Sean P. Sullivan Northwest Wine Report

24/11/2025

Today at Northwest Wine Report, I take a moment for something I don't usually write about: myself.

Here are five things you might not know about me.

By definition, Northwest Wine Report is focused on the wines and wineries of the Pacific Northwest. It has never been my goal to make myself a central part of this site, except when doing so can better inform what I am trying to express. However, in the interests of

24/11/2025

Paired with a fire. Good night all!

23/11/2025

Saturday night folks! What's everyone opening up this evening?

Northwest Wine Report's Fall Subscriber Drive continues! I'm looking for 11 more brave souls to subscribe to the site to keep things going in 2026. Join us! Link in the comments.

Okay, go!

22/11/2025

Friday night folks! What’s everyone opening up this evening?

Still looking for THIRTEEN more brave souls to subscribe to Northwest Wine Report in order to keep publishing in 2026. If you haven’t already subscribed, now is the time! Link in the comments. To those who have subscribed, thank you!

Check out my articles from this week:

Bledsoe Family Winery breaks ground on new Walla Walla tasting room

Fall Subscriber Drive continues

Wine Reviews November 21st 2025

Link to articles in the comments.

All right, let’s have it!

21/11/2025

What a shot!

Did you know Chuck Reininger was at the end of the epic double rainbow over Walla Walla the other week? 🌈

21/11/2025

55+ new wines reviewed, including the latest from Andrew Januik, Cimento, Cloudlift, Dahlman, Dusted Valley, Ethos, Idilico, Novelty Hill-Januik Winery, La Biblioteca, Long Shadows, LucidWild Estate, North Valley Vineyards, Pomum, Real Wine, Samā, S*x, Walla Walla Vintners, and WeatherEye Vineyards.

The 2024 Novelty Hill Maidenhair is unlike anything that the winery has done to date. A blend of Sémillon (57%) and Sauvignon Blanc from Stillwater Creek and Boushey vineyards, it was aged in cocciopesto egg. This brings components of both concrete and amphora. “Everybody on the winemaking team has been excited about this project for years,” says winemaker Andrew Januik.

The reviews include an exceptional set of wines from Cimento. The micro-producer is located in the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater.

WeatherEye’s estate offerings continue to impress. The wines are currently very well-priced relative to their level of quality.

Samā is a new producer focusing on Rhône varieties. The wines are well-worth a look. For those in the western Washington area, check out Samā’s tasting room in Redmond.

At $25, the Walla Walla Vintners 2023 Woven Fields Red Blend is definitely on the list of best Northwest values right now. Another would be the North Valley 2023 Classic Chardonnay Willamette Valley ($35). See other wines I recently noted here.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. If you’re looking for a consistently delicious bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, look no further than Januik’s Columbia Valley offering. Januik’s Cold Creek Vineyard Chardonnay, meanwhile, continues to be a benchmark for this variety from the Columbia Valley.

Reviews at Northwest Wine Report.

55+ wines reviewed below and in the database, including the latest from Andrew Januik, Cimento, Cloudlift, Dahlman, Dusted Valley, Ethos, Idilico, Januik, La Biblioteca, Long Shadows, LucidWild. North Valley, Novelty Hill, Pomum,

20/11/2025

Northwest Wine Report’s Fall Subscriber Drive continues! The site needs additional subscribers before December 31st in order to continue next year. Barring that, publication of Northwest Wine Report will cease in 2026.

Northwest Wine Report is the only Pacific Northwest-dedicated site that provides breaking news, feature articles, expert-level industry analysis, and blind tasted ratings and reviews from a single palate with over 20 years of experience with the region. The site covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia exclusively and is entirely subscriber-funded.

Please consider subscribing to the site if you have not already. Subscribing gives you access to:

Subscriber-only articles
Growing season summaries
Growing season markers
Appellation information
Newly published blind-tasted wine reviews
A web-searchable database of Pacific Northwest wine reviews

Wineries are asked to subscribe at the Commercial level. If you are currently a winery subscriber and have a Consumer account, please consider upgrading to a Commercial account. This can be done by going to My Account, Subscriptions, Change Plan.

To those who have subscribed, thank you! You power the site.

Link to subscribe in the comments.

19/11/2025

One of my wife's happiest moments each year is the first day she comes home with Brussels sprouts on the stalk. Ear to ear smile.

18/11/2025

Beautiful wine. Paired with pizza, a fire, and Stranger Things.

17/11/2025

Bledsoe Family Winery has broken ground on a new tasting room in Walla Walla Valley.

“You’re in a vineyard, and it’s a beautiful location,” says Josh McDaniels, CEO, director of winemaking, and partner at Bledsoe Wine Estates.

Story at Northwest Wine Report.

Illustration of Bledsoe Family Winery tasting room, Walla Walla by Signum Architecture Tasting room expected to open in summer of 2026 Bledsoe Family Winery has broken ground on a new tasting room in Walla Walla Valley. The tasting room is expected to open next summer. “Our downtown space in Walla

16/11/2025

This is the proverbial case of “asking for a friend.” ;)

Let’s go! Champagne wishes and caviar dreams…

16/11/2025

Pro tip for assisting with smelling both cork taint and smoke impact. First, for cork taint, as I've written about, always smell the cork. (I'll link my article about this in the comments.) In my experience, it's easier to pick up low levels of cork taint on the cork than it is initially on the wine. This makes sense as the cork is almost always the source.

Second, with both cork taint and smoke impact, do NOT swirl your wine glass. Rather, just smell the wine. Swirling the glass in both cases aromatizes a whole bunch of other competing molecules, making it harder to identify the taint.

Now if the taint levels are high, you'll likely still pick it up. If they aren't, it's very easy to miss it, particularly on wines that are very aromatic. (Viognier and Rocks District Syrah would be two examples.)

In the case of both cork taint and smoke impact, they dampen other aromas, making the wine seem muted. In the case of cork taint, it's because it blocks olfactory signal transduction. This is a fancy way of say it inhibits your ability to smell. In the case of smoke impact, at least from what I've seen to date, the science behind this is less clear.

End of public service announcement.