ Peha said. 

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Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (SMWE), one of the largest US wine companies, recently told a meeting of grape growers in Washington State that it expects to purchase 40% less fruit over the next five years.

The announcement could have a significant impact on the Washington wine sector. Some industry leaders also believe the move highlights a wider shift in wine consumption in the US.

‘As we have an oversupply of grapes, these steps are necessary to bring the business into balance,’ said a representative from SMWE, which is owned by private equity group Sycamore Partners.

‘We have started conversations with our grower partners in Eastern Washington to adjust our grape supply to better align with demand and enable us to focus on crafting the highest quality premium wines from Washington.

‘Our long-term relationships with our growers are extremely important to us, and while this is a difficult process, these proactive measures are necessary for the ongoing health of our business as well as the health of the overall Washington wine industry.’

SMWE farms 12,140.5 hectares (30,000 acres) of vineyards in Washington, Oregon, and California, 10,926.5 hectares (27,000 acres) of which are in Washington State alone.

Out of that total acreage, the producer owns 971 hectares (2,400 acres) in Washington and 77 hectares (190 acres) in Oregon, confirmed the SMWE representative.

Vicky Scharlau, executive director of the Washington Winegrowers Association, said: ‘We’re encouraging growers to review each vineyard block carefully and critically to remove vineyards with diseased vines, planted in suboptimal areas, or with marginal production.

‘Unless the wine category rebounds magically reducing the inventory backlog of wine and bulk wine, our acreage needs a reduction of about 10,000 acres.’

Moves to reduce supply will not only affect growers but other aspects of the Washington industry, such as marketing and promotions.

Kristina Kelley, executive director of the Washington State Wine Commission, said: ‘The Washington State Wine Commission is funded through grape and wine assessments, and therefore our budget changes alongside industry and market shifts every year.’

She added: ‘We have experience adjusting our budget and will remain agile to prioritise work that drives the growth of Washington wine.’

A broader industry problem

Many think SMWE’s announcement signifies some of the challenges facing the wine industry on a broader level.

‘This isn’t an SMWE problem, this is a wine industry challenge,’ said Scharlau. ‘The wine market is changing. Wine drinkers are changing. Competition is more than the wine category. The channels are shrinking. This is supply and demand up close.’

Kerry Shiels, winemaker and the second generation of Côte Bonneville, said, ‘Ste. Michelle’s troubles are indicative of larger trends – older wine drinkers are enjoying the cellars they’ve built over decades, and younger consumers are drinking less in general and more intentionally.

‘So it gets very competitive at lower price points where Ste. Michelle has a lot of volume.’

What the future might hold

Despite SMWE’s announcement and current industry headwinds, there is optimism for the future.

‘The challenge for volume producers is that Washington is much more suitable for quality production than quantity,’ said Shiels.

‘Compared to places like the Central Valley of California or lower elevations in Argentina, we just can’t get the high yields to compete at those price points.

‘The opportunity for Washington growers and winemakers is to make more site-specific wines that show the personality of a vineyard or region. Although the transition may be painful, the wines will be more interesting going forward.’

Rob McMillan, founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s wine division and long-standing industry analyst, said, ‘It’s just a guess, but I expect Sycamore Partners will invest more in winemaking and rebrand their wines into higher-priced wine categories that are growing.’

He added, ‘The grape quality is there to pull it off. If Sycamore Partners can leverage its consumer branding and marketing expertise, tomorrow Washington’s wine and grape growing community will benefit along with the other industries that have expanded with Ste. Michelle over the years.’

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The US capital – long known to insiders as one of the best wine-drinking cities in the country for its breadth and depth of choice – has emerged from a rather sombre decade with a host of new and revived restaurants, bars and bottle shops drawing enthusiastic food-and-wine lovers into the lively neighbourhoods beyond the Beltway.

An array of options fed by deep-pocketed lobbyists, government contractors and thirsty global diplomats fuels the effervescent hospitality scene. It’s all supported by local Washingtonians and residents from around the world who work in embassies and trade organisations.

And the District is constantly absorbing a youthful influx of university graduates bent on changing the system through policy and tourists from around the country. With such diversity of demand, a typical night out could involve a glass of orange wine at a riverfront wine bar, a bottle of Bordeaux first growth over dinner at a buzzy Michelin star spot, and a Champagne and caviar nightcap in historic Georgetown.

The District’s liberal alcohol importation permit system underpins the extensive choice of wines. In a country hampered by a notoriously arcane patchwork of alcohol importation and distribution laws, this translates to excellent news for wine lovers. DC’s eateries, bars and bottle shops offer one of the most extensive selections of small-producer wines in the country – along with every trophy bottle your heart desires, of course, given that the city is awash with big spenders.

In the nation’s capital, dining tables and bar stools are a great unifier – the cultural and racial melting pot of 712,000 straddles the nation’s Northern and Southern regions.

To experience the District’s delicious soul, you’ll want to seek out the multi-dimensional neighbourhoods beyond downtown’s monuments, memorials and museums. The clean and efficient Metro makes getting around a breeze, and most areas lend themselves well to walking. Another big plus for visitors is that you can expect a modest, friendly attitude even in the swankiest places.

The city is broken into four geographical quadrants: NW, NE, SW and SE, which refers to their location in relation to the US Capitol Building. Surprisingly, all quadrants have waterfront areas. Suggestions below are by geographic region and neighbourhood.

NW DC

Apéro

In 2020, advanced sommelier Elli Benchimol opened Apéro, an intimate Champagne and wine bar with delicious dining in a historic townhouse on a quiet colonial-era street in Georgetown. Although the doyenne of the District’s wine community – who, since 2009, has led a legendary DC industry tasting group – curates a 20-page menu of grower Champagnes, she tells me her goal is to offer something that ‘wine lovers of all stripes’ will enjoy.

Whether you choose one of her affordable Barolos or a bottle in the four figures from her Euro-centric wine list, ‘you will not dine in my restaurant without talking to at least two sommeliers, including your server,’ she says. And that’s a great thing, whether you are up for a Champagne and caviar tête à tête, a glass of rosé at the bar with the regulars, al fresco brunch in the charming garden-patio or the ambitious new chef’s tasting menu in the upstairs dining room.

Cork Wine Bar and Market

You’ll find Cork Wine Bar and Market a couple of blocks past the historic brick John Wesley African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church on Logan Circle’s 14^th street. Owners Khalid Pitts and Diane Gross launched the unassuming bar and bottle shop in 2008 to showcase quality wines from around the world, both experimental and old school.

Over the years, the cosy industry hangout has graced many ‘best of lists’. It offers about 50 wines by the glass, a rotating monthly wine flight menu, and Saturday afternoon tastings. I notice an excellent selection of well-priced magnums. Regulars come for easy fare like avocado toast, cheese boards and daily specials.

The Dabney

Tonic for the weary post-pandemic soul, this one Michelin star establishment is a cocoon of understated elegance tucked away off a historic brick-paved alley in the up-and-coming Shaw neighbourhood. ‘In a city where so many things are serious and heavy, especially over the past few years, wine and food are a comfort zone,’ says Jessica Liberto Hosseini, The Dabney’s beverage director.

‘We focus on mid-Atlantic regional food with roots in the Chesapeake Bay watershed,’ Hosseini adds, explaining that seafood from the nation’s largest estuary is delivered daily by a local man who ‘drives up and down the coast daily to find the freshest fish’. And although à la carte snacks are served at the walk-in patio and bar area, she points out that the dining room’s six-course prix fixe menu changes daily ‘to allow for creativity in the kitchen’. This philosophy spills over into your glass, too.

‘The beauty of our wine list,’ she says, ‘is that it appeals to the nerdiest and the novice.’ Ask Hosseini about The Dabney’s ‘hidden gems’ that every wine lover dreams of finding, like her collection of López de Heredia Riojas from the 1970s and ’80s.

Le Diplomate

Every major US city has at least one traditional French brasserie – and I’m here to tell you that Le Diplomate is the most perfect one I’ve found. Gooey French onion soup? Check. Steak frites, warm goat cheese salad, escargots? Triple check. And, of course, a lengthy wine list, including plenty of half bottles and wines by the glass (including attractive daily specials served only at the bar).

Head sommelier John Loats shares: ‘Our wine list features the classic French regions at all price points because our clientele ranges from folks coming in for a burger to lengthy business dinners.’ Loats adds that the white-aproned servers poured 3,500 glasses of wine the previous week. As I dig into my dessert (the hockey puck-sized, house-made Paris-Brest pastry with a glass of Jura Vin de Paille), I notice that the wine list, organised by French regions, also offers a section called ‘Le Monde’, in a très French tongue-in-cheek nod to the rest of the world. Another fun touch? The towering ‘hamburger frites’ served with a little American flag perched on top. Diplomatic, indeed.

Maxwell Park

In 2017, when District wine pioneer and sommelier Brent Kroll opened Maxwell Park, the seminal and oft-awarded wine bar in the emerging Shaw neighbourhood, he launched the city’s wine revolution. California Cabs made way for the world of wines. Since then, the father of the city’s expansive wine scene has always tried to ‘act as a friendly compass, pointing any and all wine drinkers in the right direction, based on their individual preferences and tastes’. Over the years, Maxwell Park has become the industry hangout for their fifty wines by the glass (or half-glass) and monthly deep dives into different wine themes. If you’re in the mood for bubbles, head to Pop, Kroll’s new neighbourhood ’fizz bar‘ for everything from Champagne to Cava.

Nido Wine Shop and Market

This charming shop on the main commercial avenue in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood will lift the hearts (and taste buds) of those looking for a casual sidewalk al fresco lunch spot. All can be served with a glass of well-priced, low-intervention wine. The neighbourhood is a historic enclave for immigrants from Central America and elsewhere (including a DC favourite Filipino restaurant, Purple Patch, right next door). The shop offers a tightly curated group of quirky (yet ‘non-funky’ according to GM Thea Merl) wines from small French, Spanish and Italian producers, selected by the knowledgeable proprietors who modestly call themselves ‘three women with a wine shop’.

Reveler’s Hour

If there’s one place where the District’s hospitable soul reaches peak vibes, it’s at Bill Jensen’s refuge for curious, wine-loving folks like him. Along with his two partners, the convivial DC native tells me his early work in political organising prepped him well for restaurant life. Indeed, Jensen (supported by his simpatico staff) treats everyone like a regular.

At Reveler’s Hour, the 2021 winner of DC’s sommelier award focuses on simplicity. There are weekly menus rooted in perfect portions of house-made pasta and with well-priced and eclectic wine pairings. Every detail is spot on, including to the hilarious drawings by James Beard award-winning artist Maryse Chevalier in the

bathrooms.

During the pandemic, Jenson says, he started selling his wines, too, so his guests can ‘take their experience home with them’. Diners looking for a more extensive tasting menu experience can head around the corner to the much-lauded Michelin-starred Tail Up

Goat, which Jensen also runs along with his two partners.

NE DC

Domestique

Founder Jeff Segal caught the District’s natural wine wave at the perfect time in 2018. He and his director of operations, Meri Lugo, opened this bottle shop in an airy, light-filled space on the ground floor of a renovated 1920s brick beauty that anchors a bustling corner in the multi-cultural Truxton Circle neighbourhood. Since then, accolades have accumulated.

With over 1,000 natural wines for sale, it’s a destination. But, just as importantly for Segal and Lugo, it’s a community gathering place where curious folks can learn about natural wine during the regular Saturday morning tastings. As Segal tells me when I visit, ‘people can exist in a non-transactional, casual way’. The ethos stems from the name, Domestique, which harkens to Segal’s passion for bicycling. ‘In road bike racing,’ he explains, ‘a domestique is a rider who works for the benefit of their team and leader, rather than trying to win the race.’ But for customers, it’s a winning ethos, indeed.

Irregardless

Opened in September 2022, this low-key, intimate wine bistro along the busy H-Street Corridor showcases up-and-coming wines from the District’s neighbouring state of Virginia. Mika and Ian Carlin fell in love with these Blue Ridge Mountain wines (and each other) while studying law at the University of Virginia. Ultimately, the wine won over the law, and the couple says they decided to showcase Virginia wines – ‘Irregardless’.

They found a storefront restaurant for rent two blocks from the home they’d purchased in 2019. Ian says their neighbourhood, where riots broke out in 1968 following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, is today ‘figuring out its identity’, which makes it an ideal place to try something new. The wine-curious, like me, will opt for the tasting menu paired with Virginia wines.

My favourites? A Barboursville Vineyards 2019 Barbera Reserve and a Domaine Finot Cabernet Franc 2020 from Turk Mountain Vineyards. If the tasting menu is too much of a commitment, post up at the 12-seat bar for à la carte bites and wines by the glass. ‘Irregardless’ of where you sit, you’ll be in for a wide range of Virginia offerings – among the best, according to the owners, from the state’s 300-plus vineyards.

Primrose

Primrose, the whimsical French bistro-slash-community gathering place, has uplifted a corner lot in the District’s northeast Brookland neighbourhood since 2017. At night, the light spills from open windows over the sidewalk café and the spacious interior – backlit by perhaps the most gorgeous bar in the city and crowned with oft-Instagrammed feather-draped chandeliers – buzzes with the casual conversation of an eclectic crowd of patrons.

You’re bound to be surprised by the diverse offerings, whether you choose a bottle from the 70-plus low-intervention French wines on the menu or try the 2021 Shenandoah Valley Strange Collapse rosé, like I do, straight from sommelier-owner Sebastian Zutant’s Virginia vineyard. His artsy picks in the glass, paired with world comfort food like house bouillabaisse, scallion pancakes with Mapo-style pork chilli, and mac n cheese, reflect the DC native’s years of dedication to good food, drink and hospitality.

Schneider’s of Capitol Hill

DC’s legendary family-owned bottle shop, opened in 1949, is just a stone’s throw from Capitol Hill. I drop by the corner store on a weekday evening just before closing, a silver-haired gent loads a case of wine into the boot of his BMW, and a young man in an Air Force uniform checks out at the counter. Andrew, the incredibly friendly clerk, shows me around the cosy shop – the jumble of bottles arrayed on the shelves was a wine-lover’s dream.

‘We have a bit of everything,’ he told me, in the understatement of the year. Need a $6 Domaine de Subremont for a night with the family or a $5,000 bottle of Château Lafite 1900 for a special evening? No problem – the staff will even choose the perfect wines and have them delivered, Andrew explains, adding that Schneider’s does much of its importing and there’s a 1,800 square metre off-site warehouse for the cellar stock purchases and rare spirits.

Union Market District

The Union Market District (the UMD, for locals) was once a declining neighbourhood of ageing warehouse spaces abandoned by the food and produce vendors who had operated there in the 1930s. My how times have changed.

The revived UMD is home to over 35 independent merchants and purveyors of food and drink. For a casual vibe with a French twist, head to La Jambe wine bar, just inside the entrance of the refurbished original market hall. There, you’ll find a convivial crowd sipping glasses of well-priced jaja from the exclusively French list and digging into copious cheese and charcuterie boards. Another world wine discovery awaits down the street inside the UMD’s La Cosecha Latin American food hall.

There, digital nomads work at communal tables sipping Panamanian coffees from Café Unido, and wine lovers gather at Grand Cata, a wine bar and pantry, to sample (and buy) unusual wines from Latin America and Spain. As one DC-based sommelier told me: ‘It’s where you drop by looking for a Chablis and leave with an entirely unknown bottle.’ The two globetrotting owners – originally hailing from Chile and Puerto Rico – divide their time between Grand Cata’s Union Market outpost and their flagship location in the Shaw neighbourhood.

St. Anselm

But some things never change. Like St. Anselm, a traditional steakhouse and corner tavern still thriving amid the few remaining neighbourhood kitchen supply shops and food distributors. Gravitating away from the after-work groups around the boisterous bar on a weekday evening when I visited.

I headed to a booth. Instead of parsing the 56-page wine list, I opted to follow in the footsteps of America’s founding fathers and explore some of the 60 Madeiras by the glass that Megan Cruz, the head sommelier, had told me about earlier. Good choice. Drinking history through a flight of Madeira and while feasting on charred Rappahannock Bay oysters in garlic butter was a fine way to connect the dots between the District’s past and present.

SE & SW Waterfronts

Albi

New and old coexist in DC’s Navy Yard – a redeveloped neighbourhood of waterfront parks, condos and leisure spots on the shores of the Anacostia River near the historic Washington Navy Yard. There, let the world fill your glass at Albi, the country’s one-star Michelin home of creative Levantine cuisine. It’s safe to say that a meal at this sunny spot will transform your view on hummus, lamb kabobs and pita. The magical wine list will have you travelling from Lebanon to the Azores via Virginia, France’s Jurançon and beyond.

William Simons, Albi’s genial wine director, delights in bringing the wide world of wine to his guests with tales about his visits to many of the wineries. It’s also nice to note that the close-knit team, led by chef-owner Michael Rafidi, has kept its heart firmly in the right place despite a meteoric rise to fame since opening in 2021. Proceeds from the monthly Habibi Sofra Club dinners prepared by a visiting roster of chefs from around the world go to supporting displaced peoples in the Levant.

Moon Rabbit

Nationally acclaimed chef Kevin Tien’s serene and sexy 50-seat restaurant, Moon Rabbit, brings modern Vietnamese cuisine to The Wharf. This vibrant high-rise waterfront neighbourhood with remnants of the District’s historic Municipal Fish Wharf draws seafood lovers to the remaining fish shacks, oyster sheds and fishmongers still huddled on the banks of the mighty Potomac River. A meal at Moon Rabbit (in the Intercontinental Hotel at The Wharf) unites Tien’s multiple culinary passions gained growing up in New Orleans among the thriving Vietnamese community there.

The wine list, first developed by sommelier Jenn Knowles, provides perfect pairings by the glass. From the cassava coconut cornbread with lime leaf cultured butter with a crisp Susana Balbo Crios from South Africa to the succulent Viet Galbi style short ribs with a 2019 Columbia Valley Requiem Cabernet Sauvignon. But the Vin Santo del Chianti Bellini with dessert – a condensed milk flan with ice cream, coffee gelée, palm sugar caramel and hazelnut coffee foam – is the coup de grâce that sends me staggering out to walk it off along the waterfront.

Rose’s Luxury

A short walk from Capitol Hill, in a townhouse across from Barracks Row, is the much-lauded restaurant where President Obama has fêted two birthdays since the millennial-chic hotspot with an irreverent twist opened in 2013. When we speak on the phone, Justin Moore, MS and wine director for Rose’s Luxury Group, sets the stage. ‘Rose’s is our one-star place that’s great for a date night spiced up with interesting, well-made wines,’ he says.

After shaking my hand (yes, you read that correctly), my waiter hands me the prix-fixe family-style menu. ‘Choose your adventure,’ she says as I perch at the upstairs bar. A magnum of Champagne is chilling in the retro-style fridge, with David Bowie playing on the sound system. Rose’s is, simply, a perfect incarnation of the casual-yet-stylish vibe that DC does so well. For a more high-octane experience, the group’s two-star Michelin restaurant Pineapple & Pearls is next door. Moore tells me: ‘You’re in for a first-class ticket for an amazing experience where we will put something stupendous in your glass back to first growths from the 1980s.’

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In the 1940s, Jeff Andrews’ great-grandfather arrived in the area where the Andrews Family Vineyards stand. Today, aside from row after row of grapevines, only a few buildings break the horizon line. There are a couple of farmsteads and the family’s wine production facilities. It remains a very uninhabited part of eastern Washington, rising between the Yakima and Columbia rivers.

It was all sagebrush and arid desert back in those days. Shortly after Andrews’ great-grandfather George Smith had broken the ground and planted dry-land wheat, the US military seized his land. It was soon after America had entered into the Second World War. His farm and most of the area in the high, rolling hills above the Yakima river were used as a bombing range by the US Navy throughout the war.

Scroll down to see seven Trothe wines to try

Where Cabernet is king

Today, much of the former bombing range is known as the Horse Heaven Hills AVA, one of Washington state’s most significant wine-growing regions. These hot, windswept hills produce much of the state’s most outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon, often including fruit from Andrews Family Vineyards.

Ray McKee has made wine for almost 30 vintages in Washington state. He knows Washington’s vineyards and AVAs as well as anyone making wine here. His decision to partner with Jeff Andrews’ vision for Trothe was an easy one. ‘Having made wine at Chateau Ste Michelle for nearly 10 years, I’ve known for a long time that the quality of fruit produced by the Andrews family is at the highest levels in the state. It’s about the Horse Heaven Hills, certainly, but it’s this site. It’s what they’ve got going on here specifically.’

While they grow 26 varieties, a select group of Washington winemakers have come to the Andrews family year after year for their Cabernet. So Andrews and McKee decided that instead of selling off all their choicest blocks of fruit, they would keep much of it for the Trothe wines.

Jeff Andrews’ decision to launch the Trothe brand was based on faith in his family’s work over the decades and what the evidence was showing him. Many of Washington’s top-scoring wines have been Cabernets, made from grapes which many of those wineries purchased from his family’s vineyard. It wasn’t simply a case of hubris – Andrews knew they had something special.

Trothe at a glance

Established: Andrews Family Vineyards established in 1994 with the planting of 8ha of Cabernet Sauvignon; the Trothe brand launched with the 2018 vintage by Jeff Andrews to highlight the quality of his family’s vineyard

Area planted: 526ha

Winemaker: Ray McKee

Trothe Cabernet annual production: 2018 1,752 bottles; 2019 2,460 bottles; 2020 3,000 bottles

Origins: 1941: George Smith (Jeff’s great-grandfather) purchases the land that would become Andrews Family Vineyards for dry-wheat farming.

1942-1945: US Navy commandeers the family’s land as a bombing range through much of the Second World War.

1978: Mike Andrews (Jeff’s father) raises Hereford cattle on the land that would become Andrews Family Vineyards.

1994: Mike plants his first 8ha of Cabernet Sauvignon.

A special place

Washington state wines are not new any more. As they’ve been discovered a time or two by now, they’ve begun developing their reputations and hallmarks. A number of wines from Washington have scored 100 points in different American wine publications or made the annual top 100 wine lists of those same publications. For many, Washington wines have drawn comparisons to a middle ground. It’s a wine somewhere between the fruit-driven nature of Napa wines and the textured, mineral-laden wines of Bordeaux.

That texture comes from tannin, a consistent signature of Washington wine – the wines from Washington all have it, but it is especially notable in the Horse Heaven Hills. This is owed in large part to the AVA’s nearly constant wind. ‘The skin tannin is developing in the spring, and we have 30% more wind than the rest of the state’s growing regions do,’ says Trothe vineyard manager Todd Chapman. ‘So, as the skins develop, we’re getting a constant 8-25kph wind every day.’

‘Across all varieties in the Horse Heaven Hills, you have tannin,’ McKee explains. ‘I like to make Cabernet with plenty of it, and here we are gifted with such fine, elegant tannins. I build layers of that tannin on top of each other to create richness through maceration. So the texture goes all the way around and envelops the wine so that it is elegant. But elegant like a fine, expensive, 1,400 thread-count sheet: elegant but weighty and full.’

A special selection

The Trothe Cabernet is a product of some of the most select blocks in the vineyard – three in particular, each numbered for the year they were planted. Block 98 sits atop a rise in the vineyard.

While the oldest estate Cabernet was planted in 1994, those vines have since been removed, making 98 the estate’s old-vine block. This block sits at an elevation where the ice-age floods that carved Washington state up crested – resulting in a rocky soil deposit that gives this block a unique terroir. It is the backbone of these exceptional Cabernet wines.

‘Block 98 gives these wines a tremendous amount of structure,’ McKee tells me. ‘The berries are small, and it’s an older vine, so it doesn’t ripen to super-high sugars. I can get a lot of hang time without the ripeness getting out of hand.’ Each vintage of Cabernet has featured these old vines as the predominant source of the final blend, and McKee emphasises that the older vines give the wine both complexity and structure.

The remainder of the Trothe Cabernet blend has come from Block 03. ‘Block 03 adds nuances of sage, cherry fruit and currants – more typical of Cabernet grown in cool sites,’ says McKee, ‘all with an elegant tannin profile and acidity that energises the Trothe blend and balances the power of Block 98.’

As the Trothe Cabernet program develops, winemaker McKee is excited to integrate some of the vineyard’s youngest sites.

In addition to the old-vine Cabernet, the Trothe Cabernet will incorporate one of the youngest Cabernet blocks on the estate, coming from site 16 (planted in 2016). This block is at the highest elevation on the Andrews estate, planted at 442m.

McKee is excited about its potential to continue to shape the Trothe Cabernet program. ‘Block 16 reminds me of mountain Cabernet, with finely packed and dense tannins, lively acidity and deep colour. This block will become more prominent in the Trothe blend over the next 10-15 years as the vines grow up and settle into their terroir.’

Rugged beauty

Many parts of Washington’s wine country can be surprising for the uninitiated. The area around the Yakima Valley, including the Horse Heaven Hills just to its south, is a desert. Something in the region of 22cm a year of rain falls here. Rough, rocky canyons, sagebrush and tumbleweeds mark the land. And yes, they actually tumble.

Jeff Andrews, though, sees the beauty of the region he calls home. ‘The Horse Heaven Hills is vast, rugged and incredibly remote, but its wines can be exceptionally harmonious and elegant,’ he says. ‘Since the region lacks the infrastructure to support tourism, many will never have the opportunity to visit in person. Part of crafting a wine like Trothe is a hope to transport people, if even for a moment, to the sagebrush-covered canyons and windswept ridges of the wide-open Horse Heaven Hills.’

‘Trothe is part of our family’s continuing farming and wine-growing evolution,’ Andrews continues. ‘We’ve invested 80 years and four generations in nurturing our corner of the Horse Heaven Hills. With Trothe, we are laying down a marker to let wine lovers know that the Horse Heaven Hills deserves a place on the world stage among the most renowned wine-growing regions.’

Trothe revealed: seven from Horse Heaven Hills

Availability of Trothe wines is limited: for membership and allocation details, go to trothe.com/allocations

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Kiona Vineyards is the pioneering winery of Washington State’s Red Mountain AVA, today in the hands of the third-generation – brothers JJ and Tyler Williams.

The siblings’ grandfather, John Williams, bought land on the mountain 51 years ago, in 1972, with the first 4ha vineyard planted in 1975.

With Tyler taking over as winemaker from his father Scott in 2019, and older brother JJ having worked on the business side since 2009, Kiona now has more than 113ha, growing grapes for 60 wineries, as well as making its own estate wines.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of six Red Mountain wines from Kiona Vineyards

The Lake Missoula floods more than 10,000 years ago formed the slope that is Red Mountain. The repeated flooding created an overlay of nutrient-rich deposits on top of sandy, gravelly soils.

Its southwest exposure provides long hours of sunlight, while significant diurnal shifts in temperature allow for gradual, slow ripening and good acid retention in the grapes.

Before there were wineries, or even vineyards, there was just sagebrush and native grasses here. Strong winds circulate air and reduce disease pressure while minimising the risk of frost damage during winter. Red Mountain has a primarily desert climate, with an average of 18cm of rain annually.

John Williams and his friend Jim Holmes saw an opportunity on this barren slope. Based on studies from the Washington State University’s Horticultural Extension Program in the late 1960s that showed its viticultural viability, the two began grooming land for a vineyard in 1972.

John and Jim weren’t winemakers or viticulturists. But their previous experience farming alfalfa fields, combined with engineering knowledge (they were material scientists by trade), gave them the skills they needed.

First, they created the infrastructure to support a vineyard, which meant drilling for water and establishing electricity. Paved roads came later. John’s son Scott Williams (JJ and Tyler’s father) recalls coming home from school to pull the sagebrush out, one by one, using a chain and tractor.

In 1975, with 4ha cleared, they planted their first vines. At the time, the market favoured Chardonnay and Riesling, which they split evenly along with Cabernet Sauvignon. These days Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety on Red Mountain, along with other Bordeaux and Rhône grapes.

Red Mountain grows

The results were enough to prove the area’s potential. Other Washington winemakers began making their way to Red Mountain, including Col Solare, a partnership between Tuscany’s Marchesi Antinori and Washington State’s Chateau Ste Michelle, which planted its first vineyards in 2006.

According to JJ and Tyler, the big turning point for the AVA – officially established in 2001 – was in the 2010s. Until then, water was scarce, but after the state government paid for an irrigation system, the mountain burgeoned with new development.

‘It’s hard to overstate that importance,’ says Tyler. ‘Basically, everything to the east of Col Solare is new Red Mountain, largely made available from that project.’

Despite the small community feel here, there has been significant outside investment. In addition to Col Solare, other large brands such as Aquilini Vineyards and Terlato Wine’s Klipsun label have also bought up land.

Since the AVA is planted right up to its borders, acquisition is now the only way into Red Mountain.

Remaining family-owned

The Williams family has owned Kiona Vineyards outright since 1994, when they bought out co-founders the Holmes family. They have been able to maintain their autonomy thanks to a few pivotal decisions Scott Williams made in his 40-year tenure as owner-winemaker.

Heart of the Hill, at 60ha, is the largest of Kiona’s five vineyards. Before planting the first vines in 2006, the Williams’ sold a portion of the land to Chateau Ste Michelle to further develop Col Solare. It freed them to plant incrementally and scale the business in a manageable way.

Scott decided to cap their volume to focus on quality, in both their own wines and the premium grapes they sell to 60 other wineries – another factor that allows them to remain family-owned.

‘We don’t have debt now, and we don’t have investors, nor will we ever,’ says JJ. ‘Heart of the Hill was kind of a pay-as-you-go situation.’

Joining the family business wasn’t a foregone conclusion for JJ and Tyler. ‘Our folks did a really good job of making it clear that there was an opportunity for us to work here if we wanted,’ explains JJ. ‘But we couldn’t just have a laissez-faire approach.

‘They wanted to make sure that if we worked here, we were both uniquely qualified to do so. And that we would serve the family – and by extension the business – rather than the other way around.’

The third generation

Older brother JJ, now 36, is Kiona’s general manager, overseeing the operations side of the business, including the wine club. He explains that because so few Red Mountain estates have a distribution network, Kiona often flies the flag for the AVA for consumers beyond Washington State.

After graduating from Washington’s Gonzaga University in 2013 with a biology degree, Tyler, now 32, knew that he wanted to be a winemaker. He spent the next few years working in cellars in Bordeaux, South Africa, Sicily, Chile and beyond.

After returning home in 2017, he received a paid appointment to complete his Masters in Wine Science from Washington State University. ‘By the time I learned enough to talk about wine proficiently from the production perspective, I’d worked 10 years for other people, yet not a single year for my dad in the cellar,’ he says.

He took over from his father as Kiona’s winemaker in 2019 and says his experiences during that decade of work and study has influenced his winemaking style. While he and Scott mainly align, there are some differences.

‘I’m a more oxidative winemaker during fermentation,’ he explains. ‘I give it air: whites, reds, it doesn’t matter. I’m a “New World” winemaker. I like really fresh, bright, fruity, clean wines. Everything I do is to highlight the aromatic perspective.’

‘That includes oxidation upfront and then a really consistent élévage with regular sulphuring – but not too much – and topping up.’

Tyler says he also likes to give the Cabernet Sauvignon three years in oak barrels to create what he calls the ‘Goldilocks’ of texture: not too dense, not too light.

Past and future

While Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties form the majority of the Kiona portfolio, Lemberger (aka Blaufränkisch) remains close to the family’s heart. Planted in 1976 by grandfather John Williams, it was not only the first wine made under the Kiona name in 1980, but also the first commercial Lemberger in the US.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, when the brothers were growing up, much of the family income came from their mother Vicky Williams, who was a registered nurse.

‘It’s often the men that get credit for planning the vineyards or making the wine,’ says Tyler of his father Scott and grandfather John. ‘But I want to highlight the importance of the women in our family [to the success of Kiona],’ he says, also paying tribute to his grandmother Ann, John’s wife.

The brothers are also spearheading new initiatives. Starting with the 2022 vintage, all five Kiona estate vineyards are certified sustainable under Sustainable WA.

‘We spend a lot of time thinking about how to make our business more efficient, and to use less carbon and material,’ explains Tyler, which led to their World Class in Glass lighter-weight bottling program.

JJ adds: ‘My dad built this business into what it is today. It would be foolish for Tyler and me to have an attitude where we elbow him out.

‘Why not take advantage of having someone who is one of the most experienced, technically sound and caring individuals in the entire Washington wine industry? Who also happens to be our dad!

‘Tyler and I do offer new perspectives though. And we’re both at the point where we don’t need to ask for permission to change something. But it’s always collaborative.’

Kiona Vineyards: six Red Mountain wines to try

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Kroger is the largest grocery retailer in the United States. With its recently announced merger with Albertsons, it now has a total of 4,996 stores in 48 states plus Washington DC. The business is America’s generalist grocery store covering many categories, including wine. Assortments in each store may vary and are tailored to the geographical location and local customers.

Wine is merchandised simply and with no frills. You will rarely see a shelf-talker with tasting notes or score. There are just shelves and shelves of wine with pricing listed below each bottle. As with many grocers, you’ll find large national wine brands at eye level, with lower prices brands lower on the shelves and higher priced brands on the higher shelves.

The product mix for wine at Kroger is broad. There is a large selection of wine in alternative formats (boxed, canned and large format/jug wine, for example) but the predominant selection is wine in 750ml bottles.

Decanter’s selection of top Kroger wines to try

The wines below are a current selection from the Kroger portfolio. Wines reviewed may not be available in all Kroger retail locations. 

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The boutique producer plans to grow Bordeaux and Italian varietals on the land, which it has purchased from SeVein Vineyards.

The parcel is located in the middle of the SeVein slope, 274 to 335 metres (900 to 1,100 feet) above sea level. It benefits from similar loam soils and elevation to the celebrated Seven Hills Vineyard, which is located on the next ridge to the east.

‘I really feel like we are getting the best spot in all of SeVein for top quality Bordeaux and Italian varietals,’ said Va Piano founder Justin Wylie, a fourth generation native of Walla Walla. ‘We are thrilled to make this commitment.’

The parcel will be named Giovanoni Estate after his grandmother, who was born in northern Italy. Vineyard design and development will begin later this year.

Wylie plans to plant five clonal selections of Cabernet Sauvignon, two clonal selections of Cabernet Franc and one clone each of Merlot and Sangiovese on the site.

Va Piano was established on a 20 acre property in Walla Walla’s Southside wine district back in 1999, taking its name from an Italian proverb that translates to: ‘When you go slowly, you go safely and you go far.’

Wylie has slowly built up a strong direct-to-consumer business over the past two decades, and he feels that the time is right to expand.

‘Our wine club customers love hearing about the vineyards each wine comes from and always show particular interest in our estate vineyards,’ he said. ‘I want to show my dedication to them and continue investing in our estate vineyard program.’

Wylie is also a partner in Octave Estate Vineyard, which was originally planted in SeVein in 2007, so he knows the land well.

‘These vineyards have proven themselves year after year and have become the backbone of quality for our programme,’ he added. ‘Purchasing, developing, and planting Giovanoni Estate is the fulfillment of a long-time dream.’

M&A advisory firm Metis worked with SeVein Vineyards to oversee the sale.

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Vine rows were abuzz with activity on an October morning. Vineyard teams picked perfectly ripe fruit in a late warm spell, almost bemused at their unlikely good fortune. The quality of wine grapes across the state and here on Red Mountain was uniformly superb, and there was no sacrificing quantity as yields were also quite high. Wildfire smoke, of concern on the West Coast these last few years, was not at all a factor.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 10 Red Mountain wines worth seeking out

‘After a crazy year, we’re just really pleased to get to this point. Because, honestly, we didn’t know,’ says Chris Upchurch of Red Mountain’s Upchurch Vineyards.

Upchurch has made wine from this special part of Washington state for over 30 years. His sentiment on this unpredictable yet seemingly perfect 2022 vintage is one that you’ll hear echoed along the south-facing vineyards of Red Mountain and throughout Washington State.

An unusual beginning

The 2022 vintage did indeed wrap up wonderfully. The warm weather and accompanying sunshine carried vineyard managers and winemakers alike to a finish line that, at times, seemed highly improbable.

Reflecting on the year, Dick Boushey, one of Washington’s iconic wine growers, saw it as another in a series of unusual years. ‘This year continued a string of unusual, demanding vintages. Somehow 2022 was the most bizarre yet.’

‘This was the coolest and wettest spring I can remember. We had late bloom by two to three weeks. There was snow and frost between bud break and bloom. Then it was consistently warm. There were some heat spikes from the end of July onward. And finally, the most fabulous fall I have ever seen.’

Red Mountain is Washington’s warmest wine region, with heat units that allow it to produce consistent ripening and powerful wines year after year. Those conditions made the early climatic challenges presented in spring less an issue than some of the heat that came later.

Managing the heat

‘In general, Red Mountain consistently delivers in lots of heat units and wind. These conditions helped to overcome the late bloom and the growth from spring rains,’ Boushey elaborated. ‘The challenging part, which seems more common, is the extended heat events where we will see 38° plus days for a week.’

‘Fortunately, growers are getting better at anticipating these events and changing canopy management and watering regiments to mitigate these heat waves. We are modifying the predominantly vertical shoot position to better shade the fruit.’

The usually quiet streets of Red Mountain were heavily trafficked this cool October morning as the rising sun framed Candy Mountain to the east. Truck and tractor headlights lit Sunset and Antinori Roads in the last early twilight. The fruit was being hauled into wineries here on the mountain or taken by truck over the mountain pass to Woodinville. There is excitement about the potential of this 2022 vintage, where lower sugar levels meet brilliant phenolic maturity.

‘To me,’ Boushey said, ‘this year created perfect ripening conditions. The flavours were coming in at lower sugars. The weather cools down in October with our classic warm days and cool nights. So we had this extended hang time without a freeze or smoke, which allowed the fruit to develop phenolic ripeness. This was especially important for Red Mountain because of the strong tannins that grapes produce here.’

‘The tannins were able to resolve themselves, and flavours developed fully with good balance and colour. This long, beautiful autumn allowed us to compensate for the late bloom. As one grower said, this was a climate change event that saved our backsides. Though he used a different term.’

See tasting notes and scores for 10 Red Mountain wines worth seeking out

Related contentWashington’s Woodinville wineries – and top bottles to buyTop 20 Washington State wines to try

Perched on the northern end of the USA’s West Coast in the shadow of the snowcapped Cascade Mountains, the Pacific Northwest’s largest city is renowned for fresh ingredients from sea and land enhanced by creative, worldly chefs. From a 20-seat ‘punk rock’ restaurant to an iconic fine dining institution, or a Parisian-style wine bar to a natural wine emporium, Seattle’s unique neighbourhoods along the tidal canals, lakes, and the spectacular Puget Sound abound with surprising treasures.

You will find that Seattle – and the nearby town of Woodinville with its 100-plus tasting rooms – is awash with local wines from the second-largest wine producing state in the USA. And although Seattle is home to tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, the food and wine scene is surprisingly intimate and unpretentious. Just remember to bring a raincoat, unless you visit the Emerald City during the summer months.

Westward

Seattle’s 200-plus miles of shoreline make for the ultimate seafood city. An excellent place to experience the region’s marine bounty is at one of James Beard award-winning chef Renee Erickson’s restaurants. Although the The Walrus and the Carpenter inspired American celebrity chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain to deem the restaurant’s oysters and Muscadet combo as ‘perfect happiness’ during his Seattle visit in 2012 – launching the beloved Seattle chef to national fame – Erickson’s Westward, on the shores of Lake Union, gets our vote for the best bivalve-slurping waterfront spot in the city. Grab a seat on the patio for spectacular views of bobbing boats and Seattle skyline. Another Erickson spot, The Whale Wins, in the hipster Fremont neighbourhood, features wood-fired fare and a more experimental wine list highlighting low-intervention wines. Our ‘perfect happiness’? The Whale Wins’ flash-roasted Hama Hama Manila clams bathed in vadouvan curry, pickled rhubarb, lime, and misome with a glass of 2021 Walla Walla Grosgrain Albariño from Phillips Vineyard.

2501 N Northlake Way

206 552 8215

Pike Place Market

Founded in 1907, bustling Pike Place Market is one of the oldest and largest continuously operating public markets in the USA. Two fantastic wine emporiums stand out among the hundreds of locally-owned stands and shops. Pike and Western Wine Shop has been a purveyor of fine wines since 1975. The current owner, Michael Teer, is partial to Italy’s Piedmont region – we spotted a Vajra Langhe Nebbiolo 2020 for under $26 alongside collectable bottles of Barolo and Barbaresco – great German Rieslings and small producer wines. You could spend ages perusing the shelves, which are studded with Teer’s personal tasting notes. ‘We taste everything we sell,’ he says, adding that he’s excited about the creativity coming out of small European producers. Another must for wine-lovers, DeLaurenti Food & Wine, has an equally storied history. Since 1946, the family-owned food emporium has drawn locals and visitors to Pike Place Market for specialty charcuterie, cheese, and gourmet specialties from around the world. The eclectic wine section, curated by wine buyer Tom Drake, focuses on minimal intervention wines from Europe and small farm-crafted Washington wines. We liked the Mark Ryan wines from Washington’s Red Mountain AVA, Savage Grace from the Columbia Gorge, and Rhône-style blends from Devium in Walla Walla.

Pike and Western Wine Shop

1934 Pike Place

206 441 1307

DeLaurenti Food & Wine

1435 1st Avenue

206 622 0141

Purple Café and Wine Bar

This downtown Seattle show-stopper features a thirty-foot tower of wine in the middle of the 200-seat glass-panelled restaurant, and over 60 wines by the glass. Despite the buzzy, dramatic vibe, there’s plenty of room for a more intimate experience around the bar or at one of the tables flanking the brick inner wall. Choose from among the dozen ‘duo’ tasting choices that pit a Pacific Northwest New World wine against an Old World wine of the same grape variety. We enjoyed a Columbia Valley Cabernet Franc from Stillwater Creek Vineyard next to a Rouge de Minière Bourgueil. The pours are generous, as is the food, which features seasonal and regional mains along with cheese and charcuterie boards.

1225 4th Avenue

206 829 2280

Le Caviste – Bistrot à Vins

Local hospitality industry folks gather after work at this cozy Parisian-style wine bar in the bustling heart of the city, but singles will feel comfortable here too. Owner, and sommelier, David Butler hand picks each wine (including the 10 crus of Beaujolais always on the list) and prices them for everyday enjoyment. Don’t miss the charcuterie, AOC fromages, and simple French standards such as the killer steak tartare and house made pâté. Since 2013, Le Caviste has consistently ranked as one best wine bars in the USA. Probably because here, as Butler says, ‘wine is for life, not for worship.’ Also: L’Oursin, near the Seattle University campus, is another must for Francophiles. The spacious bistro with a friendly bar and open kitchen helmed by French chef/owner J.J. Proville wins for Gallic comfort food (steak frites, confit de canard, wine-friendly salads). And co-owner Zac Overman, the wine director, will have you laughing with the quirky descriptions that enliven his eclectic list of wines.

Le Caviste

1919 7th Avenue

206 728 2657

L’Oursin

1315 East Jefferson Street

206 485 7173

Off Alley

If there’s one place to experience the vast potential of Seattle as a unique, world-class dining destination today, it’s at Off Alley. This ‘strange little restaurant’ (those are chef-owner Evan Leichtling’s words) in the culturally-diverse Columbia City neighbourhood turns out Michelin-star-worthy food from a tiny open kitchen to the soundtrack of Leichtling’s favourite punk rock and grunge bands. Off Alley’s self-proclaimed ‘Puppet Master’ Meghna Prakash – a former lawyer with family roots in Chennai, India – discovered a passion for natural wines while working in Paris, where she and Leichtling – a Seattle native who has cooked in some of Spain and France’s top kitchens – met and fell in love. Ask to see Prakash’s ever-changing wine list, hand-written in a dog-eared notebook or, as she told us, ‘talk to me and I’ll pour you something fun’. Our stuffed smoked quail with saskatoon berries and baby lima beans paired with a Cara Sur Criolla Chica 2020 from Argentina’s Valle de Calingasta brought tears to our eyes, it was that good. We couldn’t agree more with ‘Ash, 21’ who scribbled his appreciation on the wall of the loo: ‘My heart hurts I love Off Alley so much.’

4903 ½ Rainier Ave South

206 488 6170

Canlis

Seattle families have celebrated special occasions at this Relais & Châteaux fine-dining establishment since 1950 – a storied legacy that third-generation owners Brian and Mark Canlis take seriously. But they also ushered in a new era in May, 2021 when they hired Aisha Ibrahim as the restaurant’s seventh executive chef. The first woman to hold that position, Ibrahim has shifted the prix-fixe menu focus from steaks to sustainability. Four months later, the brothers hired Linda Milagros Violago, whose hospitality career spans the globe, as the first woman to head up the iconic restaurant’s award-winning wine programme. Managing seven sommeliers and around 22,000 bottles, Violago says that the history of the cellar is the history of the restaurant: ‘A story that’s constantly being re-written and revised with each generation.’ The wine team, she adds, is fortunate to have owners who understand the value of wine in the context of dining ‘as celebration, as storytelling, as a piece of history’. More than ever, she says: ‘Our wine list is becoming an expression of diversity – not just of wines and regions, but of the people on the wine team.’ Pro tip: if you can’t get a reservation in the dining room, walk-ins are welcome at the bar and piano lounge.

2576 Aurora Avenue North

206 283 3313

How to Cook a Wolf

Named after the famous MFK Fisher book, How to Cook a Wolf is one of Seattle’s nicest neighbourhood restaurants. We like the Queen Anne location for the charming vibe. Intimate tables, a convivial bar, and a fantastic wine list featuring Italian and Pacific Northwest wines complement soul-satisfying Italian-inspired classics such as pork chop with apricot agrodolce, smoked farro and celery root purée, or squid ink pasta that taste great with a glass of Barbera or Sicilian red from Mount Etna. Count on the simpatica wine director, Meg Posey, to point you in the right direction. Also: Italophiles and pasta-lovers will want to dine at Spinasse – Seattle’s most atmospheric trattoria – for Piedmontese specialities such as antipasti and handmade tajarin plus a renowned wine list covering the gamut of northern Italian wines.

How to Cook a Wolf

2208 Queen Anne Avenue North

206 838 8090

Spinasse

1531 14th Avenue

206 251 7673

Beast and Cleaver

Love meat, delicious wines and spotted dick? Then this corner butcher shop-slash-restaurant in the Ballard neighbourhood is for you. The wines are chosen and poured by genial Master Sommelier Nick Davis, who went to high school in the neighbourhood. You’ll need to call ahead to snag one of the 16 seats at this destination dining spot, especially for the Thursday and Friday tasting menus dreamed up by British butcher/chef/co-owner Kevin Smith. It’s hard to go wrong with the likes of koji aged beef, green garlic butter & lemon balm paired with Madrone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon from Washington’s San Juan Island. Tuesday and Wednesday are à la carte with small plates, steaks, house-made terrines and sausages along with wines by the glass. This is a place to eat and drink with gusto. Just be sure to save room for the perfect dessert and wine pairing, such as our spotted dick and César Florido Moscatel Dorado.

2362 Northwest 80th Street

206 708 1400

Brimmer & Heeltap / Halfseas Wine / Red Arrow Coffee

Coffee, food, and wine – all in one convenient Ballard corner building with a sweet history as the local grocery store. From 7am-2pm locals gather at Red Arrow Coffee for brews, breakfast or lunch in the flower-filled garden café. From noon-9pm, the action shifts to the new bottle shop, Halfseas, that links the garden to the restaurant. There, you’ll find a broad selection of wines that, as manager Emily Riley notes, ‘have a story, are made in harmony with their environment, and provide a testament to the year and the people making them’. Come sundown, the honest neighbourhood vibe continues at Brimmer & Heeltap, either in the charming garden or the indoor ‘Penny Room’, which is paved with thousands of coins collected by proprietress (and Washington wine business veteran) Jen Doak, who will help you choose a bottle to go with your wine-friendly dishes. We recommend the chilled almond soup with verjus, green apple and arbequina olive oil and the grilled pork collar with summer squash, lava beans, and sansho pepper.

425 NW Market Street

206 420 2534

Imperfetta and Rae Vino

These two owner-run natural wine shops opened in recent years and are now hitting their stride. Both hidden gems provide a safe space for natty wine exploration – whether you’re dipping a toe into the classic natural wine category or curious about the wilder, label-driven stuff. Imperfetta is owned by Celia Barber, who rode LA’s natural wine wave in the twenty-tens before moving up to Portland and on to Seattle. She says her wine philosophy is like her food philosophy: ‘Let Mother Nature do her thing and celebrate what she gives you.’ This is the place to personalise your wine experience. We passed up on the bocce balls, board games, and packaged snacks but bought a bottle of chilled Domaine L’Hermas rosé from Barber’s tightly curated wine selection and posted up at a table facing the tree-fringed Lake Washington Ship Canal in front of the shop.

Rae Vino, in the Green Lake neighbourhood, offers Seattle’s largest selection of natural wines (about 350 labels) in a sleek, industrial space with abundant indoor seating – ideal for digital nomads. In fact, Rae Vino’s co-founder, Josh Jacobsen, used to be in tech. And he is serious about his well-priced wines: ‘Our criteria are hand-harvested organic or biodynamic grapes, native indigenous yeast, and lightest possible sulphur with no fining or filtration beyond three microns,’ he said. Since most of his clients are new to natural wines, he holds regular classes and tastings. And there are always five by the glass to be sipped along with herbed popcorn with organic olive oil or tinned fish and crackers. We enjoyed the 2020 Meinklang Grüner Veltliner from Austria.

Imperfetta

118 NW Canal Street, Suite A

206 922 3384

Rae Vino 

7216 Woodlawn Avenue NE

206 913 2122

Woodinville

A 30-minute drive east of downtown Seattle, the town of Woodinville advertises itself as ‘where Washington pours’. With over 100 tasting rooms in a five-mile vicinity, that’s no exaggeration. Our favourite tasting room finds? Mark Ryan for the rock and roll style vibe that belies the elegance and finesse of his small production wines from the Red Mountain AVA. The serene àMaurice spot for winemaker Anna Schafer’s Walla Walla AVA wines rooted in sustainable viticulture. And Rocky Pond Estate Winery’s new tasting room for the well-curated selection of their estate-driven wines from Rocky Reach – Washington’s newest AVA. Rocky Pond’s new winemaker, Elizabeth Keyser, who moved to Washington from Napa in 2021, is one to watch. ‘Making wine in an up-and-coming region is an incomparable opportunity to push boundaries,’ she says. In Woodinville, stay at Willows Lodge, a world-class country inn a stone’s throw from DeLille Cellars and Sparkman Cellars and their tasting rooms. Dine at one of the Lodge’s wine-focused restaurants – the Barking Frog or the Herbfarm – for innovative culinary experiences in a relaxed setting. Or, for the ultimate New World food and wine paring, head to the Patterson Cellars’ tasting room, also nearby, for the pizza and wine experience featuring a delicious pear, walnut and gorgonzola pizza from the wood-fired oven.

Mark Ryan Winery tasting room

14475 Woodinville-Redmond Road

425 481 7070

àMaurice Cellars tasting room

14463 Woodinville Redmond Road NE

425 466 2027

Rocky Pond Winery tasting room

Woodin Creek Village

13475 NE Village Drive

425 949 9044

Willows Lodge

14580 NE 145th Street

425 424 3900

DeLille Cellars

14300 NE 145th St

425 489 0544

Sparkman Cellars

14300 NE 145th St

425 398 1045

Patterson Cellars tasting room

14505 148th Ave. NE

425 892 2964

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‘Thanks to our incredibly generous wineries, donors, and sponsors, the AWW can continue its mission to uplift the Washington wine industry and grow its efforts to support healthy communities and healthy land in Washington state’, said Jamie Peha, executive director of the Auction of Washington Wines.

‘Together with our philanthropic partners, Seattle Children’s, WSU Viticulture & Enology Research, and Industry Grant Partner Vital Wines, we ensure that our charitable efforts resonate deeply within the Washington wine industry,’ she added.

The virtual auction, geared towards top collectors of Washington wines, offered unique five-case lots of wine from 20 of Washington’s most well-known producers, including DeLille Cellars, L’Ecole No41 and Leonetti Cellar. The highest bid ($14,000) was for a Leonetti Cellar’s 2019 red blend of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. The virtual event raised $165,000 towards research in both winemaking and grape growing in Washington. 

The weekend started with an inaugural dinner and award ceremony; TOAST! The event honoured some of Washington’s long-standing industry giants and the industry’s “next generation” of emerging leaders. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Bob Betz MW for his pioneering and decorated career in Washington wine spanning more than 25 years. 

The winemaker picnic and barrel auction was an outdoor event with over 1,000 attendees. Thirty wineries offered five cases of yet-to-be-released wines for public bidding. The event included different takes on BBQ featuring Korean, Indian, Texas, and Northwest style pairings to go along with wines being poured by 100 Washington wineries. The event raised $108,000. 

The 35th annual Gala was back in full swing after covid modifications in 2021. DeLille Cellars sponsored the top bidding lot at the event, “Best of Bordeaux” – a five-night trip to Bordeaux with executive winemaker Chris Upchurch, including visits to some of the region’s grand cru Chateaux. This fetched $250,000. The “Antinori Classico” lot featured two trips to discover the roots of Col Solare deep in the Antinori family vineyards of Tuscany. Courtesy of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Marchese Antinori, this lot sold for $200,000. 

Since its inception in 1988, the AWW has raised over $59m to benefit children’s hospital Seattle Children’s, Washington State University Viticulture & Enology Research and the AWW Industry Grant. Vital Wines, the 2021-22 industry grant partner, utilised the grant to help fund a bi-lingual Promotora de Salud Community Health Worker position in the Walla Walla Valley.

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Situated between the Blue Mountains in the southeast and the low, rolling hills of the Palouse to the north, the Walla Walla Valley (mainly in Washington but crossing into Oregon) has a unique topography. While it feels in a low position compared with the nearby mountains and hills, the Walla Walla Valley – itself a sub-region of the larger Columbia Valley AVA – is actually at 300m altitude.

It also has an ideal climate for winegrowing. Four hours’ drive east are the dry, sunny plains of Idaho, while the same distance west is coastal Seattle, boasting more rainy days a year than almost anywhere else on the US West Coast.

The Walla Walla Valley enjoys the middle ground: moderate rainfall, sunny days and slightly cooler temperatures than Washington’s more westerly Yakima Valley AVA.

But it’s not that simple, as within the Walla Walla Valley AVA there are clear differences. Its eastern border, which abuts the Blue Mountains, is colder and gets three times more rain than the west.

This makes the valley’s wines difficult to define in terms of regional typicity. Consequently there is a focus here on individual vineyards and their distinct terroirs.

To date, the Walla Walla Valley only has one official sub-AVA, The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, on the Oregon side of the valley, but there are moves to define more.

The Walla Walla Valley’s ascent from farming to renowned wine region has happened largely over the past 30 years. But three founding Washington wineries were making a name for themselves well before that: Leonetti Cellar (founded 1977), Woodward Canyon (1981) and L’Ecole No41 (1983).

The region became an AVA in 1984, and between then and 2010 a 100 new wineries joined those three pioneers. Today, there are more than 120 producers in the Walla Walla Valley.

Walla Walla Valley: top tasting rooms to try

Grosgrain Vineyards

This modern, artistic winery and tasting room has a southwestern bohemian vibe. Co-owner and fashion designer Kelly Austin’s keen eye is evident in everything from the winery’s furnishings and art to the colourful, textural and eclectic wine labels. And the wines are equally as unique. Don’t expect big toasty reds or your usual Syrah and Bordeaux varieties. At Grosgrain, visitors will find a diverse collection of site-specific wines and rare offerings such as a Lemberger Pét-Nat and crisp Albariño. Tasting appointments recommended, but they accommodate walk-ins based on availability.

• Address: 2158 Half Acre Lane, Walla Walla, WA 99362
• Open: Thursday-Monday 10am-5pm

Echolands Winery Tasting Room

Doug Frost, a Master of Wine and Master Sommelier, started this project in 2018 with friend Brad Bergman and brought on Taylor Oswald as winemaker. Their vineyards and winery are actually across the border in Oregon, on the southern border of the Walla Walla Valley AVA, but this venue in downtown Walla Walla is their tasting room. Echolands sources fruit from expressive sites within the AVA – such as Les Collines, Blue Mountain and Seven Hills – that produce ageworthy wines. Varieties include Syrah, Grenache, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Production is very limited, with only a few wines to try in the tasting room and some wines available only to wine club members. The tasting experience at Echolands is educational yet relaxed.

• Address: 7 West Alder, Walla Walla, WA 99362
• Open: Thursday-Monday 11am-5pm

Prospice Wines

Prospice (‘look to the future’ in Latin) was founded in 2017 by Matt Reilly and Jay Krutulis with a shared desire to produce elegant, expressive wines from top-quality Washington fruit. The boutique winery has already found acclaim, particularly for its Resurgent Vineyard Syrah from a high-elevation hillside site near The Rocks District. To date, the winery’s focus has been on Rhône varieties, including working with a local viticulturalist and grape grower to find the right sites for Grenache in Walla Walla Valley, however, they also make several wines from Bordeaux blends from top vineyards in the AVA. Reservations are required for the 60- to 75-minute tasting experiences, which include six wines.

• Address: 145 E Curtis Ave, Walla Walla, WA 99362
• Open: Fridays-Saturdays 11am-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Rotie Cellars

Founded in 2006, Rotie Cellars, named for owner-winemaker (and former geologist) Sean Boyd’s favourite northern Rhône region, was one of the first wineries in The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater to plant Rhône varieties. This sub-AVA of the Walla Walla Valley is actually on the Oregon side of the border and is the only one in the US defined by its soil type: well-draining, gravelly, rocky solis that serve as heat conductors for the vines and contribute to lower yields and intense, floral wines. Boyd’s aim is to make ‘traditional Rhône blends with Washington State fruit’ (although those with The Rocks designation are from Oregon). They all have moderate alcohols and see very little or no new oak. Tastings are by appointment only.

• Address: 84328 Trumbull Ln, Milton-Freewater, OR 97862
• Open: daily for appointments at 11am, 12:30pm, 2pm, 3:30pm

Airport District Incubator Tasting Rooms

On land that was once an airfield during World War II, the Airport District is now home not only to the Walla Walla airport but also a collection of wineries, breweries and distilleries operating out of renovated hangars, mess halls and garages. It also houses the Port of Walla Walla Regional Airport Incubator Program, which helps small craft drinks brands launch their businesses affordably. Current micro-winery incubator tasting rooms include: Eternal Wines & Drink Washington State, Smak Wines (100% rosé focused) and Itä Wines.

• Open: varied; check each business’s website
• Address: Piper Ave, Walla Walla, WA 99362

Downtown Walla Walla: where to eat

Kinglet

Opened in 2022 just a few blocks from the city centre, Kinglet offers fine dining from its late-1800s premises that was once a tree-processing mill. Named after the tiny but tenacious kinglet bird found in the Blue Mountains that flank the Walla Walla Valley, the restaurant’s focus is on seasonal, local and sustainable ingredients. Reserve seats at the communal chef’s counter and enjoy the five-course tasting menu, with or without wine pairings.

• Address: 55 W Cherry St, Walla Walla, WA 99362
• Open: Thursday-Sunday from 4:30pm

Passatempo

With its retro-style booths and 1950s-era cocktail glasses, Passatempo exudes a casual neighbourhood Italian ristorante feel. Dig into a plate of handmade pasta, gnocchi or slice of sourdough pizza, made using ingredients sourced from local farms and specialty purveyors.. Highlights include the carbonara pasta made with organic farm-fresh eggs, pork and prosciutto meatballs, and rigatoni alla Bolognese.

• Address: 215 W Main St, Walla Walla, WA 99362
• Open: Thursday-Monday 4pm-9:30pm

AK’s Mercado

While there are many great spots for tacos in Walla Walla, AK’s Mercado is known for its large homemade corn tortillas as well as gluttonous menu items such as voodoo fries with pulled pork and jalapeños. Locals can’t get enough of the braised short rib, smoked brisket, grilled fish, mole and braised pork tacos topped with pickled onions or veggies, cotija cheese and chipotle or serrano aioli.

• Address: 21 E Main St, Walla Walla, WA 99362
• Open: Thursday-Tuesday 11am-10pm

Walla Walla Valley: beyond wine

While wine is the primary drawcard of the Walla Walla Valley, there’s much more for visitors to do. For active outdoors lovers there’s skiing and snowshoeing during winter, and in warmer months there’s cycling (or renting electric bikes), kayaking or bird watching. Downtown Walla Walla has also become a haven for artists: there’s a number of studios and galleries, sculptures dotted around the city and the Whitman College campus, and First Friday Art Tours held each month. The region is also home to the Tour of Walla Walla (a criterium cycling race) in early June, Celebrate Walla Walla Valley Wine (a social and educational wine event) in July, and the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede in late October.

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Washington’s Woodinville wineries – and top bottles to buy

Over $2.2m raised by Auction of Washington Wines

While Woodinville, Washington may not be a grape-growing region, it has become the state’s top wine country destination.

Incorporated in 1992, Woodinville has a population of just under 15,000 yet welcomes more than two million visitors a year. Walla Walla, Washington’s premier wine-growing region, sees about 700,000.

Much of its success can be attributed to its accessibility to Seattle and nearby Bellevue, where more than half of the population of Washington State resides.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of eight wines to try from Woodinville wineries

These city-dwelling wine lovers – and visiting tourists – might make the four-hour, 440km drive to Walla Walla once a year, but Woodinville is just a 30-minute drive from Seattle (just 15 minutes from the tech hub of Bellevue) so they can easily visit anytime they like, as many times as they’d like, throughout the year, without having to make it an overnight or full weekend trip.

Woodinville offers anyone interested in Washington wines an opportunity to taste from all over the state in one place. But how did so many wineries end up in an area that isn’t a wine-growing region?

Woodinville pioneers

Until recently, there had always been an ordinance in Woodinville that required wineries which wanted to open tasting rooms to also produce wine there. The ordinance has been under debate for years, and a decision on whether it will be changed or lifted is expected this summer.

Chateau Ste Michelle, Washington’s oldest winery, was the first to lead the way in 1976 when it built its French-style estate in Woodinville. It only makes white wines here; the red wine production facility remains in Eastern Washington. Columbia Winery (founded in 1962 and bought by Constellation Brands before being sold to current owner E&J Gallo) followed suit in 1988, moving its winery and production facility to Woodinville.

Other wineries that moved all or part of their production to Woodinville between then and the early 2000s include DiStefano, DeLille, Matthews, Betz, JM Cellars, Januik and Novelty Hill.

Today Woodinville boasts more than 130 wineries spread throughout four winemaking districts: Downtown, Hollywood, Warehouse and West Valley.

Woodinville wineries: five of the best tasting room visits

DeLille Cellars

Located in an industrial business park within Woodinville’s Hollywood district, DeLille Cellars’ modern, three-storey winery, hospitality centre and restaurant opened in 2019. The original winery, founded in 1992, was until recently housed in a French château-style estate that now belongs to Chateau Lill (a separate winery and business, though there are still connections between the two, see below). DeLille Cellars’ focus is on Bordeaux-style blends, sourcing fruit from prestigious vineyards including Red Mountain. DeLille guests can enjoy a seated tasting of four or five wines in the tasting room or make a reservation for a wine-focused dining experience at the on-site restaurant.

• Address 14300 145th St NE, Woodinville, WA 98072
• Open tasting room 11am-5pm; restaurant Wednesday to Friday 3pm-9pm, Saturday 2pm-9pm, Sunday 2pm-8pm

Chateau Lill

While Chateau Lill’s main business is hosting private events (particularly weddings but also live music events), it still welcomes guests who simply want to visit the estate and taste wines. The building has the look and feel of French country winery, complete with a grand barrel room, stately reception room (with a roaring fire on chilly days) and balconies with panoramic views. The focus here is on easy-to-drink, affordable, European-style wines, and visitors can make a reservation for a 90-minute seated tasting (indoors or outside) of five wines and a shareable charcuterie and cheese plate.

• Address 14208 Redmond-Woodinville Rd NE, Redmond, WA 98052
• Open Friday-Sunday by appointment

Avennia

Founded in 2010 by winemaker Chris Peterson (former head winemaker at DeLille Cellars) and his business partner, Avennia has quickly garnered a reputation for its wines, including second label Liminal. Its mission is to source fruit from not just Washington’s best vineyards but to select the best parcels within them – primarily those with older vines and moderate climates. Peterson has a minimalist, Old World-style winemaking approach, focusing on judicious blending to highlight the innate characters of each variety and plot, and ensuring the finished wines are elegant and fresh with balanced acid, fruit and tannin.

• Address 19255 Woodinville-Snohomish Rd NE State 1, Woodinville, WA 98072
• Open daily 11am-5pm

Damsel Cellars

Owner-winemaker Mari Womack’s business is one of a handful of boutique or micro-wineries tucked away at the rear of a small complex in Woodinville’s Warehouse district. Her wines range from vineyard-specific whites – including a Boushey Vineyard Marsanne – to soft, balanced reds from Grenache, Syrah, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Mourvèdre. The tasting room, opened in 2020, is an intimate, bright and modern space complete with tasting counter, high bar-style tables and a larger table for groups. Tastings are available by appointment on Friday afternoons, Saturdays and Sundays and are generally hosted by Mari herself.

• Address 18746 142nd Ave NE, Woodinville, WA 98072
• Open Friday 4pm-7pm, Saturdays/Sundays 1pm-5pm

Lobo Hills

In the Artisan Hill neighbourhood of Woodinville’s Warehouse district this winery’s tasting room boasts lots of space for groups and is also dog friendly. Lobo Hills wines are mainly red but they also make several unique whites including a Chenin Blanc, Auxerrois, Riesling and a pét-nat. There’s a focus on minimal intervention (wines are unfined and unfiltered), and natural materials, like rocks from the vineyard, are used in fermentation. The aim is for wines to exude sense of place and have a natural freshness with balanced tannins and alcohols. Groups of more than five need to make a reservation for tastings, otherwise walk-ins are welcome and you can choose your own five wines to try. Private tastings outside of normal opening hours are available by appointment.

• Address 18506 142nd Ave NE, Woodinville, WA 98072
• Open Friday 3pm-7pm, Saturday-Sunday 12pm-6pm

Woodinville: where to eat, drink and stay

Purple Café and Wine Bar

Tucked into a small shopping centre alongside tasting rooms and a mix of casual and upscale restaurants, this spot is a regular haunt of local winery employees for good reason. The bar offers both table seating and an expansive bar, with a diverse offering of light bites to big helpings of comfort food. The wine list is also one of the best in Woodinville, especially the by-the-glass selections, and guests even order half glasses if they want to try a few different things. The ambiance is warm, casual and bustling (it fills up fast from 5pm and stays busy most of the evening), portions are generous (great for sharing) and the staff is friendly, attentive and efficient.

• Address 14459 Redwood-Woodinville Rd NE, Woodinville WA 98072
• Open Monday-Thursday 4pm-9pm, Friday 11am-9pm, Saturday-Sunday 10am-9pm

The Barking Frog

Located at Willows Lodge, a popular getaway for Seattle-ites seeking a relaxing weekend away in wine country, The Barking Frog is a favourite of winemakers, wine industry professionals and visitors alike. With a constantly changing seasonal menu that features locally sourced produce and innovative dishes, the restaurant offers a vibrant, upscale dining experience. A partially open kitchen allows guests to watch the chefs prepping plates, and the wine list allows for an extensive tour of Washington’s top producers (and some international selections). Expect fine-dining service, portions and prices.

• Address 14580 145th St NE, Woodinville, WA 98072
• Open daily 7am-9pm; weekend brunch 7am-3pm

The Bellevue Collection

Just a 15-minute drive from Woodinville and 20 minutes from Seattle, The Bellevue Collection, in the tech city of Bellevue, is a district of premium hotel, dining, shopping and nightlife options all within a few minutes walk of each other, all connected via a network of sky bridges. Try cocktails at Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi on the 31st floor, with panoramic views towards Seattle and the Cascade mountain range. Then head for dinner at The Lakehouse, which sources ingredients from local growers and farmers under the helm of a James Beard award-winning chef. To stay, luxury hotel options include the Hyatt Regency Bellevue, The Westin Bellevue or W Bellevue.

• Address 575 Bellevue Square, Bellevue, WA 98004
• Open daily 10am-9pm

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The family-owned company made its first foray into Washington State last year when it began buying grapes from select vineyards throughout the Walla Walla Valley.

The winemaking team was impressed by the quality coming out of the region, and it has now pounced on the opportunity to acquire land there. It snapped up 61 acres of an existing 117-acre property in Mill Creek.

A local winery called Abeja, founded by Ken and Ginger Harrison, bought the land back in 2000 in a bid to grow world-class Cabernet Sauvignon. It is famous for hosting The Inn at Abeja, along with producing elegant wines.

Abeja will retain ownership of 56 unplanted acres of the property, and it will begin planting vines there next year. Of the 61 acres that Jackson Family Wines has acquired, 40 acres are already planted to vine. Jackson Family Wines and Abeja will jointly announce a name for the vineyard at an unspecified future date.

‘We know Walla Walla Valley is an exceptional region in North America for growing Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, and this particular site in Mill Creek possesses ideal conditions in terms of soils, elevation and climate,’ said Christopher Jackson, a second generation owner of the family firm.

Jackson Family Wines is most famous for its flagship Kendall-Jackson, but it is actually an umbrella company for more than 40 wineries spread across Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Santa Barbara and Monterey, plus Australia, South Africa, Chile, France and Italy.

The firm already has a presence in the Pacific Northwest, as it owns a vineyard in Oregon’s prestigious Willamette Valley.

‘Much like our previous ventures into great winegrowing regions like Willamette Valley in Oregon, Stellenbosch in South Africa, and McLaren Vale in Australia, we are humbled to be among an elite class of wineries and look forward to integrating ourselves into the community even more and producing wines of the highest caliber,’ said Christopher Jackson.

Winemaker Chris Carpenter will oversee the project in Walla Walla Valley. He began his career in Napa back in 1995, and he has garnered a reputation for producing highly-rated Cabernet from high-elevation vineyards. This includes Cardinale and Lokoya in Napa Valley and Hickinbotham in McLaren Vale, Australia.

‘We ventured into Washington in 2021, buying grapes from select vineyards throughout the Walla Walla Valley which gave us a great sense of the opportunity and quality,’ said Carpenter. ‘Many community members have offered their knowledge, wisdom, guidance, and support. This includes Abeja, who have been exceptional winemakers and stewards of the vineyard we acquired in Mill Creek, as well as noteworthy producers such as Doubleback and Figgins/Leonetti.’

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Located one hour’s drive east of Portland, Oregon, the Columbia Gorge river corridor spans the area on both sides of the Columbia River, extending into both Oregon and Washington. The region offers a diverse landscape, breathtaking views and mineral-rich soils, combined with a unique climate for wine grapes.

While young as a winegrowing region, the earth here is ancient, having been greatly influenced by the Missoula Floods. These swept through the region thousands of years ago, separating mountain ranges, carving out canyons and dispersing mineral deposits and soil throughout much of the Pacific Northwest.

Columbia Gorge became an official AVA in 2004. There are just 90 vineyards, spanning 526ha, and 50 wineries – of which 95% produce 5,000 or fewer cases a year.

No one grape variety or wine style is a specialty here, which means the Columbia Gorge is challenging to define, but also ripe with potential. For such a tiny planted area, there are more than 50 different varieties under vine, including Dolcetto, Grüner Veltliner, Gamay, Mencia and Tocai Friulano, to name just a few.

Winemakers and grape growers are still discovering the untapped riches of the Columbia Gorge AVA – as are holiday makers. Beyond adventure sports, the area is a great place for wine lovers to explore, with many excellent cellar-door experiences, as well as both casual and upmarket dining opportunities. Here are just a few to try…

Columbia Gorge: wineries to visit

Aniche Cellars

Located on the wetter west end of the Columbia Gorge AVA (which gets 76cm of rain a year), Aniche Cellars is perched at the top of a hill overlooking the Columbia River.

Named for founder Rachel Horn’s two children Anaïs (the winemaker) and Che, the family-run winery sources fruit from growers in the Gorge and Washington’s Yakima Valley AVA. Most of their wines are blends that incorporate Bordeaux, Rhône or Italian varieties.

Guests can reserve tastings indoors (with proof of vaccination against Covid-19) or outdoors on Aniche’s covered patio.

• Address: 71 Little Buck Creek Rd, Underwood, WA
• Open: Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm to 6pm

Analemma Winery

Founded in 2010 by Steven Thompson and partner Kris Fade, Analemma sits on the east side of the appellation in the Mosier Valley. Located within one of the primary rain shadows of the Cascade Mountains, the property gets 25cm less rain per year than nearby Hood River. Analemma focuses on regenerative and biodynamic farming as well as lesser-planted Spanish varieties such as Godello and Mencia. Their expressive, site-specific Pinot Noirs are also worth trying.

Visitors can book a wine tasting on Analemma’s patio or opt for a vineyard tour and tasting. There’s also a vineyard picnic experience, where guests can take in the views from Analemma’s Hillside Terrace while enjoying lunch prepared with locally sourced ingredients.

• Address: 1120 State Road, Mosier, OR
• Open: Friday to Sunday; reservations required

Hiyu Wine Farm

Hiyu Wine Farm is about 12ha, roughly half of which are vineyards while the rest of the property includes employee housing and a state-of-the-art dining and winemaking production centre. It’s an organic farm-to-table operation, complete with grazing animals, expansive herb and vegetable gardens and a restaurant.

The winery features two wine labels: Smockshop Band and Hiyu Wine Farm. All wines – and ciders – at Hiyu are made naturally, without the addition of yeasts, enzymes, sugar, acid or water.

Wine tasting experiences in Hiyu’s tavern (or outside in the courtyard) are accompanied by small plates made with ingredients grown or foraged almost exclusively on the farm.

The winery also offers a family-style Wine Farmer’s Lunch between Thursdays and Saturdays, and a special multi-course evening Feast and twilight vineyard tour experience from Friday to Sunday, with advance reservations.

• Address: 3890 Acree Dr, Hood River, OR
• Open: Thursday to Sunday; reservations required. Tavern tasting reservations must be made 48 hours in advance and Feast Reservations must be made five days in advance.

Savage Grace

Owner/winemaker Michael Savage and his wife Grace established their winery in 2011 on Underwood Mountain, at the western edge of the Columbia Gorge AVA. Savage Grace practices regenerative farming and has been organically certified since 2017.

The vision was to make single-vineyard varietal wines in an expressive, lower-alcohol style, with a particular focus on Loire varieties such as Cabernet Franc. Over time, Syrah, Gewürztraminer and Grüner Veltliner have been added to the fold as their potential in the region was realised. Guests to the Underwood property can schedule an outdoor tasting experience with expansive views of the Columbia and Hood rivers. The winery also has a tasting room in Woodinville, Washington.

• Address: 442 Kramer Rd, Underwood, WA
• Open: Fridays 1pm-4pm, Saturdays and Sundays 12pm-5pm; reservations required. Text Michael on (206) 920-4206 or send an email to info@savagegracewines.com to book.

Cor Cellars

Cross the Columbia River and drive about 25 minutes east of Hood River to the dryer end of the Columbia Gorge AVA, and you’ll find Cor Cellars.

With distant views of snow-capped Mount Hood, the winery’s tasting room and courtyard are open, airy and modern. Guests can also enjoy the winery’s dozen limited-production wines on the rooftop terrace or in vineyard ‘tasting tents’, styled like upmarket yurts.

Cor Cellars specialises in bright, crisp estate-grown whites, including a Tocai Friulano and a Sauvignon Blanc, as well as fresh red blends made with fruit sourced from vineyards in the Gorge as well as from further north in Yakima.

• Address: 151 Old Highway 8, Lyle, WA
• Open: Wednesday to Sunday; reservations required

Syncline Cellars

This winery sits directly east of a dramatic series of cliffs called the Bingen Syncline that rise from the Columbia River into the surrounding mountains. The Syncline marks the point where the rainy western Gorge transitions into the semi-arid eastern Gorge.

Inspired by Washington producers’ early efforts with Burgundy varieties, Syncline’s first vintage in 1999 consisted of 76 cases of Pinot Noir made from locally sourced grapes. Within a few years, owners James and Poppie Mantone purchased their own land and built a winery. Today the winery has 5ha under vine and practices sustainable and carbon-neutral farming.

The Mantones focus on Rhône varieties, traditional-method sparkling wines and a few outliers such as Picpoul and Grüner Veltliner, which they purchase from the Columbia or Yakima Valley. Guests can book guided tastings and vineyards tours, or casual outdoor tastings in the garden.

• Address: 11 Balch Road, Lyle, WA
• Open: Friday to Sunday 12 pm to 5 pm; reservations required

Columbia Gorge: where to eat and drink

The Society Hotel Café

For an excellent espresso, tea or breakfast in a gorgeous library-like setting, The Society Hotel Café is a great choice. This unique venue (which also has a branch in Portland) offers both private rooms and upscale hostel-like shared rooms as well as the newest coffee shop in Bingen, just a couple of minutes’ drive from Hood River and White Salmon.

The café itself offers plenty of cozy indoor seating, including comfy stuffed chairs by the fire, as well as outdoor picnic table seating.

• Address: 210 N Cedar St, Cook, WA
• Open: Monday to Sunday, 7am to 9pm

White Salmon Baking Co

A favourite local haunt (evidenced by the queues out the door at most times between breakfast and lunch rush hours), White Salmon Bakery serves up an array of naturally leavened, wood-fired breads and pastries. A light lunch menu, including sandwiches and salads, as well as beer and wine are also available. Limited seating is offered outside.

• Address: 80 NE Estes Ave, White Salmon, WA
• Open: Wednesday to Sunday, 8am to 3pm

Celilo Restaurant

One of the higher-end dining options in Hood River, Celilo offers a farm-to-table menu and a well-curated wine list of both local and international options, delivered by knowledgeable and friendly staff.

From the lettuce or chestnuts in your salad to the mushrooms and organic meats, the focus is on sourcing ingredients from farms as close as possible to the restaurant. Expect smaller portions but mouthwateringly fresh ingredients, prepared simply and elegantly.

• Address: 16 Oak St, Hood River, OR
• Open: Open Tuesday to Saturday, 5pm to 8:30pm on weekdays and 5pm to 9pm on Friday and Saturday; reservations encouraged

Slopeswell Cider/Heights Taproom

Looking for a break from wine? This Hood River cidery, brewery and taproom crafts small-batch hard ciders made from apples harvested in the Columbia River Gorge which they serve on tap, alongside a handful of local beers.

There are usually 14 different ciders available, ranging from dry, crisp examples made from heirloom apples, to wild-yeast-fermented styles, and those co-fermented with fruit.

The Taproom also serves beer and food and regularly hosts food and cider pairings as well as live music. It’s a relaxed yet buzzy community hangout, with friendly service and indoor, outdoor, pet-friendly and family seating options.

• Address: 1021 12th St #102, Hood River, OR
• Open: Thu & Fri 5-10pm, Sat 3-10pm, Sun 3-7pm

Columbia Gorge: things to do

Hood River is known for its world-class windsurfing, but the entire Columbia Gorge area has become a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts and extreme sports lovers. From windsurfing, kiteboarding and rafting on the Columbia River in summer to skiing and snowboarding at nearby Mount Hood in winter, as well as hiking and cycling in between, there’s plenty to do year round.

Away from winter sports, the best time to visit Columbia Gorge is between June and September with air temperatures ranging from 15°C to 38°C.

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Washington State wineries to visit

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Seasonal transitions are always a good moment to take stock. Over the past few weeks, with the ‘back to school/work buzz’ palpable, the Decanter team has been looking at the multiple notes pilling up from summer and early autumn tastings in anticipation of a busy couple of months ahead. We had the pleasure of discovering new producers and wines and also revisit some favourites, confirming the great job they are doing year-on-year.

Exciting winemaking communities, east and west 

There are always regions, styles and producers that somehow stand out, either individually or within a wider context. A theme that seemed to repeat itself is the increasing availability of American wines, across price points and styles, against the backdrop of exciting winemaking communities pushing boundaries in their respective regions.

That’s certainly true of the Finger Lakes, in New York State, and Santa Rita Hills, in Santa Barbara, California, hotspots of refined, terroir-driven winemaking. You’ll find a few examples below, worth buying, drinking and in some cases cellaring. The Joy Fantastic Pinot Noir and Osmote’s Chardonnay could be even more delicious in a few years. If you can resist until then… You can also taste The Joy Fantastic next to Red Newt’s Pinot to get a sense of how well the fussy grape fares on both coasts.

Something old and something new

Did you know there are plantings of Albariño in the Hudson River Valley? We did but hadn’t yet tasted it. When we finally got hold of Fjord Vineyard’s we were surprised by its character, gastronomic appeal and straightforward deliciousness.

It’s always worth revisiting classics and Hedges Family Estate’s old-vine Bel’Vitta Syrah may well fall in that category – an expression of a grape and producer synonym with the Red Mountain. The 2015 is drinking beautifully and is certainly good value for what it delivers.

Value to be found

Speaking of value, who says you need to break the bank to get a proper USA bottle? Chateau Ste Michele’s Dry Riesling and Power’s Cabernet Sauvignon are more than proper and go for less than £15. And the Tendu Cortese from Matthiasson is a joy of value and convenience inside its one-litre bottle, deserving a place at your dinner party table.

There’s much to discover in this short, but not modest, selection of North American wines, some more experimental, others more classic, all unpretentiously honest about what they are and can deliver.

A selection of 10 USA wines to try:

Wines shown in score order. 

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Autumn wine under £25: 20 wines to try

The Auction of Washington Wines (AWW) has raised more than $2.2m (£1.6m) after hosting its first ever hybrid auction event.

Through a combination of fundraising events held across the past 12 months and a week-long online auction from 10-14 August, the AWW raised a total of $2,220,720.

Proceeds will go to Seattle Children’s Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic and Uncompensated Care, Washington State University Viticulture and Enology Program research, and the AWW Industry Grant program.

‘We are consistently touched by the outpouring of encouragement the auction receives from the Washington wine industry and its supporters,’ said AWW executive director Jamie Peha.

‘Although we wish we could have reconvened in full, we knew a hybrid event was the best decision for all parties, and we have come to look forward to folks tuning into the virtual events from around the world. Still, we revel in anticipation knowing we are one step closer to gathering together for our 35th anniversary milestone in 2022,’ he added.

The auction lots up for grabs included a three-night trip to Napa Valley’s wine country, which fetched $50,000, tickets to either Coachella Valley or Stagecoach Music & Arts Festivals, which fetched $44,000, and an eight-day ‘Rhone River Cruise’ to the south of France that brought in $35,000.

The online and virtual auctions saw more than 700 participants with around 375 guests attending in person at the three mini-Galas hosted at Chateau Ste Michelle, Maryhill Winery and The Winemakers Reserve in Woodinville.

Since its inception in 1988, AWW has raised more than $54 million (£39.5m). Its mission is to support the growth and awareness of the Washington state wine industry through a series of celebrated events benefiting the community.

The dates for next year’s auction, which celebrates 35 years of the AWW, are 11-13 August 2022.

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Showing some good promise is the newly created (in 2020) Royal Slope AVA which produces wines from some top vineyards including Stoneridge and Stillwater Creek.

A very large range of varieties can perform well here but Syrah might stand tallest.

Scroll down to see the top-scoring ‘other AVA’ 2018 red wines

At roughly 60,702 hectares, about 90% of the AVA is planted with vines on gentle to somewhat steeply south-facing slopes.

It is slightly warmer than the Ancient Lakes AVA (more known for ripe yet crisp Riesling and Chardonnay) but a touch cooler than the Wahluke Slope AVA (known for Bordeaux varietals).

The Wahluke Slope, with its very dry climate, has 3,754 hectares of vineyards which is nearly 15% of the total wine grape plantings in the state.

In this region reds perform the best, and the appellation sits on a large alluvial fan delta created by repeated flooding, making the soils notably uniform and displaying wind-blown sand topsoil.

Washington 2018 red wines: full report and top-scoring wines

Individual analysis by AVA:

 Columbia Valley | Horse Heaven Hills | Red Mountain | Walla Walla Valley | Yakima Valley

Plus: Top-value Washington 2018 reds – the best to buy

The new Candy Mountain AVA sits adjacent to Red Mountain and also offers a similar scorched earth and generous dark fruit profile for its Bordeaux varieties. It also shows promise for concentrated, smoky Syrahs.

The Puget Sound AVA shows limited promise for red wines due to its rainy climate, although some German and Alsatian white varietals fare better.

More enticing is the emergence of the Columbia Gorge AVA, particularly over the past 10 years, as this wind-swept AVA delivers not only good potential for Chardonnay and sparkling wines but also a host of Rhône varietals with its cooler climate and strong wind influence.

A highly diverse AVA, it is known for its many micro-climates perfect for growing grapes of almost every variety though whites (64%) are dominant. Soils here are also diverse, from old volcanic mudstone to fragments of basalt rock.

Top producers:

• Gard Vintners
• Januik
• Novelty Hill
• Upsidedown Wine
• San Juan Island Vineyards

The top-scoring ‘other’ AVA 2018 red wines

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Washington’s largest wine growing region, at 4.45 million hectares, is known for its continental high desert climate with hot summer days promoting slow, even ripening, while the cool nights ensure that grapes retain their natural acidity.

This region includes a whopping 99% of wine grapes grown in Washington State, at 23,971 hectares under vine.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Columbia Valley 2018 red wines

The Columbia Valley contains the American Viticultural Regions of Red Mountain, Yakima and Walla Walla Valleys, Wahluke Slope, Rattlesnake Hills, Horse Heaven Hills, Snipes Mountain, Lake Chelan, Naches Heights and Ancient Lakes within its borders.

Washington 2018 red wines: full report and top-scoring wines

COMING SOON

Individual analysis by AVA:

 Horse Heaven Hills | Red Mountain | Walla Walla Valley | Yakima Valley

Plus: Top-value Washington 2018 reds – the best to buy

With the exception of Lewis-Clark Valley, Puget Sound and Columbia Gorge, all other growing regions in Washington are sub-appellations of the Columbia Valley.

Vineyards are typically planted on predominately south-facing slopes, increasing solar radiation in summer and promoting air drainage in winter.

Riesling, Merlot, Chardonnay, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon are the most widely planted varieties but more than 30 vinifera varieties are currently planted in this region.

It has a warm, arid climate with a typical growing season of 180 to 200 days with an annual rainfall averaging 15-20cm.

Soil types include silt and sand as well as with wind-blown loess.

Many red wines show typical sagebrush undertones, from the millions of sagebrush plants, alongside dark fruits for Bordeaux varietals.

While typical Bordeaux grapes might be the most popular plantings, Syrah can fare beautifully here as well, many times showing smoky and savoury tones with ripe black fruits.

Overall, this region has produced a range of beautiful wines and a number that provide exceptional value, where Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon have performed particularly well.

These are wines that offer good flavour density and concentration but also evoke the lighter herbal tones that are directly related to the plants grown throughout this large growing region.

Wines from this large AVA might be a touch softer than those grown on Red Mountain, as well as some warmer and less high-elevation sites in the Walla Walla Valley.

Top Columbia Valley producers:

• Quilceda Creek
• Dunham
• Avennia
• Abeja
• Long Shadows
• Chateau Ste Michelle

The top-scoring Columbia Valley 2018 red wines

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