OTB # 15 – Let’s Make a Deal

by Chris on May 26, 2010

Since I have very few readers, and even fewer comments, I wonder if I’ll get any takers on this, but here goes…

I’ve been thinking about this and my buddy WAwineman is sort of the inspiration. WAwineman has been running these little teaser contests on Twitter, @WAwineman, where he asks a question about a wine he’s drinking or blogging about, and if someone nails the answer, he claims to be gifting them a very nice bottle of Washington wine. Offers have included Quilceda Creek, Leonetti, L’Ecole 41, Corliss, and maybe others. But when someone DOES correctly give WAwineman the answer, he does Lucy to Charlie Brown and makes an excuse for why the “winner” is too late, or disqualified, or otherwise not entitled to the wine. I’ve seen this happen a couple of times (right, @KSyrah?) and I guess he’ll keep getting bites for his game of “boy cries wine” for a while.

But here’s my deal, I’m excited about the Wine Bloggers Conference like everyone else attending. I explained a month or so ago, this was part of my motivation for beginning this blog in the first place, and it will undoubtedly be a great time. Folks from all over the U.S. and beyond are coming to Washington to blog, tweet, and drink wine. (I’m still old fashioned and find great humor in the fact this last sentence would have had no meaning, or very different meanings, 20 years ago). One of the things these bloggers bring with them is local knowledge of wines from their home area or even from experiences and wine drank from all over the world.

What Barb and I offer is some local knowledge from this little corner of the U.S. known as the Yakima Valley and Washington Wine Country. We look forward to meeting folks from all over, hearing about their experiences in wine (and in blogging) and clinking glasses with as many of them as possible in the 3 or 4 days we’ll be together at the end of June.

To sweeten the pot for these social interchanges, we’re going to offer up something more tangible (and more real than WAwineman’s offers). For people who are interested, I will be posting on here, Twitter, and Facebook over the next month, a series of mini-blogs in the form of a quiz question about something I’ve talked about, posted a picture of, or included as a fun fact in my Wine Blogging Conference Off the Bus (OTB) tour over the past several weeks.

The first person to answer correctly, either on Twitter, or on Facebook, or in a comment on this blog, will win a bottle of wine. The wine will be the local Washington wine I’ve blogged about or a close relative. I say relative since I honestly don’t know where, or if, I can find another bottle of some of these wines.

The winner, if they are a wine blogger attending the WBC, will get their bottle delivered then. If the winner is not attending the WBC or not even a blogger, fine, we’ll figure out a way to get you your prize. (Don’t tell anyone but all five cases of Jo’s wedding wine are now safely in Illinois).

I’m not making this a prerequisite, since I know folks are travelling long distances, and may be travelling light or whatever, but it would be really neat if some of the winners would bring me a local wine from their home area as an exchange.

I’ll keep posting new full length OTB blogs posts too, I’ve got a long ways to go, and quite honestly may not make it past DuBrul before mid-June gets here.

Sound like a deal? Ok then, Let’s Make A Deal!
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Mini-Blog OTB Quiz # 1: What is the name of the Noah-like events that shaped much of Washington’s Wine Country?

NOTE: this contest is being run through yakyakwine.com  This first prize has already been claimed.

OTB # 14 – Fang to Rattle – The Rattlesnake Hills Wine Trail

by Chris on May 21, 2010

With the label rant over (sorry about that) I’ll pick up the WBC Buster Bus as it barrels down State Route 241 toward Sunnyside. Soon after the vineyards and orchards start back up, the bus will take a right onto Independence Road.   Although there is no signage telling you this, you will be at the end of the Rattlesnake Hills Wine Trail (RHWT). Which end is not exactly clear, but since most traffic off I-82 to this part of Washington probably starts somewhere west of here, in either Yakima or the real west, Seattle and Puget Sound, I think of the Sunnyside end as the rattle of the RHWT; the fangs are near Wapato or Donald or Parker Heights or Piety Flats. There lots of little towns and names around here that I’ve heard, but when you drive through sometimes it’s hard to distinguish whether you are actually in a town or place, or which one it is.

I’ve already talked about a number of the wineries and wines that can be found on the RHWT; this time I’m going to do a sort of drive by and general overview of the whole area since the WBC Buster tour bus itself will be doing a drive-by. I will say right up front that I think the RHWT and Rattlesnake Hills wineries, in general, sometimes get a bad rap and I think it’s a balance of expectations versus reality and sometimes a clash of personalities.

Even within the area, there are some possible clashes since not all wineries in the Rattlesnake Hills belong to the Trail, and not all Trail members make their wines from Rattlesnake Hills AVA grapes.  That’s not too relavent though when you drive through, the WADOT tourism blue signs point the way to about 20 or so different wineries, and even those not officially in the RHWT see the same tourists.  Those wineries just won’t stamp the passport the RHWT uses to entice folks to visit them.

When Barb and I first visited this wine touring area is was not what we expected. I’m not sure exactly what we did expect, since our only wine trails prior to Washington had been in Shenandoah, Virginia, Southern Illinois, and Western Iowa, but with the travel literature and the advance billings, I think I was expecting grand estates and villas with miles of shaded pathways through vineyards to gold plated tasting rooms. I guess I was expecting Biltmore Estates, and each place would be a mini-Biltmore, since we visited there and visited a grand wine tasting room there as recently as 2006. But Biltmore, or Napa, or even some of other places I’ve mentioned, Rattlesnake Hills is not.

Rattlesnake Hills is what it is. It’s a farming area like most of the rest of the Yakima Valley, and the drainage ditches, barb-wire fence, irrigation canals, hay wagons, dusty roads, and smells of any other highly farmed area are here. It’s rustic, some of the tasting rooms are very rustic and barn-like, and for those unaccustomed to country life, it can be a shock to the system. I’ve read, heard, and seen with my own eyes some of the less than positive reactions from people to this environment. After a while during our journeys up and down the RHWT, where we spend lots of time visiting friends at tasting rooms and picking up wines and sampling new ones (I think I’ve completed about 15 complete passport round trips if I was still keeping count), we start to recognize those tourists who might take away a bad taste from their RHTW experience and those who embrace it.

A few examples on both sides of this equation. First, the negative side. The group that is scared back into their car by a sage rat (the desert version of a small gopher or prairie dog) is not going to like it. The ones who openly complain about the chickens or other farm animals on or near the premises; not gonna like it. Those who arrive in a stretch limousine (even though I realize there are limousine services run out of Yakima, and maybe even Zillah), not their cup of tea. Rattlesnake Hills is not limousine country. Anyone anxious to pass a tractor driving down the trial, not good. Those who refuse to use a porta-potty, outta here. Those confused that sometimes there might be a sign in the window saying “tasting room closed today, out in the vineyard”, totally lost.

On the positive side, anyone wearing overalls, automatically accepted. People who arrive via motorcycle, bicycle, or horseback; pretty good chance they’ll be at home on the RHWT. The ones who kick the tires of the pickup parked in the yard, pet the wine dogs, and feed the ducks with crackers from the tasting bar; in like Flynn. People who like to sweat, this trail is for you. People who can go camping in a tent and not need a hot shower for a whole weekend, come on over.

I won’t name any names, but Barb and I have even developed a strategy for taking guests, family, and friends who might visit us and go wine tasting with us into the Rattlesnake Hills. We’d take some friends to some places, not to others, and visa-versa. For example, our daughter Kristen we’d walk right up to the doors of Paradisos del Sol and expect her to get a kick out of the organic vegetable garden and roosters roaming the back porch; she might even spend some time looking for eggs in the tall grass and discussing compost with the owners there. Jennifer, we’d more likely steer toward Silver Lake with its neatly trimmed landscaping and flower beds, and usually big white tent on the grounds being set up for a big wedding or outdoor concert. Oh, I did name names didn’t I.

These are some (slightly) overgeneralizations and we love both our daughters equally, but just like their personalities and tastes have variety, so does the Rattlesnake Hills Wine Trail. Fangs and rattles and everything in between.

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OTB Fun Fact: Not sure when this event was started, but it fits the theme of this blog perfectly,  The Sage Rat Run is a charity event supporting the Ronald McDonald House scheduled for this Saturday beginning in Sunnyside and ending in Prosser, a half marathon away.  It’s not too late to get away from the rat race by entering the Rat Race.

Fleurs de Pam.

by Jill St. George on May 20, 2010

Pixie.

by Jill St. George on May 20, 2010

Ballroom Blitz.

by Jill St. George on May 20, 2010

The Memorial Follies musical review, “Ballroom Blitz,” is showing this Saturday at The Capitol Theatre.  Over 250 members of our community donate hundreds of hours to put the show together, in celebration of Memorial Hospital’s 60 years of service.  Proceeds go towards funding Memorial’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which serves close to 300 critically ill and premature babies each year.