2020 Sangiovese takes Platinum!

Sip Magazine has hosted their 12th annual Best of Northwest wine competition. They place an open call for submissions put out to wineries of all sizes across the Pacific Northwest with an impressive 665 wines sent in this year. These submissions underwent blind tastings, meticulously evaluated by a distinguished panel of judges comprised of sommeliers, wine buyers, journalists and industry professionals. The top four medalists (platinum, double gold, gold, and silver) and Judges’ picks were selected for each respective wine category.Bottle of Sangiovese wine with glasses behind

We’re proud to announce that Williamson Vineyards 2020 Sangiovese received the highest award for a Sangiovese this year. Full article can be found here: Sip Magazine BEST OF THE NORTHWEST WINE AWARDS

Emerging American Wine Regions and climate challenges – VinePair

A freelance writer named Shana Clark spoke with Beverly, Patrick, and Mike about what grows well in the Snake River Valley AVA. She then wrote an article for VinePair, an online wine magazine. Her article touched on how terroir can affect the grapes grown in a particular region. She spoke with several wine makers in the Snake River Valley AVA and winemakers in Arizona about the challenges of climate and grape varieties.  You can read the full article here: For Emerging American Wine Regions, Can Trends Trump Terroir?

 

 

2023 Harvest Wrap up

grapes on grapevines with yellow leaves, backlight by sunlight

With roughly 310 tons of grapes, this was our largest grape harvest ever to date!! We experienced a compressed harvest, meaning that there was a lot of grapes to harvest and everything became ripe and ready to pick, basically at the same time. This compressed harvest was caused by a cool, wet spring that delayed bud break by 10 – 14 days. The vineyards were delayed again when we had 20 days of temperatures over 100°, causing the vines to go into “survival mode” versus expending energy to ripen.

This year also marks the latest start date to harvest on our records. Luckily, the weather held through the end of October. We didn’t feel a killing frost until end of October but this was late enough and it stayed cold enough that it helped to dehydrate the grapes and concentrate the sugars in the grape berries.

Since everything was ready to pick all at once, we ended up machine picking all our white grapes, something we have never done before. We are excited to see how this will translate into the glass. Especially the Grüner Veltliner, which will hopefully be ready to bottle by June or July of 2023. We will also be patiently waiting to see how a few red grapes will do. The 2022 vintage will be a first for our Petite Verdot and Tempranillo, but we will have to patiently wait until spring or summer of 2024 for these wines.

Cheers and Happy Sipping!

Women in Wine article with Beverly

Beverly had the opportunity to visit with Paige Comrie this summer. Paige is a wine lover with a passion to connect other wine lovers with great wines from across the world. She choses wines that range from delicious & affordable Tuesday night picks to high-end limited edition releases that are truly something to celebrate. She wants to share not just the wines with her followers but the stories of the folks that make those wines.

Find the entire article here: Women in Wine: Beverly Williamson


one bottle red wine and one bottle white wine next to wine barrel

Idaho Wine Competition 2022

We are thrilled to have two of our favorite wines as gold medal winners at this year’s Idaho Wine Competition. If you haven’t had the opportunity to taste our Sangiovese and Albariño, what are you waiting for?

one bottle white wine and one bottle red wine against a tree backdrop

2021 Albariño won Double Gold and our 2019 Sangiovese won a Gold. Check out more detail at our webstore here: Williamson Vineyards wine shop

If you’re interested in more  information about this year’s Idaho Wine Competition, head over to their website here: Idaho Wine Competition

Available for purchase in our tasting room or via our webstore. Psst! Wine club members – remember to sign into your account to receive your special discount.

Yummy Quick Pizza Bites

Why not put that amazing air fryer you have to good use by making a crispy and delightful treat? We think pizza is a food group all on its own and deserves to be eaten as a snack, appetizer, or dinner. Use this recipe as a template and substitute your favorite pizza toppings. Pineapple & ham would be delicious paired with Albariño, Riesling, or Harvest Moon Red. Maybe you have a bottle of Cabernet or Homestead Red, then make your topping pepperoni. Have fun and explore some new wine and pizza pairings. Cheers!

Air Fryer Pizza Bites

  • 2 sheets frozen puff pastry- thawed overnight in refrigerator
  • 1/4 cup pizza sauce (more to taste, but not enough to be soggy)
  • 3.5 oz. shredded ham
  • 8 oz. can pineapple chunks in juice, well drained
  • 2/3 cup shredded pizza cheese
  • Quantities are guidelines, you might want more or less of each ingredient.

Preheat your airfryer to 350°F. Spray the basket of your air fryer with non stick cooking spray. Use a 3in. round cutter to cut 9 discs from each pastry sheet. Or  if you don’t want to waste any pastry, cut into small squares with a sharp knife. Place on prepared basket/tray. Spread evenly with pizza sauce. Top with ham, pineapple and cheese.

Bake for 10 – 15 mins or until cheese melts and base is crisp.

Pro Tip: make sure all your topping ingredients are already cooked before putting them on the puff pastry to prevent a soggy crust.
Enjoy!

Alaska Airlines lets Idaho Wine Fly Free

Great deal for taking wine on Alaska Airlines


The Idaho Wine Commission has brokered a terrific partnership with Alaska Airlines. You may have heard that Alaska Airlines has agreed to allow their Mileage Plan™ members, to check a case of Idaho wines at no additional cost.

They have now added another bonus which Williamson Vineyards is participating in:

When consumers show their Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan membership and in-bound boarding pass (paper or digital) to winery tasting room staff, they receive one complimentary tasting at that location.
The Idaho Wine Commission has more details, click here.

Grapevines Sleeping Sweetly

Harvest is over and the weather has been cooperative so that our vines have safely gone to sleep, to rest and get ready for the next growing season. Our vineyard guys have been busy getting all the harvest paraphernalia put away for another year.

While the leaves where still green on our vines this fall, they where sending valuable carbohydrates into the woody trunk and roots as fuel to get the vines through the quiet winter months. This reserve is essential to keep the vines fed until they wake from their winter sleep and send leaves out to allow photosynthesis to generate the spring growth to begin another year.

Sleep well, little vines and we’ll see you mid-winter for a bit of trimming.

Vineyard Update – November 2021

Vineyard Update

In the vineyards, we have our crews working to prep the vineyards for winter. This means planting our cover crop, taking down any bird nets left from harvest, and checking (and if necessary) repairing the trellis wire to be ready for the pre-pruning machine in January. Plus any other last minute cleanup that we need to finish before the snow flies.

Our crews have worked hard this year, putting in long hours to get all the work done before the freezing temps move in to put the vines to sleep for another year.

Cheers!

Mike & Patrick Williamson
The Vineyard Guys

Christmas 2021 Case Sale

Christmas Case Sale

Giving a bottle of wine from your local winery is a perfect gift for so many people and occasions around the holidays. So get in on our annual Christmas Case Sale!

Make your holidays merry when you build a case of your favorite wines at 20% off!
Wine Club members save 30% off their cases!

This promotion is valid 11/26/2021 – 12/12/2021.

As an added bonus for your gift giving, we offer local delivery for purchases of 6 bottles or more.
Our delivery range includes Boise, Garden City, Star, Eagle, Meridian, Middleton, Caldwell, Nampa, Kuna, Homedale and Marsing. If you are outside of these towns, get ahold of us (208.459.7333 or email) and we’ll see what we can do. Please keep in mind that someone over 21 years of age must receive the wine. Idaho State Police will not allow us to leave unattended alcohol on your doorstep.

We can ship too! Check with us to verify which states are available to us.

“Wine Club only” wine limitations still apply. Excludes – Library wines.
No other discounts apply.