Washington Wine: Why is Cote Bonneville so damn good?

Posted on October 20, 2012

On a recent trip with the Washington Wine Commission, I had the chance to visits my favorite winemakers in Washington state, the Shiels of Cote Bonneville.  Kathy and Hugh Shiels are the proprietors and over see their estate vineyard, the famous Dubrul Vineyard.  Their daughter, Kerry is the winemaker,  (She also plays a mean Blackjack).   I have always been very impressed with their wines.  If we could marrry the best wines of Bordeaux and California and get them to reproduce, the offspring would be the wines from Cote Bonneville from the Dubrul Vineyard.

Rather than bore you with a lecture in my godforsaken writing, I chose to let you hear it from the horse’s mouth.  In the following videos Kathy, Kerry and Hugh tell us why Washington wine is so unique.  Pick up a glass of some Washington wine, sit back and enjoy the short seminar.

 

Sandy top soils blown in by winds.

You can see the stones that Hugh spoke about in the video.

 

 

Getting ready to harvest at Durbul Vineyard

Grapes are almost ready for harvest. They are netted and birds love ripe grapes.

Hugh and Myself sipping on Carriage House Red

Washington Wine Road Trippers at Dubrul Vineyard

 

 

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Eileen Straley

    I listened to happy hour radio a couple of weeks ago and was impressed with what I was hearing. My daughter in law loves Merlot, my husband likes a Reisling and I like a zin. I am in Western Washington and busy at home and not able to drive to the vineyard. What do you suggest for these palates? I would like to try a bottle before Christmas and then give as Christmas gifts.

    • Maurice

      Hi Eileen, lucky to live so close to such a great wine country. Cote Bonneville makes great wines, they are not like Zins though, but still pretty delicious. I would recommend picking up a bottle of red blend for the red wine drinkers. The wine is big and rich, perfect for a feast. And pick up a bottle of Riesling for your husband. Bonneville Riesling is not sweet, but off dry and works well with food. I hope this is helpful. You should be able to buy it at any boutique wine shop in your area, probably not the chain food stores though.

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