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| Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center, view from Heritage Garden. |
August was a busy and full month of wine. Wine sales, service and events. But not wine writing.
If you have visited Prosser, Washington, or plan on a visit to the real Washington wine country, then the must stop destination is the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center (Clore Center). Which is where you can often find me pouring Washington wine and telling stories of Washington wine country. August was an especially busy month at the Clore Center. Wonderfully busy!
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| One of my Instragram posts. |
To keep current on my “live” wine adventures, you can follow my wild4wawine instagram account. This summer I began to embrace instagram in preparation for my trip to Catalunya. It is now my go to application for sharing photos of my wine experiences. While I'm still tweeting, instagram is the best place to find out which wines I'm tasting and pouring. Pretty pictures too.
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| DO Emporda, Catalunya. |
Catalunya blog posts update.
I still have more to share about my trip to Catalunya wine country. I have wineries and wines to mention and much more I want to write about. But I've been busy with work at the Clore Center and I ran into an issue which stopped me. The month of August!
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| Blind Tasting Bubbles! |
August began with our monthly blind tasting on the first Thursday of the month. It was a sold out event with 30 guests. I should not have been surprised, we focused on Sparkling wines. So many of us are fans of wine with bubbles. We featured two sparklers from Washington, one from Australia, a Prosecco, a Cava, and a Grand Cru Champagne. This group impressed, 20 of the 30 correctly identified the Grand Cru Champagne.
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| Blind Tasting Rose'! |
I should mention that this week we held the September blind tasting. We focused on Rose' wines. Our guests enjoyed two from France and four from Washington. A fitting tasting to wrap-up summer with delicious pink wines. There were no clear favorites, and they were all special and expressive on their own. A diversity of fresh flavors.
International Guests
When you live and work in wine country, you will receive visitors from around the country visiting Washington state for the first time. You will also entertain and educate wine industry visitors from around the world. August was no exception.
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| Concha y Toro and grape growers from Chile visit. |
Group from Chile.
Early in the month we hosted the winemaker for Concha y Toro and five Chilean grape growers. A fun and engaged group. Marcio, the winemaker for Concha y Toro, was impressed by the Reininger Carmenere from Walla Walla. I told him that Chuck Reininger is a huge fan of Carmenere and that you can tell he loves making wine by his enthusiasm and energy. Marcio replied, “I can tell. You can taste it in the wine.” He bought two bottles.
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| Industry group from Japan visits. |
Group from Japan.
The following week we hosted an industry visit by a group from Japan. One of the gentlemen I spoke with works for a high-end French Restaurant in Tokyo. He told me that Washington Riesling is the preferred wine for pairing with Japanese food. We had an enjoyable discussion and I shared with him my favorite vineyards for crisp, mineral driven Riesling (Evergreen and Celilo vineyards).
And then there were the two major events we hosted. Both in the same month!
August 12th 10th Anniversary Legends of Washington Wine Hall of Fame.
It was a privilege to work the Legends of Washington Wine event. Everyone enjoyed a three course dinner, many lovely wines, and a live auction to honor the 2016 Legends of Washington wine inductee, Dr. Charles Nagel. It truly was a who's who of Washington wine gathered to honor Dr. Nagel and his contributions to Washington wine.
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| Brian Carter was the keynote speaker. |
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| Enologist Meagan of Barnard Griffin Winery and 1968 Pinot Blanc. |
Every table had a bottle of wine made by Dr. Nagel in the 1960's! Yes, corks were eventually pulled on these old dusty bottles. The red wines did not hold well, not that the bottles were properly stored. However, I tasted a 1968 Pinot Blanc that was quite enjoyable. It was nutty, with a pleasant finish, very much like a sherry. It had little weight in mouth and almost felt like drinking air. A true treat. Next year will be the 11th Legends of Washington Wine, put it on your calendar.
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| Event glasses for Rising Stars. |
August 26th Rising Stars.
Rising Stars is a new event hosted by the Clore Center featuring 40 of the newest Washington wineries. We sold out! Here are some photos of a few of the 40 wineries at Rising Stars.
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| Bontzu Cellars. |
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| Co-Dinn Cellars. |
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| Cor Cellars. |
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| Eternal Wines. |
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| Kasia Winery. |
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| Longship Cellars. |
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| Upsidedown Wine. |
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| Willow Wine Cellars. |
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| Sunset reflected at Rising Stars. |
It was a very busy evening of wine tasting, wine conversations and even wine sales. Not only could you meet the winemakers and taste their wines at Rising Stars, we also had a store selling those wines too. It was a lot of fun to host the newest wine labels and to promote these new wineries. Super event. Great feedback, and yes, we are doing it again next year!
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| New wine glasses Nachtmann Vivendi Bordeaux and a lovely wine. |
I also went shopping for a set of new wine glasses.
The glasses I selected are the Nachtmann Vivendi Bordeaux Glass. Yes, they are made by Riedel and they are from Germany. But they are a "value" line and less expensive.
My thoughts:
1. Love the price. Only $25 for a set of four via amazon.com
I can afford to break them over time and then replace as needed.
2. They look good, and photograph great. See images.
3. Good weight, laser cut lip, feels good in hand and on the lips.
4. Generous bulb, holds enough wine for my needs, easy to swirl and sniff.
What's not to like?
1. The stem is long...length of wine glass is 9 7/8".
2. They will not fit in my kitchen cabinet with all my other glasses.
3. They are tall, so top heavy. If these were used in a tasting room, I can guarantee you would lose many glasses every week.
All in all, I do like these glasses for drinking wine and for taking wine photographs. Great value too.
So there you go. A busy month of wine and September is not slowing down! More to come.
Be safe out there.
Cheers!