The REAL Washington top wines

Wine Enthusiast magazine just awarded it #2 on their list. I'm sure Paul had some influence on that, but I don't know how much. Gotta get me some and try it.

I guess my point wasn't so much that they should have picked low-production $100 wines. I have $35 Abeja syrahs, $35 Abeja cabs, $40-$55 Betz syrahs and blends, $48 Cote Bonnevilles. My point was more that WS completely ignored these wineries. They didn't need to pick the $80-$120 reserves. They could have chosen excellent wines in the lower ranges. Rulo, for instance, makes a stunning syrah/cab blend that sells for $15, and even their top end syrahs are maybe $30.

True, a lot of the Washington wineries are small production. That's part of what makes them good wineries with excellent product. But it doesn't necessarily rule them out as good values, even if they are a bit harder to find.

Further, the CC Reserve Cab was sold out before the Top 100 list even appeared, so how available is that? If you want the alleged $27 wine now, your only hope is winecommune.com, where it's on at $600 for a six-pack.

As Gregutt wrote on his blog, "If WS wanted to choose a torchbearer for the state - even if that torchbearer was to be Columbia Crest - they could have picked something far better than this wine, which I scored as an 89. A nice bottle, a bit pricey, and so limited (about

I happen to think the writers at the Spectator are fat and lazy. Just because plonk is available everywhere at great QPR doesn't make it fit to drink.

I don't typically like cabernets but Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot is, in my opinion and that of a lot of other people, consistently a really nice wine for ten bucks.

And the Chateau St. Michelle sparkling wines, while not rivalling Champagnes that cost 2-3X as much, are drinkable and a decent value (although I haven't had one in a couple of years).

Shaun Eli

I know, I was just defending the Columbia Crest in general, after the whole winery was called plonk...