Weekend Wine

Hedges Family Estate operates in the wild west winemaking region of Washington known as Red Mountain.

Keep those two words – Red Mountain – in mind when you're thinking about buying a great bottle of American wine. The AVA is uniquely suited to show the abilities of American winemakers to compete with their cohorts in Bordeaux.

The winery has been in business just over 30 years and it is truly a family winery. Tom and Anne-Marie Hedges are the primary owners, daughter Sarah Hedges Goedhart is the winemaker, and son Christophe is the GM. They also own the CMS label, which makes some of the best cheap red wines in Washington. That label uses grapes from the Columbia Valley, a superb source itself. But it is their more expensive examples from the family’s Red Mountain estate that really light up a dinner table.

Their Red Mountain blend ($29) offers big dark berry flavors along with an unexpected hit of acidity that would make it an ideal match with over-the-top dinner menus during the holiday season. It would match beautifully with a ham or a highly flavored fish like mackerel or lingcod. If you want to save some money but still get an idea of the Hedges family’s way with wine, their CMS red wine ($13) is a proper introduction.

Finally, regarding those fish recommendations, pardon the commercial push, but please, always check with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch app. The application is free, I have no connection whatsoever with their system other than an abiding respect for what they do, and by doing so, you may help save the planet.