75+ wines reviewed below, including the latest from Avennia, Board Track Racer, Boomtown by Dusted Valley, Cameron Hughes, Canvasback, Convergence Zone, Cowhorn, Dunham, Dusted Valley, Lavinea, Lydian, Mark Ryan, Privé, Roco, Saginaw, Sealionne, Sightglass, Sokol Blosser, and Soos Creek.

I’ve long felt that Washington can, and needs, to make inroads in wines priced $25-$35. My thinking is as follows.

It’s extremely difficult for small Washington wineries to compete, in terms of red wines, under $20. The $25-35 price range is, however, also bit of a no man’s land in Washington for reds. Yes, there are producers who make wines in this price range, in some cases really good wines. However, they are more the exception than the rule.

Unfortunately for consumers, this means they often need to try wines $40 and up to really see what Washington has to offer. It is a lot to ask people to spend $40 or more for a wine region with which they are completely unfamiliar with. It also cuts out 95% of wine consumers.

So I was delighted to see a number of high quality wines in the $25-35 range in this set of reviews. Mark Ryan is killing it with their Board Track Racer wines, offering terrific quality and value. Delicious Washington Cabernet for $25? Yes please. Red Mountain Malbec for $28? Absolutely. The Mark Ryan Monkey Wrench is also becoming a benchmark quality-to-price ratio wine for Washington at $35. Of note, Mark Ryan recently opened a tasting room in Woodinville for its Board Track Racer, Underground Wine Project, and Numbskull wines.

Lydian, meanwhile, is a side project from the folks at Avennia. The winery uses declassified fruit from the Avennia program blended with top quality sourced wine. The result is a portfolio of wines that punches well above its weight and retails from $18 (white) to $25 (red). The Lydian wines consistently stand out.

David Larsen at Soos Creek, meanwhile, has made a career of offering exceptionally well-priced wines. The value in every bottle of Soos Creek wine is outrageous. There’s also the Dunham Trutina ($32) and a several tasty wines from Richland’s Convergence Zone in the $25-$35 price bracket below.

Now, of course, producing a $25 of Washington red wine can present some challenges for small wineries as well. Additionally, many of the wines in this price bracket tend to be micro-produced. But some are not and some even see national distribution. Wines like this make for a much lower barrier to entry for showing people what Washington has to offer.

NB: You can actually buy the wine bottle Christmas tree pictured above for $180 (!). Bottles not included. No, I do not receive a percentage of sales.

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At Northwest Wine Report, all scores come from blind tastings in varietal/style sets. Read more about this site’s process for rating and reviewing wines. See Northwest Wine Report rating system and special designations. Read about how to interpret scores. See a list of recently reviewed producers.

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