California wine country landscape in autumn

Sonoma Cabernet

When it comes to California Cabernet Sauvignon, it is true that Napa Valley is King.  Between the sheer amount of plantings, savvy marketers, big names, and the “Judgement of Paris” Napa will long hold the bulk of the market value for California Cab.  But with a similar Mediterranean…

Sunset shines through a sign welcoming visitors to Napa Valley wine country

Why Napa Valley?

Napa Valley Cabernet is synonymous with quality, luxury, scores, and of course, the subsequent price tags.  But what makes the wines from Napa Valley command such a market presence?  What actually makes Napa Valley wines so special? Let’s skip over the portion of history where its wines were…

Beautiful midday scene of Red Mountain winegrowing region

Red Mountain AVA

Red Mountain is the smallest AVA in the state of Washington, hovering around 1600 hectares (~4,000 acres), with around 240 hectares cultivated for winemaking purposes. A sub-appellation of the Yakima Valley AVA (which in turn resides within the greater Columbia Valley AVA), Red Mountain’s unique geographical location allows…

Silhouette of California state with "CA" written, overlaid on a photo of wine grapes hanging from a vine

CA Zinfandel

Prior to 1998, CA Zinfandel was the most widely planted grape in the state.  Post-prohibition many common people believed it to be a native California grape until DNA testing results came in (and an assist from a little information filled invention called ‘the internet’) showing it to be…

WA Cabernet Sauvignon

In celebration of Washington Wine Month (August) and International Cabernet Day, let’s take a look at a few Cabs from Washington that made the state internationally recognized. While Washington wasn’t built on a foundation of Cab, Merlot and Syrah, those red varieties have come to dominate in the…

All About Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir (literally: Black Pine, due to the grapes color and cluster looking like a black pine cone), is one of the most globally popular grapes, has a long growing history pre-dating the Roman Empire, and could be upwards of 1,000 years older than the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. …

A lineup of Cameron Hughes Wine wine bottles lying on their side

Decoded: Wine Serving Temps

It is well-known and spoken about in the wine community: Americans drink their whites too cold; their reds too warm.  While this is a grossly generalized statement, it exists for a reason.  For example, when you dine out at a restaurant, the white wines are sitting in a…

Drawing of various wine bottle shapes and sizes

Decoded: Intro to Wine Bottle Shapes

In the world of wine, there are numerous bottle shapes and styles.  More recently, wineries have been doing some incredibly artistic things with their bottles with marketing and customer awareness in mind.  At a later date we will go into a much deeper dive on these shapes and…