family background / Maureen graduated from Walla Walla Community College’s viticulture and enology program and joined Shaw Vineyards as a viticulturist in 2018. She is the daughter of Carol and John O’Callaghan. age/27 grower/Ephrata, Washington crops/Grapes business/Shaw Vineyards I started college originally with a chemistry focus at Washington State University, then went into soil sciences and then viticulture and enology through…
Walla Walla Valley is Washington State’s “reddest” appellation. A recent study shows the area is 95% planted to red wine varieties, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah leading the way. So why aren’t there more white wine grapes grown in Walla Walla? “It’s an economic thing,” says Marty Clubb, co-owner and managing winemaker at L’Ecole No. 41, one of Washington’s founding wineries. Clubb says the disparity between the…
Below are my Wine Enthusiast reviews for January 2020. Wines are listed alphabetically by winery. Read information on how I review wines here. Read about the Wine Enthusiast rating system here. Read about how to interpret my scores here. All of these reviews are freely available on-line at the Wine Enthusiast Buying Guide. See previous Wine Enthusiast reviews re-published in this space here. Search Wine Enthusiast‘s on-line database here. Read instructions on how to find Washington…
Some really good talents have come out of Walla Walla Community College’s enology and viticulture program. The list of talents continues to rise as Jason Fox is one of them that started his own Lagana Cellars in 2013. Lagana sources from some great vineyards including Sagemoor and Seven Hills vineyards. Jason is earnest, frank and highly knowledgable as I have…
Seattle-area native Marcus Rafanelli takes over as winemaker for L’Ecole No. 41 after spending the past four years as a winemaking instructor at Walla Walla Community College. (Richard Duval Images) LOWDEN, Wash. — It sounds odd to matriculate from college back to a century-old schoolhouse, but Marcus Rafanelli couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work again for Marty Clubb at storied L’Ecole No.…
CLOVERDALE, Calif. – The 2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition generated more critical acclaim for the Pacific Northwest, and much of it stems from College Cellars of Walla Wallaand alumni of the community college’s vaunted winemaking program. Leading the Northwest highlights at the largest wine competition in North America was Aaron Peet, winemaker for Cellardoor Winery in Linconlville, Maine. Peet, who graduated from Walla Walla…
Washington State has seen explosive growth over the last 15 years, ballooning from 200 wineries to more than 940 today. With this growth has come an influx of talented winemakers, all with their own ideas about what Washington wine is and how it should be made. Though young, many of them have diversified the style and increased overall quality statewide. The…
