August 23, 2010

Auction of Washington Wine Barrel Auction & Picnic

The Barrel Auction and Picnic with the Winemakers is the kickoff event for the Annual Auction of Washington Wines. This is an annual event, now in its 24th year, that benefits the uncompensated care program at Seattle Children’s Hospital as well as the Washington Wine Education Foundation.

The iffy weather turned out to be perfect once the picnic started. Not too hot, not too cold. Chateau St. Michelle did a wonderful job transforming their grounds for the picnic....Read More

July 17th, 2010

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...Read More

July 2nd, 2010

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... Read More

May 31, 2010

Vintage Party 2010

We hosted our Vintage Party, a blind tasting wine dinner for a few of our close friends, this past weekend. I love doing a blind tasting, as it promotes great conversation. Plus, since there are no wrong answers, people feel free to express what they are seeing, smelling, and tasting.

We pulled some of our best bottles out of the cellar for this event. All the wines had been decanted for 6 hours. We invited six guests, and assigned each guest to a bottle. Starting with wine #1, we asked the assigned person to taste and describe the wine to the group. Then we poured tastes for the remainder of the group and discussed the wine. This format worked well and made for a nice pace in tasting as well... Read More

April 4, 2010

Taste Washington Wrap Up

As I languish in my post Taste Washington blues, I thought I should gather my thoughts before they are lost and post up my highlights of the premier WA wine tasting event of the year. First, let me shout out a huge thank you to the Washington Wine Commission for their wonderful hospitality as well as going above and beyond to make this truely the Ultimate Wine Experience

This event can be overwhelming. You simply are not going to sip and taste everything that is offered. It would be an impossible task that would probably incur bodily harm. That's why I went in with a firm gameplan. I mapped out ahead of time where the wineries were that I for sure did not want to miss. For the most part it worked out well and I discovered some other gems along the way... Read More

March 8, 2010

Wine Filled March

March is such an exciting time in Washington State for wine lovers. First off, it's Washington Wine Month. That means many of the retailers in the state will be offering amazing deals and discounts on WA wine.

There are two major release weekends in March. On March 5th thru 7th, Betz Winery had their Spring Release weekend where they released their bourdeaux inspired blends. Betz always puts on a nice spread. I was able to visit them, along with some of my other favorite wineries in Woodinville on Saturday and was impressed as always with their offerings...Read More

February 10, 2010

Compass Wines Tailgate Party!

I am very fortunate to live close to an awesome wine shop - Compass Wines located in Anacortes, WA. Every year for Superbowl they do a Tailgate Party, pairing fine wines with junk food.

When we arrived to the smell of frosted animal cookies and KFC hot wings we knew this was gonna be good. Our tasting started off with Baron Fuente Galipettes Brut Champagne paired with the Mother's frosted animal cookies... Read More

January 3, 2010

Annual Wine Dinner - Part 2

Part 2 of our annual wine dinner post is dedicated to the wine. We start planning our wine list throughout the whole entire year leading up to the party in November. We also find it a little easier on the pocketbook to buy the wine a little at a time.

This year we set up a separate tasting table. During our appetizer courses, we called 4 people to the tasting table to blind taste a wine. With 16 people we set up 4 rounds of blind tasting. We provided a few aromatics to aid people in their notes. Aromatics such as star anise, vanilla bean, white pepper, cigar, charred cherry wood, & chocolate...
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December 11, 2009

Annual Wine Dinner - Part 1

Every year we put on a multi course wine dinner extravagansa for our friends. It's something we plan for, bank wine for, practice for all year. We usually have it the weekend after Thanksgiving. This year was our 7th annual wine party and it has expanded from 6 people our first year to 16 this year. So needless to say it's a wild and crazy night for us, but we love it.

Preparations started the week before and included converting the back of our garage into our party room. I work at a lumber mill, so last year I was able get a custom cut table top that was 14' x 4'. It works perfectly for our dinner party... Read More

September 25, 2009

Hogfest 2009!

First off - a little history, in 2007 we had a pig roast on Labor Day weekend. My husband had seen a La Caja China used by Bobby Flay on his show and was enthralled. So 2 weeks prior he ordered a 75 lb pig from our local butcher and rented a La Caja China for the weekend. It was at this party that my husband and his pals started scheming. “I can weld and I could totally build that.” So it began…..

Fast forward 2 years. The homemade pig cooker is finished, tested and Hogfest ready!
Part of living in the Pacific Northwest means dealing with inclement weather. So we didn’t let the ominous forecast dampen our plans for Hogfest 2009! Donning the canopies and tarps we readied the driveway and prepped the garage to shelter the 50 people coming to nosh on some pork... Read More

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