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Updated 3-17-08
These highlights from our current issue are updated biweekly, so bookmark our site and come back and visit for more of our current top choices. And for our complete set of tasting notes and their ratings—more than 100 recommended wines per issue!—pick up a copy of Northwest Palate or subscribe today.
Best Buy
Hoodsport—WA
2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Columbia Valley
Bold and sprightly smells of straw, melon, and dried herbs have force and vitality in the nose. Tart flavors of citrus and herb spread across the tongue, broadening with notes of fig and mineral. There is both punch and style here, with ancillary tones of white peach and talc. Though crisp and light-bodied, the complexity is satisfying and the character invigorating. Sip with a goat cheese soufflé. Excellent value. (1,020 cases made.) $11
Cellar Candidate
Osoyoos Larose—BC
2005 Le Grand Vin, VQA, Okanagan Valley
Black fruit aromas bolt from the glass. Complex flavors of leather, cedar, roasted coffee bean, and spicy oak join forces on the robust, full-bodied palate. The warm, expansive finish has licorice notes. The fine-grained but hard-polished tannins need cellaring time; drink 6-10 years after vintage. (67% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec.) $42cdn
Rarer Reds
Barking Frog—OR
2006 Sangiovese, Washington
Plum fruit and cocoa dust appear on the nose, with spicy notes of graham and coriander bobbing and weaving in the background. Plush on the palate, with big, juicy, sweet cherry flavors made more appealing by a bright acidity and lively tannins. Youthful and forward; drink with a dish of Italian sausage, peppers, and polenta. (127 cases made.) $28
Northwest Palate’s chief wine-tasting panelists
Oregon/Washington
Cameron Nagel has been tasting and studying wine for more than 30 years. He has spent the past 23 of those years as a professional, first as publisher of Oregon Wine Review (established in 1983) and now as Co-Publisher of Northwest Palate magazine. He has also been a wine educator, and is active as a judge for regional food and wine competitions.
Larry Halkinrude has been on the Oregon panel since 1995. Halkinrude manages the wine department at Portland's Elephant's Delicatessen and travels often to the wine regions of the world.
Northwest Palate's Co-Publisher and Wine Editor, Cole Danehower has been involved with the Northwest wine industry since 1999 when he founded the Oregon Wine Report. As a freelance wine writer covering Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Idaho, he has written extensively for publications such as Northwest Palate, The Oregonian, and the Eugene Register-Guard. In 2004 Danehower was awarded the James Beard Journalism Award for newsletter writing. He is a frequent judge at local, state, and regional wine competitions.
British Columbia
Harry Hertscheg and Anita Boomer have been Northwest Palate's B.C. wine tasting panelists since 2001. Harry serves as executive director of the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, and he and Anita also coordinate Northwest Palates annual wine-and-food pairing station at the festival. Harry is a Certified Specialist of Wine through the Society of Wine Educators, has an Advanced Certificate with Distinction from the Wine and Spirit Educational Trust, and is part-way through the trusts Diploma program. Anita's earliest memories include dinner table conversations about food with her gastronomically focused family. She is an advertising manager for the University of British Columbias Sauder School of Business. Anita and Harry are also on a curling team, that popular Canadian sport where the skip yells sweep!