Woodinville Wine Tasting

Wowee, we had an amazing time in Woodinville today! My best friends, my husband and I met up at Chateau Ste Michelle first. They had a beautiful Christmas display, but we all felt that the wine was pedestrian and moved quickly on to Mark Ryan Winery.

[Image from Mark Ryan] My best friend and I loved the tasting room, especially the neat yellow cupboard serving as a tasting bar!
The wine HERE was stunning. It was understated and excellent. It's pricey but worth it.
I absolutely love their bold red wines. We all enjoyed the Long Haul and the Dead Horse especially. The tasting room itself was a interesting juxtaposition of rock/hip-hop album covers and wine paraphernalia.

My favorite piece of art was the print of the Grey Album album cover by Justin Hampton. The Grey Album is a favorite of my husband's and mine. DJ Danger Mouse remixed the vocals from Jay-Z's The Black Album and the Beatles' White Album into a masterpiece. Brian Burton (Danger Mouse) is quoted as saying:

"A lot of people just assume I took some Beatles and, you know, threw some Jay-Z on top of it or mixed it up or looped it around, but it's really a deconstruction. It's not an easy thing to do.' 'I stuck to those two because I thought it would be more challenging and more fun and more of a statement to what you could do with sample alone. It is an art form. It is music. You can do different things, it doesn't have to be just what some people call stealing. It can be a lot more than that." [Quote & Image from Wikipedia] Check out this music video as an example of the Grey album.

In addition to great company, art, and wine, we had the pleasure of meeting Mark Ryan, the winemaker too. He quoted Pearl Jam and poured us some tasty wine.
There was even a neat vintage Indian motorcycle in the Mark Ryan tasting room!
Next door was the J. Bookwalter tasting room...
The main stop was the fun Stained Tooth Society wine club party at Dusted Valley!
They had festive harvest and wheat decorations, typical of their wine labels. The four of us all agreed that the Walla Walla Reserve Syrah was utterly fabulous and worthy of purchasing.
We all got a kick out of the etched magnums, with their skeleton bikers and flames!
Our last stop of the day, was right next door to Dusted Valley. Brian Carter Cellars was nice cap to our wonderful wine tasting afternoon.
There was a wonderful sunset as we left Brian Carter. Overall we had fun wine tasting, but it lacked the familiarity and personability of a non-retail oriented wine experience like our favorite Walla Walla tasting rooms.

Check out what my husband and I made for dinner to go with our Mark Ryan 2006 Water Witch wine! It's yummy!

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

Prep Time:

5 min

Inactive Prep Time:

--

Cook Time:

15 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

5 servings

Ingredients

1 pound macaroni with lines,

such as tubatini

or mini penne rigate

Salt

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan

2 tablespoons butter

[I used Smart Balance Margarine]

1/2 medium onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves,

plus a few sprigs for garnish

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups chicken stock

1 (10 ounce) box frozen cooked butter nut squash, defrosted

[I used half a fresh acorn squash, microwaved for 5 minutes,

then I pureed it for a few minutes]

1 cup cream or half-and-half [I used 1/2 cup of milk and

an extra tablespoon of Smart Balance Margarine]

2 cups (8 ounces) sharp Cheddar, grated

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, eyeball it

Black pepper

Directions

Heat a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Salt the water then

add the pasta and cook to al dente or, with a bite to it.

While pasta cooks, heat a medium heavy bottomed pot over

medium heat. Add the extra-virgin olive oil and butter. When the

butter melts into the oil, add the thyme and grate the onion

directly into the pot with a hand held grater or Microplane.

Cook the grated onion in butter and oil 1 to 2 minutes, then

add flour and cook together 1 to 2 more minutes. Whisk in

stock, then combine with butternut squash until warmed

through and smooth. Stir in cream or half-and-half and bring

to a bubble. Stir in cheeses in a figure 8 motion and season

the completed sauce with salt, nutmeg and pepper. Taste to

adjust seasonings.

Drain cooked pasta well and combine with sauce.

[Next time we make this recipe my husband suggests

we use less thyme and add some garlic!]

Copied from FoodNetwork.com on Sat Nov 21 2009

© 2009 Scripps Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved

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Woodinville Wine Tasting Tomorrow!

[Images from Dusted Valley]

I'm so excited for Dusted Valley's Stained Tooth Society wine club tasting tomorrow in Woodinville. When I was in Walla Walla in September, one of our best friends introduced us to the Dusted Valley Vitners. We were so impressed with all their wines, that we became wine club members immediately. As we were inducted into the "Stained Tooth Society" we were given toothbrushes and a tee shirt that our friend promptly spilled on! My favorite wine at the time was the 2007 LONESOME SPRINGS RANCH SQUIRREL TOOTH ALICE SYRAH. Yes, it's got a crazy name and it's description is even crazier: "The namesake of this old Dodge City, KS lady of the night lives on famously. The sex appeal of this wine jumps out of the glass with loads of seductive allure. You’re gonna love ‘er. If not, you’ll have to have to answer to Alice’s pet ground squirrel. No kidding. She had a pet ground squirrel... How else did you think she got her name???"

Tomorrow, my husband and I are meeting my best friends at the centrally located Chateau Ste Michelle's first, before heading over to the Dusted Valley members only tasting! At Chateau Ste Michelle, I'm looking forward to tasting the limited release, 2005 WAHLUKE SLOPE SYRAH:

“Hints of warm boysenberry fruit and roasted espresso grace this soft Syrah. Plush on the palate, this wine is fleshy, viscous and mouth-filling. It is a tribute to the Wahluke Slope style of fruit – forward and jammy. If there were one Chateau Ste. Michelle Syrah to call a ‘Shiraz’, this would be it.”

- BOB BERTHEAU, HEAD WINEMAKER

We're considering stopping by a few other wineries while we're in the area. My husband's co-worker said Distefano is a must taste. (12280 Woodinville Dr. NE) [Image from Distefano]

We were also told to go to [in order of my brief internet research preference]:

1. Januik (next door to Chateau Ste Michelle) is located at 14710 Woodinville-Redmond Rd NE. It's also the earliest tasting room to open at 11am. I'd like to try the 2006 Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon! Ciel du Cheval on Red Mountain always produces amazing grapes and I seem to love all wines from that vineyard! Ciel du Cheval is widely regarded as a favorite vineyard for winemakers in Washington!

2. The Mark Ryan tasting room is in the Hollywood Schoolhouse,14810 NE 145th Street Building A-1.

I'm currently drinking the lovely Water Witch from Klipsun Vineyard on Red Mountain tonight. I love bold red wines! This blows many other bold reds out of the water. It's beautifully fragrant and reminds me of chocolate. Northwest-wine.com had a wonderful review of it too: "The Water Witch 06 from Mark Ryan Winery is a monster -a massive yet approachable mouthful of over the top, huge flavor. The scent is lush- white violets, chocolate, cherry sundae, vanilla and black cherry. Flavors of black cherry, plum, and cassis mix with bittersweet chocolate, licorice, vanilla, leather, and toast. As the wine lingers and finishes, a hint of milk chocolate begins to emerge. The 2006 Water Witch could not be more hedonistic and appealing. Highly recommended for those who like their wines huge and crowd pleasing.

The 2006 Water Witch is a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon and 42% Merlot, all from Klipsun Vineyard."

It's so yummy that I can't wait to try the Dead Horse (Ciel du Cheval) Blend, since northwest-wine.com says, "The Dead Horse is our favorite Mark Ryan wine several years running. Wine critics seem to agree, and with a Wine Spectator score of 90 points for the 2005, we're sure the 2006 Dead Horse won't be galloping for long!"[Images from Mark Ryan Winery]

3. Another winery option might be William Church at 19495 144th Ave NE, Suite A100. I'd love to try the 2007 Bishop's Blend. The tasting notes on the website say, "Rich aromas of strawberry preserves are followed by tons of bright red fruit in this next vintage of Bishop’s Blend making it every bit as much of a bargain as the hugely popular 2006 vintage. With flavor and complexity found in much more expensive wines, it displays deep wild raspberry and cherry flavors along with smokey oak and mild tannins.

Crafted to go with many different types of food, we’ve carefully blended 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot & 5% Syrah to create this all occasion crowd pleaser perfect for your next party or to enjoy with family and friends."

I doubt we'll be able to make it to all the Woodinville wineries that were recommended to us, but here are a few other possible tasting rooms that we'd like to try in the near future!

• Sparkman Cellars (19501 144 Ave. NE D-700) I'm particularly interested in 2006 Kingpin Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Cuillin Hills, 19495 144th AVE NE, Suite A-110, (is fortunately available at Portalis in Ballard too).
• Edmonds Winery (also available at McCarthy & Schiering) is located at 19501 144th Ave NE, Suite D700.
• The Brian Carter tasting room at 14419 Woodinville-Redmond Road NE is a possibility but we've actually had several of their wines, so it doesn't have to be a must taste this weekend.
• Alexandria Nicole has an expensive wine and food pairing tasting fee ($20 per person) so this is a low priority for this Sunday!

• Unfortunately Red Sky at 19495 144th Ave NE # B220 is not an option because their website says they're only open on Saturdays. :(

Tomorrow should be a fun adventure! I'll post pictures soon! Please let me know if you have any tasting recommendations!

More cream colored ponies, or Icelandic horses in North Holland

Icelandic horses in North Holland
Originally uploaded by B℮n

Pirate cupcakes by Coco Cake!

it was so hard to part with these guys!!
Originally uploaded by *coco cake cupcakes* -- vancouver, bc

How yummy and funny do these cupcakes look?

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