grapes

The magical fruit.

Give the gift of Port Angeles Washington wines this holiday. Offer them as gifts to friends and family, bring them to dinners, and serve them at your table.

Try Black Diamond Winery‘s Shiro Plum, featuring plums from their own private orchard. Talk about local. This dry fruit wine is produced from start to finish in Port Angeles, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

Try the 2002 Grâce from Camaraderie Cellars. It combines grapes from Fred Artz’ vineyard on Red Mountain, Paul Champoux at Mercer Ranch, and Len Parris at Chandler Reach; the Malbec comes from Crawford Vineyard in Prosser. All these bits of Washington State have been blended to create a wine that has won several international awards, including a Double Gold at the San Francisco International Competition. Drink it now or in years to come.

This month’s featured wines at Harbinger Winery are the 2007 Syrah and the 2007 Malbec. The Syrah is big and bold, with hints of leather and licorice and wonderfully deep, fruity aromas. The Malbec has a lovely backbone of tannins and acidity, balanced by ripe berries.

The wines at Olympic Cellars have been made from Eastern Washington’s Sagemore Farms’ and Champoux Vineyards’ grapes for 25 years. There are now three different labels produced at Olympic Cellars: Working Girl, award-winning but affordable; La Dolce Vida, five varietals of premium wine produced in small batches; and Dungeness, a heritage and artist series.

Offer these Washington State wines as gifts this year. They’ll be much appreciated.