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Spring Getaway: Dining in Champagne

Amuse bouche

My previous life as a winemaker found me living amidst the rolling hills of southeastern Washington’s Palouse. Carved out by the Missoula floods and crowned in layers of wind-blown loess, it’s a breathtaking landscape that attracts photographers from all over the world. Following harvest, the region changes her gown from green to gold. In the […]

Experience Oregon & Washington Wine Country Aboard a Replica Coastal Steamer

UnCruise Adventures

Join Me for a 7-Night Wine-Themed Cruise on the Columbia, Snake & Willamette Rivers Evidence of the ice age floods is easy to spot — 15,000 years later, the results are as profound as they are delicious. Lifting a glass of glinting ruby-hued wine, it’s impossible not to appreciate the lasting effects ancient geology had […]

Washington State’s Founding Winery Turns 50

Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon 50th Anniversary Special Bottling 2015

On the cusp of Chateau Ste. Michelle’s 50th anniversary, there is a palpable hum of excitement in the air. One can feel it coursing throughout the winery’s newly expanded visitor center. On the afternoon we visit, it is packed with garrulous patrons, looking relaxed and newly-tanned as they milled around sections still cordoned off by […]

Umpqua Undercover

Terry Brandborg, Stephen Reustle, and Earl Jones

The Umpqua Valley has a streak of wildness to it. Sparsely populated, its towns lie scattered amidst a series of rugged, undulating hills thatched in spikey Ponderosa pine and black oak. The Umpqua River and it’s winding tributaries churn and tumble through a network of valleys formed by the collision of three mountain ranges—the Klamath, […]

Slightly Last Minute Gifts for Wine Lovers

Christmas

The holidays are upon us, and if you’re anything like me, you haven’t yet begun shopping. Most people in my immediate circle love wine and are connected to the industry one way or another—a bottle of Bruno Paillard Brut Champagne is always welcome, but I like to give gifts that last. The pursuit of wine […]

Tokaj’s New Golden Age

Mád Village

How a quiet revolution in Mád will change the way think about Tokaji. To visit Tokaj is to pull back the curtain on an extraordinary place, an ancient place that, at first glance, appears frozen in time even as the region embraces change. Storybook houses cluster together, defining this village from that; only the town […]

White before Red: An Interview with Winemaker Giuseppe Franceschini

Tony Hartl & Giuseppe Franceschini

Born in Padua, winemaker Giuseppe Franceschini likes to think of himself as a gypsy. He studied enology at the University of Udine, following graduation, his wanderlust and curiosity led him to Veneto, Friuli, Sicily, Mendoza and most recently, Slovenia. From these experiences, Giuseppe absorbed a lifetime of regional winemaking styles, each with unique challenges and […]

The Wine of Kings Has a New Successor

King's Vineyard, Tokaj

Why Dry Furmint will be the Next Big Thing   This problem is one that the region’s vintners are acutely aware of, and, perhaps for the first time in decades, Tokaj is ready to reinvent itself. István Szepsy Sr., the region’s most acclaimed winemaker, has seen tremendous upheaval during his lifetime. His son, István Szepsy […]

Timeless Refinement

King Estate

It was a beautiful evening, from my vantage, I could see the hills that formed the backbone of the eastern side of the valley, densely robed in evergreen trees and hunkered against a backdrop of stars that seemed to draw closer against the indigo-black palette of an ever-darkening sky. The evening air, as it so […]

#WBC15 and Alsatian Riesling’s Delicious Diversity

#WBC15

There is something about attending one’s first Wine Blogger’s Conference, aside from the instant camaraderie—that irreplaceable sense that you are in a room full of people who get what it is that you are doing, or attempting to do on a very deep level—in addition, there are a multitude of sessions for attendees to choose from. […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com