Clearwater Canyon Cellars Blog

     We just won FIVE Double Platinum & Platinum Awards! Eric Degerman, moderator of the Platinum judging, recently congratulated us and commented, “I believe that is an unprecedented batting average for that many qualifiers.” We entered 5 wines and 5 were awarded Double Platinum or Platinum! There were only 4 wineries in the entire northwest (ID, WA, OR, BC) that won more than 5 platinums but none that could match our batting average!      The following is a list of our Platinum award winners and their qualifying gold medals. All but one are still available for purchase until…

Andy Perdue of Great Northwest Wine has rolled out his ‘Top 50 Regional Wines of 2016’ in The Seattle Times. For the third year in a row our Carmenère has made the list! It made #11! It’s great to see how many other Carmenères made the list. The quality of this wine starts in the vineyard! We truly believe that the best Carmenère is being grown at Phinny Hill Vineyard by the Beightol family and their amazing team. To our dear friend, Andy Perdue: stay strong and get better, buddy! Thank you for being such a great supporter for Idaho…

Are you stressing out about which wines you should serve with Thanksgiving dinner?  Well, Andy Perdue and Eric Degerman of Great Northwest Wine are helping you out this holiday season with some great ideas for wines to pair with your meal.  One of which is our 2014 Malbec, which just received a Gold medal at the Great Northwest Wine Invitational last month and was named ‘Best Malbec’ at the competition of nearly 600 wines that is the sole ‘invite only’ wine competition in the US. Pairing-wise, our Malbec goes great with cranberry sauce and stuffing!  The dark fruit character of…

Our wines will be featured at the 10th Annual Eagle Food & Wine Festival on Saturday, September 24th at the BanBury Golf Course in Eagle, Idaho. This event is benefitting the Idaho and Utah chapters of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Eagle Community Food Bank. Tickets are just $45! This event will feature local restaurants, wineries and also 10 Barrel Brewing Company. All wines will be paired with culinary delights from local chefs. Clearwater Canyon wines will be paired with hors d’ oeuvres from Jakers Bar & Grill. To find out more information and to purchase tickets, click here!

Our 2014 vintage is proving to be a winner! Great Northwest Wine recently reviewed and rated our 2014 Renaissance Red and 2014 Estate Syrah. They both received the Outstanding! rating, the highest rating given at Great Northwest Wine. Both of these wines are produced from Lewis-Clark Valley grown grapes. Great Northwest Wine has always been a huge supporter of Idaho wines. In an industry that has been so skeptical of Idaho wine, they have always helped prove the naysayers wrong! To read their review on 2014 Renaissance Red, click here. To read their review on 2014 Estate Syrah, click here….

There are so many exciting things happening right now at Clearwater Canyon! I’ll tell you a little story about one of those things… Back in May we decided to enter a couple of wines in a little wine competition called the San Francisco International Wine Competition. This competition is the largest and most prestigious international wine competition in the United States. We chose to enter our 2014 Phinny Hill Carmenère and our 2013 Selway. About a month later we were given unexpected news: Our Carmenère received a Silver medal and our Selway received a Double Gold! What’s the difference between…

Hello everyone! The Port of Lewiston is undergoing road construction at the moment. If you would like to visit us at the winery before we move up to Umiker Vineyard, here are the directions: Turn at the stoplight at 3rd Ave N (heading west) Continue on 3rd Ave N Turn right on 15th St N Then turn right onto 6th Ave N Drive around the ‘road closed’ sign and you will be at the winery!

We are featured in the current issue of Good Fruit Grower magazine! It is one of the best articles written to date about our new Lewis-Clark Valley AVA. It includes interviews with Coco and Karl, Jim Arnett (of Arnett Vineyards), and Alan Busacca, geologist author of our AVA petition. Good Fruit Grower is one of the most highly regarded magazines read by grape growers and enthusiasts alike. The full article is available to read here.

Our wines were featured in the June issue of Rand Sealey’s Review of Washington Wines!  Although we are an Idaho winery, our grapes are grown in both Idaho and Washington.  Below are the reviews that Rand did on some of our Spring releases.  The rest of our Spring releases will be featured in the July issue.  To subscribe to the Rand Sealey’s Review of Washington Wines, click here. From the Newest AVA:  Clearwater Canyon Cellars On May 20, the Lewis-Clark Valley became Idaho and Washington’s newest American Viticultural Area (AVA). The 306,658-acre AVA straddles the Washington-Idaho border, comprising an area surrounding Lewiston,…

Come and enjoy an evening with us June 9th at Richard’s Cafe Vicino in Boise!  James Beard Nominated Chef Richard Langston has created a menu of delicious courses to pair with our newly released wines. Menu 2015 Lochsa: Smoked Idaho sturgeon with lemon gastrique, Idaho Caviar cream 2014 Merlot: Local greens, La Quercia Coppa (lardons), Local cherries, goat cheese dressing 2014 Carmenere: Lamb meatballs spiced with coriander on local heirloom polenta topped with salsa Verde 2014 Petite Syrah: Soy and brown sugar glazed pork belly with roasted sesame carrots 2014 Malbec: Fresh local berries with prosecco zabaglione Price: $125.00 ~ Call Cafe…