I recently saw a magazine ad for Riedel’s Venetian inspired varietal-specific “Fatto a Mano” wine glasses and was instantly captivated by the gorgeous colorful stems. wine Besides looking pretty on my dinner party tables, they’d make it easier for party guests to remember which glass is theirs if they happened to set it down. (Disclosure: Some of the links in ...

I finally had the opportunity to join Carrie at Basel Cellars’ Woodinville tasting room recently.  I had wanted to visit and check out their Bordeaux inspired wines for months! A lush patio and chalkboard sign awaited us as we pulled up to Basel, and I wished we had just a bit more time that afternoon to sit back and enjoy ...

My friend Claudette runs Eastside Social Club, a Meetup group I’m grateful to have joined a couple years ago. I invited her out to lunch and wine tasting in Woodinville so we could plan upcoming social events, catch up on gossip and share a nice meal. She hadn’t been to Heritage Restaurant + Bar yet, and I suspected she would ...

Our social club (Eastside Social Club on Meetup) had so much fun the week before at Davenport Cellars, we decided to meet again for wine and snacks. As always, Sheila and Jeff were fantastic hosts and made us feel right at home. This was the first time we’d visited during nice hot sunny weather. We were delighted to see Davenport ...

Recently, Jen and I were able to treat our friend Diane to a day of wine tasting in Woodinville. We took her to a nice lunch, then headed to our appointment at Martedi Winery. We were honored to have Joseph Miglino, the winemaker, spend so much time with us talking about his wines and his traditional hands-off winemaking process. Tuesday ...

After a long day of running around exploring Woodinville’s warehouse district tasting rooms, my friend Valerie and I suddenly became ravenous. She’d never been to the Cut Shop, but had read some of my articles about our meals there and was eager to check it out. We got there early enough on a Saturday night to snag two barstools – ...

Valerie and I were out tasting wine in Woodinville on a recent Saturday. She hasn’t spent much time at many Artisan Hill tasting rooms, so we drove over to see who might still be open late in the day. I was delighted to see Pomum Cellars was still open. I was fairly certain Valerie would be very impressed with their ...

After a cloudy, rainy week here in the Pacific Northwest, we were delighted to finally have warm weather and sunshine in my backyard this weekend! I invited a yardless friend to come enjoy sunshine, wine and leisurely book and magazine reading with me. (Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on ...

On Sunday, I left the Woodinville warehouse district just a few minutes before everyone’s 5pm closing time. Making my way past The Junction, I saw several people still out on patios, listening to live music. It had been a bit rainy on and off all day, so all those people are really good sports, or at least really into wine! ...

On Sunday I was wine tasting in Woodinville’s Warehouse District with a small handful of friends. (Luckily there were only five of us, as tasting rooms generally prefer you to make an advance reservation if your party is six people or more). My friends had never been to Savage Grace, and wanted to taste some intriguing wines. I knew Savage ...