WBC 2010 Part 2 - A Sumptuous Feast

WBC for me was a bit like a multi course dinner with 300 of your best friends, most of whom you are meeting for the first time in the flesh. A dinner that you prepare, save and anticipate for months.

The “amuse bouche” was on Friday with the incredibly generous goodie bag filled with books, wine, jump drives, CDs and magazines. Just like an amuse bouche before a meal, it was a wonderful surprise. I want to thank all the generous sponsors for that gift. I was grateful that I was staying there at the motel, that puppy was heavy and I was able to take it back to my room and not have to carry it around like some did.

Every good meal should be accompanied by good wine. At this feast, great wine was abundant. It was wonderful to see and talk to many great winemakers and representatives from Washington State and beyond.

Like a good appetizer course, the speed tasting on Friday and Saturday provided a fun, exciting way to sample an array of amazing wines. Also, just like an appetizer course you have to be careful not to overindulge in order to have room for the incredible dinner waiting for you.

The bus tours to the vineyards on Saturday morning were what I would call the main course of the conference. Included were all the aspects of a good meal – incredible scenery, abundant information to soak in and digest, and of course great people to share it with! Our bus was fortunate enough to have Dr. Kevin Pogue, geologist and expert in Walla Walla Valley terroir, as our tour guide. The first stop was Forgotten Hills vineyard, just south of town. Here Christa Hilt from Waters Winery met us with tastes of their single vineyard syrah sourced from Forgotten Hills. Kevin was a wealth of knowledge with regards to how climate, elevation, & water tables make a difference in the fruit from each vineyard.

Next, we headed northeast of town to the home of Walla Walla Vintners. We were met by Myles Anderson, winemaker at WW Vintners as well as Jason Magnaghi, viticulturist for Leonetti Cellars. After receiving a glass on Myles’ exceptional Cab Franc (a personal favorite of mine) we followed both him and Jason out to Leonetti’s Millcreek Upland Vineyards. This vineyard is completely dry farmed. It was fascinating learning about the history and farming methods from Jason. Viticulture is truly a labor of love. We all were treated to the fruits of that labor. Jason brought the 2005 Reserve, sourced 100% from the Millcreek Upland Vineyard, for us all the sample. Chillin out under the trees with a lovely breeze, sipping some premium WA wines, I could have stayed here all day. But alas, lunch awaits at our final stop of the day, Cougar Crest.

Cougar Crest rolled out the red carpet for us with a tour and a great lunch of chicken and veggie kabobs, and tabboulah salad that paired wonderfully with their Rose.

Now I know what you are thinking – What about dessert? Every good meal has to have dessert. Of course it does and for me just like a sweet treat, dessert was meeting all of my wonderful fellow bloggers and wine writers. Many of whom I have been conversing with online for a couple years now and have finally met in real life. I enjoyed networking and meeting new people and hearing their stories and passions. That is what it is all about, passion. Most of us don’t make a dime doing this, we do it because of the passion we have for wine.

WBC 2010 Part 1 - Half the Fun is Getting There

The anticipation had starting building weeks before. I started June with a calendar chock full of both work and play, with the climax being the Wine Blogger’s Conference I would be attending the last weekend. Finally the time had arrived. Although I live within driving distance to Walla Walla, I still had a long day ahead of me. But you know it is a lot easier to get up at 5:00am when you are excited to go! I was accompanied by my husband and our best wino friends. The 4 of us loaded up the SUV and we were off.

Our first stop was a treat. I was invited to attend one of the stops on the WBCorBust bus at Cave B Winery. The Cave B Inn & Winery is in a word – Breathtaking. We had the opportunity to taste from some of the smaller wineries in WA, including Barrister Winery, Boudreaux Cellars,
Syncline, Arbor Crest, Col Solare, Fielding Hills and Hard Row to Hoe. The standouts were:

Barrister Cabernet Franc is their signature wine and there is good reason for it. Layers of earth and dark fruits plus very nice complexity.

Cave B Saignee’ Rose of Cabernet Sauvignon has one of the best noses on a Rose that I have smelled ever. I stood there and sniffed this wine for a couple minutes before I even tasted it. It smelled like candy, good candy. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t overly sweet. I had a good amount of acid which would make it an excellent food wine.

Hard Row to Hoe was pouring their yet to be released Pinot Noir. A full and earthy Pinot that was not too tannic. Winemaker, Judy Phelps, explained to me that it was made in a gravity fed process which prevents the juice from sitting on the skins as long; therefore making the wine less tannic.

Fielding Hills Cabernet Sauvignon has jammy fruits, incredibly full mouth-feel, balanced out with a long lingering finish. I first had this wine at Taste WA in March and I fell in love with it then.

From there we ventured into Walla Walla and had an incredible dinner at Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen. I highly recommend it for dinner. Todd had one of the biggest pork chops I have ever seen in my life! Make sure you make reservations; they are a small place and are very busy. For good reason!