June should be a wild month around here, between bottling the 2009 Columbia Valley Syrah and the 2009 Blackboard Red Wine and beginning to blend the 2010 wines. We also are getting into the swing of award season, with critic tastings this month as well as the results from the Seattle Wine Awards we hope to continue to prove our place amongst Washington's elite. The Seattle Wine Awards, a blind judged event with a panel of local wine professionals has awarded us their highest rating for our 2008 Cabernet more...

March is here and the start of pruning in the vineyards, or for some the finishing of the pruning that they started in February. After a winter that included some extremely low temperatures in the first weeks of December; -8 to -12 degrees in some places, and again in the last week or so with wind chills to around 0, most vineyards will have a good idea of the effect on the vines during those cold snaps. Each year’s weather  presents its own set of challenges; this is why each vintage is unique. The fruit we get is more...

Good February to you! Now that the Holidays are over and you’ve had a chance to settle into the New Year, it’s time to reflect a little on last year and some of the wines we released. Recently, we received a score for our 2008 Columbia Valley Syrah from Wine Spectator; a very respectable 91 points. Wine Spectator also awarded our 2008 BlackBoard a score of 89 points, as well as featuring this wine in their recent online article titled “9 Red Values from Washington.” This article features value red wines from more...

Happy New Year to you all!  After enjoying a little time off over the holidays, I am beginning the preparation work for the next phase here at the winery: racking the 2009 vintage, making any final adjustments to blends and preparing some of the early whites for bottling.  I'm excited about the wines that will release this year starting with the 2008 Matthews Columbia Valley Claret (our smallest bottling of Claret ever and probably the best) and the 2008 Matthews Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, the first 100% more...

Season's greetings.  As I write this note to you all, I am enjoying my own long weekend after what seemed like a never ending harvest.  I will be blending the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc this week and as I'm sure most Washington winemakers will agree, maybe the best thing to come out of the 2010 harvest is the white wine.  Incredible texture, great acidity and more present and complex aromatics will leave you all thanking Mother Nature for such a tremendous growing season for white wine.  Although some will appreciate great more...