Wine Lovin Women

Discovering Hidden Washington Wine Country A beautiful pastoral scene you want to capture and keep with you…. you can with a bottle of Olalla Vineyards Wine .  Country setting, small batch wines that have creative and well-developed flavors, what more can you ask for on a summer day.  Check out this hidden gem in Pacific Northwest community of Olalla for some old world flavor and style. Cheers, Denise

2016 – Another Year Over……2017 - A New Year Has Begun Happy New Year!  2017 brings a promise of new and exciting things for all of us.  Will 2017 be a good year for the vines?  What excitement, what anticipation……but before we move ahead, I want to take a moment and look back at all the wonderful wine experiences Denise and I shared in 2016. We kicked off 2016 at McCall Hall on February 8 th with the Walla Walla Wine Tasting event.  I really liked how they did this event.  Lots of Vintners from the Walla Walla valley and a good pairing of food to go with it.  It was our goal to seek out wineries that we had not tried before.  We were not disappointed.  I love how the Walla Walla valley keeps producing some of the most amazing wines in our region and the wine makers hone their craft to perfection.   February 21 st found us at the “Seattle Food and Wine Experience.  I just love this event.  So many wines to sample and...

Wine tasting etiquette You are not a camel; therefor learn to spit When implementing the spitting method during a tasting, I found it is best to use a paper cup and spit directly into the cup, not a mile away into the bucket they have on the table.  If there isn’t a paper cup in sight and you find yourself having to use the bucket provided, please try to get close enough to get inside but not too close that there is splash back….ewww!  Practice at home is my suggestion to get it down, better safe than sorry. It’s always “no white after Labor Day”  Not the time to wear your white anything; shirt, dress, slacks.  Stay on the safe side and wear dark colors to avoid any embarrassing splashes and stains. Not a BYOB party  Do NOT bring your own bottle, that is just poor manners. If you don’t like red and they only pour red, then you are now the designated driver.  I suggest that you keep an open mind and try the red that is poured, you just ...

Balla d of Syrah’s…    Syrah or sometimes called Shiraz is a dark-skinned grape grown throughout the world; Syrah should not be confused with Petite Sirah which is a different grape. Syrah is full-bodied, dark colored with soft tannin, jammie fruit and spice with notes of licorice, anise and earth, which makes it so wonderful paired with rich meats. Here are some we sampled at a resent WLW wine tasting event: Dumas Station, 2012 Walla Walla Rich garnet color, jammie fruit with a hint of floral and smoky spice nose. Ripe fruit, spicy and creamy generously lasting thru to the finish. Pairs well with roasted asparagus, dark chocolate, roasted meat and smoked herb potato. Laurelhurst Cellar, 2012 Walla Walla Intoxicating nose with hint of fruit and spice, long harmonious layered fruit finish. Paired well with caramelized onion, roasted mushroom, smoked potato wedge, triple cheese blackberry melba appetizer and dark chocolate. Dumas Station, 2013 The Excursi...

New Discoveries Spring Forth February 2016 – Denise and I attended the “Walla Walla Wine at McCall Hall” tasting in, Seattle, Washington.  We discovered some wineries that we had never heard of before and really enjoyed their wines.  We decided at that time, in the spring we would make a point to go visit these new discoveries and see if they would become some new favorites. Not long ago Denise and I set off on a spring day to Walla Walla, Washington to visit our dear friends Michael and Coralee.  We were so excited about this visit because we had a list of newly discovered wineries and couldn’t wait to share. We had two full days of tasting and here is just a sample of what we experienced. Tertulia Cellars – www.tertuliacellars.com 2015 Estate vineyard Rose’ – old world style rose with a light salmon color and dry finish.  I loved the way they described how they got the color for the wine.  “In the time it takes to drink 2 beers, that’s how...

Wine Tasting and Water During our trip to the Willamette, the tasting room attendant at one of the Winery’s first poured us some club soda upon our arrival.  This was great, we just had a fantastic brunch and the flavors still lingered on our palates.  The club soda worked well at neutralizing our taste buds to receive the grape we were about to taste.  This got me thinking about waters and how to use them to improve our wine tasting experience. Still water or Acqua Panna, which is Italian, these are best for tasting the following: *White wines *Barrel Aged White Wines *Sparkling Wines *Red Wines that are light and subtle San Pellegrino is Italian, Perrier is French and both carbonated water which make for softer smoother bubbles which complement the tasting of: *Rose’ wines with high alcohol content *Young red wines *Red wines that are full and mature *White wines that are full bodied The difference between these bottled carbonated w...

Willamette Valley -Fire, Volcanic eruptions, Earthquakes, Floods and coastal effects…..sounds like the makings of a new disaster movie however it is actually the makings of some great soil for one of the largest AVA in Oregon, extending from Portland to Eugene. Many factors contribute to a wines flavor, mostly what happens in the cellar however one of the elements is the soil the grapes are gown in. The Cascade mountains on the East and Coastal mountain range to the West with low hillsides, which make up the 6 AVA (American Viticultural Area) regions in Oregon; Dundee Hills AVA, Chehalem Mountains AVA, Ribbon Ridge AVA, Eola-Amity Hills AVA, McMinnville AVA, Yamhill-Carlton AVA. This trip, we went to Newberg and Dundee area, here are some places we visited that will hopefully inspire you to visit this region too. August Cellars- Family owned with a tasting room situated at the edge of 42 acre farmland of English Walnuts, Italian Prunes and Pinot grapes. August Cellars is ...