We're baaaaack ;) |
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Yep, we are back to one of our most "favoritist"
places to taste wine, oh yeah, to purchase too! Teresa and Al
joined us for the weekend, we had a great time tasting at old
favorites and what are sure to become new favorites! Jim and I
got to taste at a couple of places on Friday afternoon, then Teresa
& Al made it up early Saturday morning and we got started big time.
We hit a couple of places on Sunday on the way out (we were very
careful about the amount of wine tasted before driving!).
Here's the list of wineries that we tasted at:
We had a great visit at each of the wineries, so many of them remember me (well, some of them I won't let them forget :) I missed a couple of pictures, I missed a picture of Tom Glase who is the winemaker for both Balboa (also owner) & Beresan and Ashley Trout, owner/winemaker for Flying Trout Wines. I will have to remedy that in the future.
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| Amber (from Bergevin Lane) and Jim right before we started our tour, they were busy with sorting and crushing 7 tons of Syrah, Merlot and Viognier that had been delivered that day. | Here are some of the great Syrah grapes that go into Bergevin Lane wine. You can see the Bergevin name on the side of the tub... |
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| That's Stefan driving the fork lift, it's amazing how many different things that the winemaker actually does. | The three owners of Bergevin Lane, Gary, Annette and Amber! What nice people and good friends. |
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| Next stop, Amavi Cellars, sister winery to Pepper Bridge. They make very nice table wines and the tasting room is wonderful. | The Red Barn of Yellow Hawk Cellars, Tim is building a new work room for various things but it is getting put on the back burner due to the crush. |
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| Barbara, Tim's wife did our tasting at Yellow Hawk because Tim had to run off and take 3 samples of grapes from three different vineyards to see if they were ready to be picked. She did a great job of seeing us through all the wonderful wines. | I am not sure what grapes they are, but they are from the Yellow Hawk vineyard (right next door to Tim's house :) Don't they look yummy! |
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| Saviah Cellars, one of our favorites, Rich was not there, he was at one of his kids soccer games, which is a good thing. We bought several magnums (double bottles) from here! | Beresan tasting room, Tom Walliser owns it, Tom Glase makes the wine. Tom also has his own tasting room across the walk way outside for his Balboa label. |
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| Caleb Foster owner/winemaker for Buty is sorting his syrah grapes from the Champoux vineyard. I needed to chat with him for a few minutes so I stepped up and started to help for a minute while talking with him. | More syrah grapes, they just look so good that you could just eat them, but I like waiting for a little while and drink them ;) especially after Caleb has done his magic. |
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| This was one of the new ones we tried, Trio Vintners. A husband/wife and friend team that all graduated from the "wine" school in Walla Walla. | Teresa and myself in front of Trio, they had some very nice wines and were sold out of the Rose. Their Riesling was really good. |
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| DaMa Wines, two ladies doing their thing, "Da" for Dawn Kammer, "Ma" for Mary Derby. Making wine for women by women. | DaMa sparklies in the window of the tasting room |
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| The window front to the Flying Trout. Ashley Trout is the owner/winemaker. Her real job is assistant winemaker at Reininger, but she makes a red blend during the WA harvest and a Malbec down in Argentina during their harvest! | Craig Nelson, owner/winemaker for Ensemble Cellars. He only makes about 370(ish) cases of wine a year and they are blends across vintages, taking lots of time and love into each release. We purchases release #2, we tasted release #1 from the barrel during the Holiday barrel tasting in Dec. '05. |
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| Last, but not least, the School House of L'Ecole No. 41. We stopped here on the way out of town, they have a parking lot large enough for our RV, but they also have great wine! | As we drove around the Walla Walla area, there were rolling hills of various crops. I loved the look of them but I just couldn't figure out how to keep a picture in perspective. This one was taken from the airport area looking East. |
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| It was also VERY windy on the drive home, this might look like fog, but it is dust blowing from the other side of the Columbia River. Our RV was really rocking and rolling down the hwy. | Another view of the dust blowing, you couldn't see the hills for quite some time, but the wind farm's windmills were going full force. |
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WhoopEmUp Hollow Cafe is a local place in Waitsburg, about 25 miles from Walla Walla. Jim and I had eaten there a few days after they opened in May of 2005. They had great food then and still do. The pastry chef (desserts) is superb! The menu is a very homey, comfort food Cajun. If you ever have the chance, I would recommend trying it out. |
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| Jim and I will be like bad pennies, showing up whenever we find we have the time to visit Walla Walla, WA :) | |
