I wrote about Kevin White Winery’s origin story in 2012 when the winery’s inaugural wine was released. Since that time, the Kevin White wines have consistently been among the highest quality Rhône-style wines in Washington. Even better, they have some of the best quality-to-price ratios.

Kevin White Winery introduced its ‘Blue Label’ wine with the 2014 vintage. It comes from declassified barrels from the winery’s regular fruit sources. Though never specified, they likely include some of the very best vineyards in the state: Boushey, Upland, Olsen, and others.

Why are these barrels being declassified given their exceptional pedigree? They didn’t quite fit stylistically into the wines they were intended for. However, as we have seen with some other wineries that have similar programs, this by no means indicates that the wine is of significantly lesser quality. As a result, at $22, Kevin White’s ‘Blue Label’ wine is consistently the best value red wine in Washington.

But here’s the catch. The wine sells out almost immediately. The word has long been out with consumers and retailers, and they feast by the case (or the pallet) the moment the wine is released. Hence, it’s typically gone in days to weeks.

Given that, I’m publishing my review on the new 2022 ‘Blue Label’ Red Wine independently as an “emergency wine review” rather than wait to include it in the next set of reviews. In some years, the wine has sold out just that quickly.

Without further ado.

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