The Northwest Wine Guide: A Buyer's Handbook

This petite paperback easily fits into a purse or on the car dashboard for wine-tasting trips, and just as easily on the bookshelf for quick reference. It's concise and informative, including addresses and phone numbers of wineries - great for when you're lost on a wine country road, searching for a hidden tasting room, or when you just need to find out the winery's hours of operation. It also offers a quick glance at specific, highly rated wines and specialties from each winery. The book's only unavoidable fault is that it's slightly outdated. Since it was published in 2003, hundreds of new wineries have popped up around the Northwest, and some older ones have moved, closed or changed phone numbers. Overall, though, it's an excellent guide, especially to the older, more established wineries of the Pacific Northwest.

Just spent a wonderful week in the Okanogan Valley of British Columbia visiting the numerous wineries of this region. We had purchased Andy's book prior to leaving. By reading about all the wineries available we were able to map out how to visit as many as possible in our short visit. This book provided us with a brief description of the winery, the varieties of wine they produce, and the ones to look for. Although there are no years listed for the different varieties, one does get a good idea of what to expect. Some of the descriptions were what led us directly to the winery...For example, we had to visit Hawthorne Vineyards to try their "knee buckling" ice wine and boy was it. Lang Vineyard's Merlot Icewine was listed as a "do not miss" and one shouldn't. The price, of the ice wine, was expensive but worth every drop! I had never heard of a variety of grapes called Kerner but when reading about Hillside Vineyards I knew I had to try...excellent choice. Andy's book gave us a much better insight on the many vineyards in the Okanogan Valley; from Oliver to Kelowna, all were listed. We kept the book with us as we visited each winery and even let the staff from the various wineries read what was written about them. Many had never heard of the book and were quite amazed to know they had been recognized. This opened the door to many a good conversation about the book and the various wineries. My only complaints about the books are that there is no room to write notes about each winery and the lack of recommended vintage years. A map of each area might also be a valuable asset. I would definitely recommend this book to others and plan on using it many, many times in the future as I visit other wineries in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho

To paraphrase an old expression, "Go Northwest, young man and woman!" Indeed today many are turning to the Northwest, searching for and finding some of the planet's best wines. This book, authored by Andy Perdue in down-to-earth, easy-to-understand language, will entice you to trek to the Northwest or at least seek out Northwest wines at your local wine shop or market. Filled with tips and terminology, food pairings and bargains, this guide offers an extensive wealth of information on wineries located in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia. Wine producers from the offbeat to the sublime will be found here. Each winery is described, along with it's best bets wines. Addresses, physical and many websites, are included. If looking for a myriad of merlots, a plethora of pinots and much more from this esteemed region, I highly recommend this book as your ultimate source.

As a lover of northwest wines, this is the consummate sourcebook. Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia, they're all here. A perfect book to keep in your glove box so it's handy as you venture into your favorite wine store, or if you're lucky enough to be in the northwest in wine country itself. Living in Wisconsin, this guide is truly a blessing as I know beforehand which wines to buy from my favorite merchants or online wine stores. True, sipping and swirling all the wines Andy writes about would be a joy in itself, but since that is not possible for most of us, reading which merlot, cab, pinot, chard, sauv blanc, gewurtz, etc. hits the target in his expert opinion from any of the many northwest wineries makes me confident in my purchase. If Andy would like an assistant for the second edition, I gladly volunteer.