The Wine Knows

Baker City, Ore., isn't exactly in the midst of classic Northwest wine country. This city on the Oregon Trail has a lot more in common with Idaho's Snake River Valley than the Willamette Valley. But that doesn't deter the folks in this western town from enjoying the finer things in life.

“Time for another adventure,” my husband said. I am always up for an adventure or a new challenge. This past weekend we decided that the new AVA (American Viticultural Area) to be featured on our website, in June was going to be the wines from the Walla Walla Valley AVA. It has been a few years since we have made our jaunt to Walla Walla and our wine cellar was in short supply of Walla Walla reds. I knew it was going to be easy to select reds for our wine club members and to restock our wine cellar, but what about true Walla Walla Valley whites? That was the challenge that we faced.

I just finished reading Corkscrewed: Adventures in the New French Wine. It was a Christmas present from a friend mine. I made some time in between my studying last semester.

I really liked this book. The author explores the back country of France, mainly the Rhone and Alsace regions. He mainly talks about small boutique wineries and their place within the French wine machine. The interviews with these small producers I found entertaining and insightful. I was able to open this book up anytime and enjoy the stories written in short chapters.

I'll bet Bob Bertheau is wearing a muscle shirt around Chateau Ste. Michelle today. If he isn't, he should be.

Here in Washington's Columbia Valley, we're still five weeks away from the Pasco Farmers Market opening (typically on the weekend nearest to Cinco de Mayo), but I'm already getting in the mood for creative cooking with regional ingredients.

Having dinner the other night with a friend, we had a somewhat deep conversation about our wine of choice. She told me that she has tried several wines over the years and she keeps going back to the classic Chardonnay. She knows that Chardonnay is typically on every wine list, she doesn’t have to really think about what she wants and what she likes, and it makes her life that much simpler when dining out. She even narrowed it down further by saying that she typically always buys Ste. Michelle’s Canoe Ridge Chardonnay. It is consistently good and it’s a great value. Although I understand the need for her to pick a wine that can be hers for life, I don’t understand her lack of adventure in not trying something new.

Salut's wine shop closed this weekend in Vancouver WA.

Sad to see them go. We have spent many a fine Friday evening there tasting wine and enjoying the company of many friends.

Due to the current economy, Dave, the owner, had to close. I thanked him for the many orders he placed for us and the wonderful Friday night tastings.

Well, last week's feature wasn't too difficult, apparently, as 82% correctly guessed the photo as being taken at Witness Tree Vineyard in Oregon's Eola-Amity Hills.

I hope this week's is a bit more challenging. Check it out.

I want to take my fiance (another seattle wino :)) to a nice wine bar in a couple weeks for what we are calling the "calm before the storm" meal. Getting married in April!!

I found this article about wine bars in Seattle: http://blog.gotime.com/2009/03/19/top-nine-wine-bars-in-seattle/

Our quest for the month of March was to track down some amazing Pinot Noirs for our wine club members at Northwest Wine Quest for the month of May. We had very good reason to do so: Pinot Noir has become extraordinarily popular. Of course our quest for Pinot Noir took us to the beautiful state of Oregon, whose Pinot Noir is now highly recognized around the world. Of course our time as usual, was very limited. How on earth were we going to find incredible Pinot in just two short days? Well, anyone who knows us will tell you that we are extremely focused people. We get an idea in our head and we are determined to see it through. Realizing that some of the best Pinot Noir comes from the Willamette Valley area of Oregon, we decided to only focus on that AVA (American Viticultural Area). Wow…that is a mouthful!