Archive for June, 2008
Friday, June 13th, 2008
Vintage Walla Walla – Pavilion Grand Tasting
On the second day of the Vintage Walla Walla (Saturday June 7), Billo and I attended the Pavilion Grand Tasting, a tasting of the latest offerings by 50+ wineries.
Consenus (between my brother and me that is)? Wine quality is all over the board. There are some wines that are great, some mediocre, and some downright […]
No Comments » - Posted in Wine and Food by Pinto Naravane
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
Vintage Walla Walla - Vintage Wine Tasting
As luck would have it, Billo and I were in town for Vintage Walla Walla - a food and wine event sponsored by the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance. Held on the Whitman College campus, it is a 2-day event filled with seminars and tastings.
Billo and I attended two of the tastings – one was the […]
No Comments » - Posted in Wine and Food by Pinto Naravane
Monday, June 9th, 2008
No More Red-eyes
I am 42. In my mind, I’m 21. I remind myself of the facts: overweight, balding, wrinkles, kids, wife. It doesn’t matter. So, it was with that mindset that I had made my flight reservations.
On Wednesday June 4th, I took a 6am flight from Newark to Portland, arrived at 10am, and drove 4 hours to […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
Blending Our Wines
We spent a few hours at Artifex yesterday tasting various blends of our wine. I’m very happy with the way our wine is coming along. It has wonderful aromatics, nice mouthfeel, nice structure, and a nice long finish. We haven’t yet decided on the final blend but we’ve blended most of our wine. We’ll finalize the […]
No Comments » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Minick and Hedges
Yesterday we met Dave Minick. He is the affable owner of Willow Crest Winery and Willow Crest Vineyards. We spent a couple of hours with him tasting his wines and visiting his vineyard. We’ll be getting some Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache, and Viognier from him this year.
Afterwards, we went back to Red Mountain to visit Hedges […]
No Comments » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
Picazo 7 Seventeen
After our meeting yesterday with Scott Williams from Kiona, Billo and I headed to Prosser where we were spending the night. Upon a recommendation, we decided to have dinner at Picazo 7 Seventeen.
Picazo is a new restaurant in Prosser and considered one of the best there. The seasonal menu comes with regional wine recommendations for […]
No Comments » - Posted in Wine and Food by Pinto Naravane
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
Red Mountain
Billo and I both landed in Portland around 10am yesterday and drove straight to Red Mountain (4-hour drive) to meet Scott Williams of Kiona Vineyards.
Red Mountain is the smallest AVA in Washington and is the source of its most expensive fruit (I know, I’m paying a lot for a little bit of Cab). It comprises […]
No Comments » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
1993 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon
I love Philip Togni Cabs. These wines from Napa’s Spring Mountain are classically made Bordeaux-style wines. I have often mistaken them in blind tastings as being from Pauillac. On the whole, they are long-lived, very complex, and well-structured.
(I remember one horizontal tasting of 1991 Napa Cabs we did a few years ago where 14 […]
