Blending Day and Bottling Day

On Saturday, January 15th we went to Kestrel's barrel room to blend our next vintage. John Gabriel had over 20 barrels down from the racks for us to sniff and taste. Thank you all for coming and bringing your yummy appetizers and husbands. The hubbies were so well behaved, we'll invite them back again!

The good news is, I think we will have an OUTSTANDING wine to start drinking in August. We tasted Cabs, Merlots, Cab Franc, Syrah, Malbec, Tempranillo and a new grape- Graciano.

As you know, we hadn't printed our labels yet until we decided what we were making. Well, we did an about-face and chose the Rioja Spanish blend (30% Tempranillo and 70% Graciano) instead of the Bordeaux blend. It was deeper in color, a little on the spicy side, a gorgeous mid-palate and a long, enticing finish. It’s a wine with impeccable balance that will drink well young and age beautifully.

What a fluke that we just had our Spanish wine tasting day and the winner was a Tempranillo!

So, now we get to bottle it! The new bottling date is Saturday, Feb. 12th at 1:30pm behind Kestrel again. Be prepared to work on the production line; moving boxes, bottles, gasing them, filling them, corking them, putting the capsules on, labeling them and then boxing them!

If you have a few more friends that want to join us and buy some of our wine, let Gayle know that you are interested. This may be our last time to do this.........

ps. the new name means "BEAUTIFUL RED"

Lisa Day Mosaic Class

Time to sign up for Lisa Day's Mosaic Class.

It is Feb 15 & 17 at 6 pm (you can get there at 5 if you want, too) in her home studio in W. Richland.

She has lowered the price just for us- it is now only $50. You can bring your own project to work on (tabletop, picture frame, bowling ball yard art, or?) I do have about 12 bowling balls I will donate to you to use if you don't have any other ideas.

Please RSVP to me by Feb 7th. The class is limited to 12

Spanish Wines and Tapas Day

What a great day! We had glass painting, great food, blind tasting of 14 or so wines, and the Aroma Class by Carol Sanford. That was very informative and fun! Thank you Carol!!

The winners were:

#1 2008 Tempranillo by Desert Wind $20 from the winery in Prosser

#2 Tie- 2005 Marques De Caceres $14 , Fred Meyer

and 2006 Finca La Estacada $14, Pasco Yokes

#3 2006 Rejadorada Tinto Roble $18, Pasco Yokes

A BIG thanks to Lisa Day for hosting in her beautiful home.

New Winery Open in Richland- Hamilton Cellars

If you like Malbec's, this is the place to go! They have Malbec flights (which I recommend), Bordeaux blend flights called Bona Vita. The Malbec flight includes a Rose' of Malbec. They also have a very nice floral white wine. My favorites were the '07 Merlot and the '07 Malbec. Prices run around the $26- 30. range. They have a $5. tasting fee and also a wine club. Wine club members have their own special room with a fireplace and bar. This summer there will be an outdoor patio.

If you'd like their hours, click on the heading above.

Charlie Hoppes is their winemaker and I think he did a very fine job sourcing the grapes and blending for them. Be sure and stop by and tell them you are a WWW!