Perhaps no wine judging in the Pacific Northwest requires as much of its judges as the Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition, but many of the region’s most influential wine buyers return each year to taste at the historic Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, Ore.

“The Invite,” in its seventh year, will be remembered for the domination of the Alexandria Nicole Cellars 2018 Shepherds Mark White Wine, a beautiful and fascinating blend of roussanne, marsanne and viognier. Of the 17 judges who voted on the best-of-show round, all but one raised a hand for the wine produced with grape varieties native to the Rhône Valley in France. Read the entire article on the Yakima Herald