Cave B on the Columbia Valley Gorge was our first stop on our drive from Seattle to Walla Walla. There, we enjoyed the view (wow!) and sampled wines from 15 different wineries which are making wines from the Columbia Valley. Highlights on this tasting follows.
We then drove about 2 hours to Prosser’s Milbrandt Winery for a delightful tasting of wines from Yakima Valley producers and vintners. Live music and food which they grilled right then and there. More highlights on that too.
We closed the day and our driving at Walla Walla Vinters where they made us feel just like family and right at home for a casual home made pizza and wine sunset dinner in the vineyard where I took lots of photos.
From CSM, we continued to gorge ourselves on wonderful food and wine and BEER too…about which I will have to add more to this post later because the whole world is moving so fast I am dancing through time trying to keep up!
To all those wonderful Woodinville wineries who shared their wines and stories on Wednesday, I promise to do my best to post some highlights as soon as I get a chance! And to all those who are looking forward to learning about Washington wines, you won’t need to hold your breath because when I catch mine, I will!
Somehow I did it. After a two hour nap, I jumped in the car at 4am Wednesday and drove to LAX where I made my flight, connected with my friend the painter Fred Betz, and we found our way from the airport to Chateaus Ste. Michel in Woodinville and caught up catch up with the other wine bloggers on the WBC-or-Bust bus just in time for a lesson in food and wine pairing. Pictured at right is the way the sunlight pours into the room leaving a pattern on the concrete floor.
Needless to say, all of the food and all of the wines were fabulous.We started with four different reislings paired with Asian inspired cuisine, then four merlots with some manchego cheese and tender duck breast, and finishing with a late harvest riesling infected by the “noble rot” paired with a simple cookie and fresh raspberries.
For more details about what I learned, and to see more iPhone photos, keep reading!
Where did I go and why? We went on a road trip to Flagstaff, Utah, and Colorado where we tasted one awesome rhone style wine from grapes grown in the Sedona area (more on this later!), we camped and explored red rock Utah, and finished our trip in Colorado where we stopped at Guy Drew Vineyards tasting room (pictured) for some surprising and delightful wines.
But now I’m getting ready for the 2010 vintage of the North American Wine Bloggers Conference which starts this Friday in Walla Walla Washington thanks to a WBC scholarship. I leave Wednesday morning for a dawn flight from LAX to Seattle where my friend Fred Betz will pick me up for a quick visit and an even quicker lesson in how he can blog and use social media to help promote his business as a painter.
Fred will drive me to Woodinville where I will join the WBC-or-Bust crew of winning bloggers at Chateau Ste Michelle for a lesson in food and wine pairing (complete with food and wine of course), followed by a tasting, a lunch and more wine, a visit to Pike for a guided beer tasting and brewery tour, a few minutes to our selves then dinner at the Waterfront Grill with more wine! I’ll post as much about it and as often as I can!
After all that, I’m meeting with friends Danika Dinsmore and Tod McCoy of En Theos Press. Tod just published and released a book Danika wrote and which I edited so we will be celebrating that too and talking about other writing and publishing projects. Tod has asked me to be on his editorial board as well so we may discuss that too.
I know it sounds like a grueling day, doesn’t it? I can’t wait–I just hope I can sleep tonight!
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 