The show is called Roots & Vines.

Roots (Rootvik) and Vines (vines–>grapes–>wine).

There are other angles as well: personal history in the area (I was raised here), being rooted in a place, the history of winemaking, terroir, etc. Bottom line, though, is that I’m thrilled to be involved in a show where I get to share my love for Walla Walla and the wonderful wine being produced here.

So here it is, the first show to go live on the Wine and Dine Walla Walla site. I’d love some feedback. This show features Charles Smith Wines 2007 Kung Fu Girl Riesling.

Roots and Vines #001 from Walla Walla Union-Bulletin on Vimeo.

It was the eve before Christmas
and all through the house
I couldn’t find what I wanted…

So I grabbed a bottle of Otis Kenyon 2006 Riesling and headed out the back door to sit on my carefully carved (though very humble) throne.

Such are the joys of winter.

The riesling being a cold climate grape, I felt it only appropriate to savor it in the coldest of winters I have yet to experience in Walla Walla. Apples, peaches, a slight hint of diesel. Citrus and sweetness, well balanced to the end. These things all speak of this region. Not that things in this part of the state are always in perfect balance, but the smells and tastes are familiar, surprisingly recognizable.

Rieslings do wonderfully well in Washington, and more than most varietals, they are a true testament to place. As I love to make a study of the language of place, I also love terroir. A possibly overused term, but when used with proper intent, so powerful, potent, and concise.

So this is Christmas. And as I look forward to the sparkling wines of New Year’s Eve celebrations, I now enjoy a wine that speaks volumes of place. Riesling. (Too bad Otis Kenyon only made 18 cases of this particular riesling.)

From the ice throne in Walla Walla, Happy Holidays to all. May all your merriment this season remind you of the places you hold most dear to your heart. May your palate guide you to great joy.

While there are an overwhelming number of events to chose from, I will be starting out with some of the new tasting rooms that have recently opened downtown. Balboa, Yellow Hawk, and a few others.

The night is young, and although I would love to dive in to those barrels, I have to save some fuel for tomorrow. Updates to follow. And I’ll be out filming early Saturday, so don’t be shy. Please say hello and tell me about your barrel tasting highlights.

It’s going to be a great weekend. I feel it in my bones.

So all you wine lovers, stop reading this post and get out there to do some serious tasting!

I’ve little by little become a fan of Rieslings. Haven’t always been, but now I’d swear by them. Especially Washington Rieslings! It seems, in this area, Washington seriously pounds the competition.

On this holiday I wanted to extend the invitation to check out a couple of my favorites.

Charles Smith Kung Fu Girl Riesling (2006 or the 2007!)

This is a delightful, minerally, spectacular example of a Washington State Riesling. I adore it and keep on hand several bottles for dinners on the patio, drinks with friends, gifts, and for the occasionally necessary personal affirmation that girls ROCK!

Another outstanding case in point of girl power is the DaMa 2006 Riesling.

Delicious, proper Riesling, with another label showing the joys of being female. As winery notes say, it has “bright acidity”. Bright, smart, and fun. It is an experience. (Check out our tasting notes.)

If these wines could talk… and they do… they’d say: Hell, yes, I’m a girl. And I can kick ass just as easily in a halter-dress as I can in my kung fu gear. So brace yourselves, people. Life is meant to be enjoyed, lived in fullness, and everyone deserves some pampering along with their empowerment.

While we celebrate “Independence Day” let’s enjoy being women (and men, take this opportunity to enjoy, appreciate, and celebrate the good women in your lives). I am proud to be a girl, a kick ass girl. And I am thrilled to have these wines in my life.

Happy 4th of July!

It’s the day after Tax Day and I feel like seeing some magic.

Sleight of Hand Cellars has just relaunched–or rather launched their new fancy-shmancy (that’s a technical term), illusionist thrilling website. And what a beauty it is.

With a banner like this, who doesn’t want to enter the show? This is fun! This is one of my favorite things about Trey Busch, the winemaker, and Sleight of Hand Cellars. They take wine very seriously, but they’re not stuffy at all. The tasting room experience is fun, and now they’ve made the online experience an event as well.

For those of you planning on joining us for Spring Release here in Walla Walla (coming up soon!), keep this info at hand. Here’s what Trey and crew have planned.

Featuring the following wines: “2007 Magician, 2007 Magicians Assistant Rose’, 2006 Spellbinder, and the 2006 Levitation (if we have any left by May! The wine club has taken almost all of the first release).”

The tasting room “will also be hosting Professor Phelyx, a world famous Sleight of Hand Magician from Denver CO”, Saturday, 1-5pm. The intrigue is building, building, building…

They have set up a wine club called the Wine Illusionist Society, “…the first and only club exclusively for screw-offs and cork-pullers!” These are their words, not mine. And I can’t help but think that people enjoy a laugh, know they’re getting into something fun, and aren’t intimidated by the Society. If you’re going to be intimidated by something relating to Sleight of Hand, start getting your panties in a bunch about not being able to attend their private party in “The Dragon’s Lair.” It’s all very hush-hush, and the location is secret.

We all love mystery, don’t we? And I’d join to Wine Illusionist Society simply because I want to know where the Dragon’s Lair party is going to be! I like solving mysteries, but I am very impatient.

For those of you who’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you might remember that I mentioned Trey and his tasting room in a post on How to Survive Wine Tasting. At the time, I was praising his Spellbinder, but I also highly recommend the Gewürztraminer, labeled The Magician. The winery website is now offering the 2007, but at Walla Walla Wine Cellar we still has a few bottles of the outstanding 2006 Magician available. It’s received some nice press, like this post by Gene Stein of Seattle Wine Blog, and I like it… so what more do you need to know?

I read Tom Wark. He’s a social networking friend, and I like his blog. What I read this morning, however, made me a little nervous. Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog: This Wine is Gay

Tom wrote the article meaning to discuss marketing. But he succeeded in offending people–including my sister’s boyfriend. He writes about Pansy!, a wine made for and marketed to the GLBT community. The trouble starts when we begin discussing the “gay palate.” Perhaps comments of Erica Crawford (co-founder of Pansy!) are taken out of context:

“We didn’t want to make a winemaker’s wine. The first one we made was 4 grams RS (residual sugar); I’d like it bone-dry but it’s important to make wine for your consumers, not for yourself.”

But Tom seems correct in his conclusion that what the GLBT community is being hit with is not just a pink product, but a sweet product. And why is sweet gay?

Does one’s palate become particularly attuned to sweetness once it is determined they are gay?

Or is this just another case of “speaking” to the Gay community in a liquid language that they would recognize?

If this is a case of speaking a liquid language recognizable by Gays then we are witnessing a really intricate form of marketing. It would be a case of recognizing that the sensation of sweetness on the palate is not just a physiological experience whereby sweetness is detected by “G protein” receptors found on tastebuds. It would also be a recognition that “sweetness” experienced on the palate can act as a language that gays can “read” and comprehend as specifically applying to them.

Of course, there is backlash in the comments. And Tom replies, “I find the idea of identifying particular styles of wine that are capable of communicating a complex idea utterly fascinating.”

In order to determine whether or not this idea is sound, you have to buy into the notion that groups of people are compartmentalized by similar ideologies and tastes, creating marketing bulls-eyes over a set demographic. “If you can communicate this (not-so-)complex idea in the general direction of this group, they’ll be yours.” I know its been done for ages, but I hate it. With all this Web 2.0, Wine 2.0, World 2.0 talk, arent we getting the notion that people want to be treated as individuals? Of course we look for commonalities, but we have to acknowledge diversity withIN communities. Don’t hand me a glass of Pansy! and try to tell me this is a wine for ME. Oh wait, I’m not “Gay”. I’m lesbian. But still, it’s a wine for a stereotype.

If you want to find out which wines can and perhaps do communicate certain complex ideas, great! I mean it. But don’t over-generalize. And as for post-modern, I’m not so sure. I don’t think post-modernism allows people to be so readily broken down to clichés and old stereotypes.

My god, what would happen if we made products we believed in, wine we loved, and found people to share it with? Or do we believe that were so different from “Them”, whomever they may be, that we have to sacrifice our own enjoyment of our creations to please the neatly-compartmentalized niche market? Come on, Erica. Don’t you want the opportunity to sit down with you consumers and share the joy of your wine? Do you really want to sell stuff you don’t like? Why would we choose this way of living?

More details of Pansy!’s origins can be found in this article from Australia’s The Age: “A Gay Old Wine”.

And before I wrap up this post, I would like to say that Tom Wark is not an idiot. He just hit a nerve. It’s a touchy topic that, to be fair, I’m glad he raised. For more on his perspective, read “Is Wine Gay?” at “Food and Wine for the Gay Palate” blog.

I’m talking about wine. Just wine. I don’t want to start arguing with my friends and family — many of whom live in the Golden State — about which is better: Green or Gold. The answer? We’ll have to discuss Red and White!

Washington wines continue to get good press, and writers like Paul Gregutt continue to educate us about the region. Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV frequently gives kudos to Washington wines. And there is much talk about whether one should buy WA or CA. In a recent interview, Gregutt spoke to this debate.

In many ways, it’s hard to compare wines from the two states. California has well over ten times the vineyard acreage of that in Washington (500,000 to 35,000). Climates are different. Just think of Evergreen vs. Golden! But east of the Cascade Mountains, Washington is mostly desert with some ideal grape growing conditions.

After the growing, there’s the making. And both States sport some fantastic winemakers — as well as some not-so-fantastic. As wines are rated and ranked, Washington is well accounted for, always having a noticeable presence on the Top 100. But when should I choose a Washington wine over a California wine when given the choice?

If it’s a Riesling, go Washington. If it’s a Merlot, go Washington. Syrahs, Cab Sauvignons and Semillons are different, but equal. Try some from both States and broaden your horizons.

Don’t have a Washington Riesling in your hand? Walla Walla Wine Cellar is currently selling Charles Smith Wines 2006 Kung Fu Girl Riesling ($13 and SOLD-OUT at the winery) and DaMa Wines 2006 Riesling ($16) which — I’ll say it again — was an Editor’s Pick in Wine Enthusiast and scored 91 points.

For Merlots, try Helix 2004 Merlot ($22) or Otis Kenyon 2005 Merlot ($30). And if you’re wanting something a bit less expensive, try the Holy Cow Merlot.

Now that you know how to get your hands on some of these gems, give them a try and see what you think. So that’s a red and a white for Washington. Hmm… I’ll wait for some feedback on what you think California does better.

To read the full interview with Paul Gregutt, go to intowine.com.

Putting aside my concerns that people will think I get commission from Dusted Valley, I have yet another comment to make on one of their wines. Boomtown is Dusted Valley’s second label of sorts, the lower price-point everyday wine. (The reincarnation of STOMP, for those of you familiar with it.) Because it’s not sold locally, I was glad to have the opportunity to try the 2006 Boomtown Chardonnay on Friday.

First, I have to say that I’m not much of a chardonnay fan. It’s not because it has a reputation for being a bit of a generational (read old-person) favorite, but I have never been crazy about the buttery, oaky chards. While it may seem faddish, I was pleased to see that Boomtown was unoaked.

This white wine was a pleasant surprise. It delivers, especially for $11-12 a bottle! It’s well structured, crisp, has a decent finish, and is acidic enough to pair well with food. Though I am spoiled with wonderful reds here in Walla Walla Valley, and a few good whites (like Stephenson Cellars 2006 Viognier with a dizzyingly wonderful nose and anything but disappointing taste) I was glad to find this great value Chardonnay that I could drink with ease. I enjoyed it. If only I could find a way to get this locally…

On another note, the Boomtown labels were designed by Daymon Bruck. Daymon is fast becoming a local star. An urban transplant, he has been influential in redesigning the feel of downtown Walla Walla. Perhaps not intentional. But some people make a difference whether they’re trying to or not. Daymon and his mother, Ceil Blaine, opened Luscious by Nature, one of my favorite local hangouts. I’m sure there will be more mention of Luscious in the future. You can check see more of Daymon’s work at bridge-creative.com.