![Woman pouring red wine into a glass](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2024/04/2024summer-taste-merry-thumb-198x198.jpg)
Viticulture / Enology / Wine
![Woman pouring red wine into a glass](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2024/04/2024summer-taste-merry-thumb-198x198.jpg)
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Wine and salmon pairings
![WSU Cougar head logo made of wine bottle corks](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2023/04/2023summer-cougswine-thumb-198x198.gif)
Cougs + wine
![alumni tour photo](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2023/04/2023summer-spain-tour-thumb-198x198.jpg)
A tour of Spain with Cougar winemakers
When the former executive director of the Washington State University Alumni Association asked Melanie Krause (’00 Spanish, Biol.) and Joe Schnerr (’99 Chem.), founders of Cinder Wines in Garden City, Idaho, near Boise, to design a trip for WSU alumni through northern Spain, they didn’t hesitate.
Not only are they proud Cougs, they’ve already visited the Rioja region, which “grows a lot of tempranillo, one of our focus grapes at Cinder. It’s also close to Basque country, and Boise has a lot of Basque descendants, so it’s a good fit for us on several levels,” says Krause, who “picked out beautiful coastal parts of Basque … » More …
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Cougar X winemaker Cameron Rushton (and his wine tasting tips)
Cameron Rushton is happy to sip other winemakers’ whites. But when it comes to crafting his own wine, he sticks to his specialty: robust reds.
Rushton (’10 Hort.), co-owner and assistant winemaker at Five Star Cellars in Walla Walla and creator of Cougar X, makes the wines he especially enjoys pairing with a juicy steak. Cabernet franc tops his list of varietals. Merlot is right up there, too. He also likes tempranillo, malbec, and sangiovese—big, bold, highly ageable reds.
“I don’t make a lot of white,” he says. “I’d rather drink everybody else’s”—Poet’s Leap by Long Shadows Vintners, for example. “I … » More …
![Samantha Hege and Colton Smith with the last tub going into a 2020 Petite Sirah from Cocavin Vineyards in Paso Robles.](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2022/01/2022spring-history-winemaking-thumb-198x198.jpg)
History in the (wine)making
![Sager Small, Darcey Fugman-Small, Rick Small, and Jordan Dunn-Small in a Woodward Canyon vineyard](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2021/04/2021summer-woodward-canyon-thumb-198x198.jpg)
Passing it on
![Mercer Estates staff raise their wine](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2020/07/2020fall-heaven-so-fine-thumb-198x198.jpg)
Heaven so fine
![Coco Umiker](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2020/04/2020summer-new-terroir-thumb-198x198.jpg)
A new terroir
![](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2019/08/2019fall-return-to-red-mountain-thumb-198x198.jpg)