EFESTĒ (pronounced eff – ess – tee) is a true family winery: two generations of the Ferrelli family work in it and they learned the trade from a third. When you go to visit them at their Woodinville, Washington tasting room, as we recently did, the sense of family comes through loud and clear.
Grape varietals indigenous to the Rhone Valley have been grown elsewhere in the world for years. Notably, Spain has roughly ¾ of the acreage planted to Grenache that France does and Australia has about ¾ of the Syrah that France does. But the USA has been the late entrant to the game, and while it does not have nearly the amount of acres under vine of Rhone varietals, it has certainly become a force to be reckoned with for lovers of Rhone wines.
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Most of us wine enthusiasts have harboured, either secretly or not, the dream of some day owning a winery. Cristom Winery, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, is the story of a man who actually pursued that dream and created one of the top wineries in the state.
Although we’re not vegan ourselves, we live in a bona fide vegan-friendly city and are used to having to cater to different food preferences when entertaining guests. Recently, a very dear friend brought to our attention that his wife was worried about having to give up wine when she found out many are not technically vegan. Surprised?
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We arrived at Avennia’s “facility” in Woodinville’s warehouse district, about 30 minutes drive north of Seattle. We use the word “facility” because it is not a tasting room, but a barrel room, winery, office and a little reception area where we tasted their wines. Avennia is not open to the public, but that does not stop them from selling out all of their wines via their mailing list along with wine specialty and high end grocery stores in the Northwest. (You can register on their mailing list here.) As the tasting notes that follow will show, this has become one of the rising stars on the Washington wine scene, producing wines of great finesse and intense flavours.
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Founded on the former site of a blacksmith shop, Forgeron Cellars Winery in Walla Walla takes its name from the French word for blacksmith while at the same time paying homage to winemaker Marie-Eve Gilla’s French heritage.
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