Friday Find October 11th

Each Friday we highlight a wine from the Northwest that we think is a real "find." By find we might mean that it's a steal, as all of these wines we'll feature weekly are at or under $20. We might also mean "Hey, you really need to go find this" and it might be a wine that we feel not enough people know about. In any case, with the weekend pending we're hoping to help you "find" a wine to kickoff the weekend right. We'll tell you a little bit about the wine and try to help you track it down here in the Northwest.

Shutdown got ya down? I have committed to keeping the pages of the Anthem free of politics but there's no denying that Shutdown 2013 is a real drag. Rather than point fingers at who's to blame let's look at some of the impacts.

There's no zoo for the kids in D.C. to visit, the same goes for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. This shutdown is for the birds.  Speaking of birds you might have heard that there was a salmonella scare lately. Here's the thing, the CDC was closed down by the government shutdown so there's really no one to track this to a potential source. The good news is that common sense has prevailed and the sleuths at the CDC are able to come back to work.

The National Parks are closed, and in some cases that's effective, while in others people are just jumping over barricades. Good news for those of you worried about your congressman or woman's fitness level, their gym and health club remains open during the government shutdown, for some reason. Interestingly enough there's a subway system that takes members of Congress from their offices to the Capitol Building, it's a short walk and only a 30 second train ride. That subway system is still opened, maintained and fully staffed. It's essential apparently. What's odd? Congress has deemed non-essential toxic waste clean-up. Clean up by the EPA has been suspended at over 500 locations.

Bizarro world.

This week's Friday Find is deemed essential in terms of delivering value and consistency, the 2011 Stateline Red from Walla Walla's Gifford Hirlinger winery. The State Line Red is named for the State Line Road that the winery is located on, This is their food in the door, kitchen sink red blend. The cool 2011 vintage shows up with lots of lighter red berries. You'll also pick up an oak influence, so make those dusty red berries. The wine is velveteen and finishes to a bit of spice. For $16 from a small family owned winery you can feel good supporting the local guy, the little guy and make this a go to weeknight wine to pair with your heartier meals. I picked mine up at the Magnolia Metropolitan Market.