I love Four, a great French restaurant. They really know their wines too. For breakfast there is a great patisserie on colville and alder downtown, or a more full breakfast place a block away called the Maple Counter Cafe. As far as wines, there are so many good ones to choose from. At the bottom of the Marcus Wittman Hotel on up to Main Street there are great options everywhere including Maison Bleue and Plumb Cellars. But if you want to go outside of downtown, there are some incredible choices. Dunham, L'Ecole #41, Zerba, Amavi and Saviah are some of my favorites so far. I just moved to Walla Walla last week to go to College Cellars, an Enology and Viticulture school. Also, next weekend there will be a very nice Merlot conference, tastings and panel that might be fun. I'll be at the panel and volunteering for a few hours on the 19th. Here is the link http://www.wallawallawine.com/celebrate/
Thanks Further. I think i will try to get one of the winemakers dinners. I knew you would have some info. I have been to Walla Walla once for work, but not to the wineries.
Also, my favorite winemaker local to Seattle is Palouse on Vashon Island. Very small production, but the wine is top notch imo. I really like their cab franc and their blend.
Thanks, I'll check it out when I'm up that way. By the way, 2012 was an exceptional year in this region, so if you want a good bottle while out to dinner with your wife, you really can't go wrong If ordering 2012. Even average winemakers were producing excellent wines. Forget 2011 and 2010 unless it's from a top notch vintner. 2009 was quite good and 2013 is a bit new, but pretty good. Happy anniversary!
I recommend Figgins and Leonetti Cellar (same ownership). If you're a Drew Brees fan, he has a winery up there (Doubleback). Depending on how you're driving, and what your other plans, there's a solid place about an hour West of Walla Walla (Col Solare) that is pretty interesting, and is a joint venture between Chateau Ste. Michelle and famed Italian empire Antinori. If you're ever going through Dundee, you can taste a few Walla Walla wineries as well. A couple (like Zerba) now have tasting rooms in the heart of Oregon wine country, and others offer various Walla Walla wines. As far as food.... I second Maple Counter Cafe. Brasserie Four, Marc Restaurant, Saffon Kitchen, Andrae's Kitchen are all solid choices as well. A friend of mine was just through Walla Walla and recommended Fat Duck Inn (or something like that) for the next time I'm through Walla Walla. I don't recall seeing it the last time I went through, so maybe it's newer (or I just missed it).
Wonderful, how was Basel, I haven't been yet. I got a winery job yesterday, where I'll learn all aspects of the business. To celebrate I went to the White House for diner. Expensive but delicious. School begins tomorrow, so a lot going on for me. What were your favorite wines of the weekend and which wineries or tasting rooms did you visit?
Basel was really good. Still need to taste there but their 4901 rose was surprisingly good at the dinner. Their merlot was also really good, particularly with the braised short ribs. Beautiful winery too. Met their national sales manager. He was a really cool guy. Former military, turned wine sales. Went to Northstar and are taking a wine making course there tomorrow. We liked their PV, cab, and merlot. All the talk was about their Premier which is $85 a bottle. I wasn't that impressed with it though Then we went to Tamarack. Their chard is really good and I don't usually care for chard. We ended up joining Tamarack's wine club because all of their wines were really good. I liked their sangiovese personally and the firehouse red. They usually produce about 25K cases, with 17K being firehouse red. Dunham's chard was also really good. Dunham's tetutin (sp?) blend was my favorite at that winery. Frankly every thing was good at Dunham. They also have flavored olive oil and flavored balsamic vinaigrette. Just take my money please. The star for me though was Adamant. All of their 2012 pours were amazing, cab franc, merlot, temprinillo, and syrah. Each of those bottles are $42 a bottle, so they better taste amazing. So far we bought 11 bottles. Jeez.
Wow, sounds like a wonderful weekend. I've had the Adamant Syrah and completely agree. I've tasted at Dunham last year and plan to go back soon. I haven't tried any Tamarack, so I'm excited to give them a try. The other night I had the Northstar 2010 Walla Walla valley Merlot. A very interesting Merlot coming from a cold year, had higher acidity which I liked quite a bit. Last night I tasted at Seven Hills (next to the White House) and absolutely loved it. So if you are staying at the Marcus Whittman, give Seven Hills a try before you leave.
After tasting at 11 wineries, I think I am done with wine for a while. The Reininger Carmenere (sp?) is really good. It is a bit peppery. The story on the varietal is interesting. I had not heard of the varietal before. The wine I made at Northstar was 60% Columbia Valley Merlot, 30% Horse Heaven Hills Merlot, 7% Cab, and 3% PV. They basically have 6 different barrels that are a 100% AVA varietal. You sample them all, start mixing away, and bottle one bottle of wine. Pretty fun.
That sounds like a fun time, especially if you are guided by a knowledgable winemaker as you blend. I've been hitting the vino pretty heavy myself lately, and think I'll get away this weekend, go camping or something totally unconnected to wine. It's been great, but when school, work and free time are all centered around the same subject, sometimes a break is required.
