Winner of the Open That Bottle Contest

Begun in 1998, Open That Bottle Night is a call to open that special bottle with friends and share the experience, instead of letting it continue to sit in the cellar. We’ve decided to get into the spirit by holding a drawing from participants who submitted pictures of their Williamson wines and a short description as to why they decided to Open That Bottle. We received some lovely entries and we put the names into a wine spittoon and drew out the winner,
…Lisa Shaffer!

Lisa wins the wine-rrific gift basket, valued at $140.

Congratulation Lisa! Thank you for this fabulous picture, you can pick up your gift basket prize at the tasting room at your convenience.
Lisa had this to say about her favorite bottle: “We love this bottle of Last Drop and opened it because it is unique and we know they won’t be able to ever make it again the same. Terry and I really enjoyed it and it pairs well with lasagna!  It rates best in a Williamson glass.”

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We were blown away by everyone who entered the contest. Many of the entries truly touched our hearts. We would like to gift a bottle of our delicious 2020 Dry Rosé to our honorable mentions seen below. Cheers!


Richard & Trudy Jackson
Stacy Irwin

Renee & Steve VanAtter
Margie & David Wilkins

Multi-colored background with the words, Staff Member Spotlight

Saying Goodbye to Steve

Our wine club members and regulars might recognize this dapper fellow. Steve Steidel has been a fixture in our tasting room and the friendly face behind our local deliveries for 5 years.
February 23rd marked his last day with Williamson Orchards and Vineyards and we are all going to miss him. While no one will be able to tell “dad jokes” quite like Steve, we wish him all the best on this next chapter of life.
Steve has big plans to travel more and play a lot more golf in his retirement. One of his bucket list items was to work at a golf course in retirement. So if you see this funny fellow out on the greens be sure to give him a “cheers” from us.

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?

 

 

Lilly White 3-Pack Promo

The Williamson family owes a lot to Lillian Williamson Gammon.
If she hadn’t braved leaving her home in Virginia to trek across country and settle along the sunny slopes of Idaho, our family farm would not exist. Lilly was the original homesteader, she worked hard and carved a place for our family. She was a shining example to the women who followed her, she showed us that you could persevere through hard times and still let your happiness and sense of fun shine through in every smile.

To celebrate Women’s History Month we want to share a little bit of Lilly’s spirit.
The Lilly White label is our way to honor our ancestor who came before us. The 2021 vintage is a blend of 60% Viognier, 30% Riesling, and 10% Albariño which result in aromas of citrus & rose petals, grapefruit and lemon. Bright flavors of orange, light apricot, mild nectarine, orange peel, with a pineapple finish make this delightful wine feel refreshing no matter the season. This wine has a soft and lush mouth feel with balanced acids and lingers with an intriguing minerality.

This March we encourage you to toast the women in your history with a glass of Lilly White!

3 – Pack Promo – Lilly White

General Public – $49 (15% savings)
Wine Club – $46 (20% savings)

Plus appropriate taxes
This promo runs March 8 – 26th. No other discounts apply. 

Open That Bottle Night – Photo Contest

Take the spirit of this oenophile opportunity one step farther and enter our
Open That Bottle Photo Contest!

Williamson Vineyards wine club members and followers will be eligible to win a wine-rrific gift basket, valued at $140, when they submit a photo of themselves opening a bottle of Williamson wine along with a description of why that bottle was special. Williamson wine enthusiasts can submit by emailing their photo and description to wine@willorch.com. The Open That Bottle Photo Contest* will start Feb 25th and the deadline to submit your photo and description will be Saturday, March 4th. We will announce the winner March 10th.

*By entering your photo in the Open That Bottle Photo Contest you are agreeing to having your photo shared on Williamson Vineyards website, newsletter and social media platforms. 

Mom’s Weekend at Williamson’s- Vendors Wanted

May 13 & 14
12 – 5pm

We are looking for local artists, makers, and crafters who would like to set up a booth during our Mom’s Weekend at Williamson’s event. Due to limited space and to ensure diversity in wares, this is a juried craft show. All arts and crafts sold at the Mom’s Weekend at Williamson’s must be an individual’s creative effort and sold by the artist or a representative thereof. Preference will be given to vendors who can attend both days.

More information can be found on our vendor application, which can be found here: Vendor Application 2023 – Mother’s Day online form   Please email us at wine@willorch.com if you want more information or have questions.

A Perfect Pairing Gift Set

Show you care with the perfect pairing…wine and chocolate!
Select two bottles of Williamson wine, add a jar of Sweet Leesa’s specialty berry and chocolate bark. We’ll even include a hand written, heart-shaped sentiment! 

And to show you our love, we are giving you 20% off the wine and chocolate in this gift set.

Build your Perfect Pairing with these wines:
2020 Henry’s Red – regularly $33.60
2019 Last Drop – regularly $28.00
2021 Lilly White – regularly $19.20
2021 Blossom – regularly $19.00
Gift sets range from $45 – $69 depending on your wine combo.

No other discounts apply to this gift set. We can take pre-orders now but these delicious gift sets will be available to pick up starting February 8, 2023. You can order through our webstore or call the tasting room at 208.459.7333.

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Winter Comfort Starter Kit

The winter doldrums can affect even the most cheerful folks. So remember that sometimes we have to make a little extra effort to bump ourselves out of this cold weather funk.

Making your own mulled wine is a calming experience for all the senses. The bright aromas of wine and winter spices will make your home feel cozy. The slightly warmed wine will ease your aches and the spicy flavor will sooth away the stress of your day.  

All you need to do is pick your two favorite bottles from our select lineup of red wines and you will get a free packet of classic, mulled wine spices.
(Mulled wine spice packet valued at $6.)We have curated a short list of Williamson wines that make a delicious mulled wine:
2019 Last Drop
2019 Cabernet
2020 Henry’s Red

 Head to our webstore to order your own Winter Starter Kit. Or better yet shake things up and visit the tasting room for something soothing.
This promotion is available Jan. 6 thru Jan. 31. Wine club discounts do apply. Cannot be combined with other discounts.

If you have any questions, please contact us via phone (208.459.7333) or email. 

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