Clearwater Canyon Cellars Blog

Umiker Vineyard Update

August 8, 2024

Moving forward after harsh winter weather The day the vineyard froze; this photo was initially taken to display the beautiful white blanketacross our vineyard, not knowing what was to come that evening. During a mid-winter freeze in January, our vineyard suffered unprecedented damage.  Temperatures dipped to -12°F and failed to rise above 0°F for over 50 hours, which is too cold for too long for the exposed woody parts of vines.  Fortunately, 6 inches of snow on the ground provided a blanket of warmth for the roots.  This bitter cold snap caused significant damage to vine wood above the snow line.  Our spring months were spent cutting the…

Double-gold Medal, Best of Class, and Best of Show for Clearwater Canyon’s 2021 Albariño

January 20, 2023

Our 2021 Albariño grapes, from the Crawford Vineyard in central Washington, saw a number of “firsts”.  They were the first fruit harvested, producing the first finished wine of that vintage and of Coco and Karl’s parenthood.  Then, Clearwater Canyon’s 2021 Albariño went on to win a double-gold medal, Best of Class, AND Best of Show at the 10th Annual Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition in Hood River, Oregon in October.  This was the first time one of our wines won Best of Show!  From Eric Degerman’s article, on Great Northwest Wine’s webpage, ““That was the first vintage that Stella helped…

Clearwater Canyon flagship wine triumphs – ties for top red wine!

August 3, 2022

Almost 500 wines from 103 Northwest wineries were recently judged over a four-day period in July at the Bellingham Northwest Wine Competition.  The judging panel was composed of by a diverse group of professionals, all involved in the wine industry.  From winemakers to educators and retailers to sommeliers, they blind tasted and scored wines from some very well-known wineries, as well as a few wines from up-and-coming winemakers from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. We are excited to announce that our 2020 Renaissance Red took home a Double Gold, a score of 97 points, AND tied for highest rated red wine…

Clearwater Canyon Cellars tops the 2021 Platinum Awards

April 1, 2022

After being named 2020 Northwest Winery of the Year we felt many eyes watching to see how we would uphold this distinction at the Platinum competition at the end of 2021. To our surprise we secured 9 Platinum Awards, the most awarded to any winery in 2021 and a record haul for Clearwater Canyon Cellars. We have competed for the past 9 consecutive years of the 22 years of the Platinum Awards competition. In that relatively short time, we have scaled the all-time Platinum leaderboard and secured the #6 spot! We are thrilled to be hanging closely with wineries we…

After almost two years, Clearwater Canyon has finally received the award for 2020 Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year!

January 11, 2022

Although, we were named Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year in 2020, we finally received the award in-person!

Enthusiast Club Dinner in the Cellar January 2022

December 9, 2021

2022 Enthusiast Club dinner! Come celebrate the 18th year of Clearwater Canyon Cellars! Dinner will be featured on multiple nights the last two weekends in January. Make your reservation today!

Fall Release 2021

October 28, 2021

Fall Release has arrived at Clearwater Canyon Cellars, and we are excited to share our 8 new wines! Fall Release will be through two weekends, November 11th – November 14th and December 2nd – December 5th. There will be a special release in Boise held on November 18th as well!

Platinum /plat-i-num/: highest medal awarded in the PNW!

January 2, 2021

The Wine Press Northwest Platinum Judging is the Super Bowl of Northwest wine competitions. Held at the end of each year, wines qualify for The Platinum Judging by earning a gold medal in a reputable regional, national or international wine competition during the yearlong run-up. It is an honor for a wine to even be invited to the Platinum Judging. At the Platinum Judging, leading wine professionals gather for the intense task of blind tasting through a delicious lineup to determine which wines are deserving of the coveted PLATINUM award. Over the course of several days, the judges observe, smell,…

Say ‘Sayonara!’ to Summer

September 22, 2020

Even though you can drink Albarino anytime (seriously, try it for breakfast with your Sunday lox & bagel), why not celebrate the end of this outrageously long summer by poppin’ a bottle of our 2019 Albarino and pairing it with some delicious fish tacos?! Simple Summer Fish TacosServes 3-4 people Prepping the fish2 lbs sturdy white fish (Cod works great, halibut even better!)1 Tablespoon vegetable or canola oil1 Tablespoon granulated garlic1 Tablespoon onion powder1 teaspoon salt½ teaspoon black pepper Insider Secret – We found this bottle of Smokey Oil Sauce at La Laguna Mexican restaurant in Joseph, OR and haven’t been able…

Enthusiast Club Curbside Dinner Experience

July 21, 2020

We invite all wine club members to join us for a Curbside Dining Experience August 1st, 2020! Those living in our local community can pickup (July 31st or August 1st) a ‘Curbside Dinner for Two’ at the winery along with our wine pairing suggestions and ZOOM link. On August 1st we plan to dress up in our ‘fancy clothes’, set a table in our yard, light candles and share this with anyone who wants to join via ZOOM! For those living far afield you can RSVP here, we’ll send you the August 1st ZOOM link and recipes so that you…

Selway Blending Trials

April 4, 2020

Blending trials have been consuming Coco’s days! To put a spin on things we made a video of us working on the 2018 Selway blend. We finally nailed it in the end but it took a few more trials like this one. Now you know how we do it and why Karl is so strong! Thank you everyone for supporting our curbside pickup and shipping services! Cheers! Coco

Gift cards for wine lovers!

December 7, 2019

‘Tis the season for giving!  Are you struggling to decide what to give to the wine loving person (or people) in your life for the upcoming holiday? Look no further!  Clearwater Canyon has gift cards that can be loaded with any dollar amount. Gift cards can be purchased by calling the winery (208-816-4679) or visiting the winery on any Friday or Saturday from 12-5pm and by appointment.  To schedule a time to come by outside of our weekend hours, call us at 208-816-4679.  Live out of town?  No problem!  Call us and we can arrange to mail it to you…