05/31/06 (Wednesday) - Remembering Two Mountain Winery Owner Ron Schmidt
Owner of Two Mountain Winery, Ron Schmidt, was killed in a car accident last Friday night while on his way home from spending a few days with family and friends. We met Ron only briefly during a visit to Zillah for our Rattlesnake Hills feature, but we had a great time sharing wine and tacos with him. Ron’s infectious smile and outgoing personality rubbed off on everyone around him, and because of this the Two Mountain tasting room gained quite the reputation as a place where both staff and customers had a good time. He was definately a class act and a great influence in the Washington Industry. We will surely miss Ron and wish his friends and family our deepest condolences. -MP
05/13/06 (Saturday) - Toasting a Nice First Try at Dempsey Indoor
Usually making the choice to attend a larger wine event and drink various wines for 5 hours is an easy decision to make – “Hell Yeah!” However, when it’s 70 degrees and sunny on a spring day in Seattle that choice becomes a little more difficult, especially given that the event was inside. But in the end common sense and a thirst for some good wine won out…it also helped that the next 5 days were supposed to be just as nice! So I strolled into Dempsey Indoor, located on the University of Washington campus next to Husky Stadium to see what this new wine event was all about.
 The billing for the event was as follows: Toast to the Northwest is an international wine festival organized and produced by the University of Washington Husky Marching Band Foundation to celebrate the production of wines from all over the world, including wines from Oregon, Idaho and Washington. This festival exists not only as a fundraiser for the Husky Marching Band but to bring together, under one roof, some of the best wines in the Northwest, and the world, for your tasting pleasure.
With 140 wineries participating, a third from Washington, and 400 different bottles of wine this was no small wine tasting. The event space itself was massive. Maybe even a little too large given that only 1,000 of the expected 3,000 attendees actually showed up. But, this wasn’t a huge surprise with the nice weather. The fewer people, along with the wide isles and plenty of open space, did make it nice to get around and drink wine without having to wait in line or jockey for a position at each winery’s table. And of course there were plenty of pretzels and cheese curds to go around, donated by event sponsor Darigold.
Of the wineries participating those from the Northwest were just about the only booths being manned by the winemaker or winery representatives. Most of the other wineries had their wines poured by members of the band. This was definitely a new experience. Each pourer was provided a card of pertinent facts about the wine and the winery but if attendees wanted to know any more they were pretty much out of luck. I primarily stuck to the Washington wineries, with some of my event favorites being Alexandria Nicole Cellars, Canon de Sol, Fidélitas, Pendulem and Saint Laurent – for both quality of conversation and wine. One other standout from Oregon was Maysara Estate Winery for their great Pinots.
All in all it was an enjoyable event, but definitely one that could be improved upon. Hopefully the event organizers will learn from this experience and pull together a much tighter event next year. One important thing to keep in mind is that celebrity hosts aren’t necessarily a huge pull but there was some good entertainment value. -MP
05/12/06 (Friday) - A Winemaker Dinner Featuring Willis Hall Winery
 WineCOW attended a winemaker dinner Friday night at The Art Institute of Seattle’s Portfolio Restaurant. The dinner featured Willis Hall winemaker, John Bell, along with 5 of his wines including a 2004 Roussanne as well as a Sangiovese, Syrah, Merlot and Orange Muscat Passito – all 2003 vintages. Each wine was paired with a different course prepared by Chef Instructor Harry Mills and students of the AIS Culinary School. The Yakima Valley Sangiovese paired with a slow-roasted Columbia River King Salmon was spectacular, as was the Chandler Reach Syrah and black-pepper crusted duck. Overall the experience was enjoyable. Small parties are seated together at tables of 6 or more people, so hopefully you don’t mind eating with people you don’t know. But of course that’s what wine dinners are all about…eating great food, trying new wines and meeting other people that share a common interest in wine. Wine dinners occur at the Portfolio restaurant 4 times per year, once a quarter. For more information or to book a seat for an upcoming dinner contact Dieter Schafer at 206-239-2363. -MP
05/03/06 (Wednesday) - The New Craze in Unique Wine Packaging
 Have you noticed the new influx of unique wine packaging lately? And we’re not talking about bottles with loud branding, funny labels or clever names…but there is still plenty of that going on. What we’re referring to is the new wine containers that have hit the shelves recently. One of the newest and most popular is VOGA ($12.99), an Italian Pinot Grigio that comes in a tall, sleek, clear, cylindrical glass bottle. While it still holds 750ml of wine VOGA’s break from the traditional white wine bottle is definitely catching eyes and offering up a new cosmopolitan feel to the wine market. Bottle service anyone?
 Another example that’s currently flying (or hopping) off the shelves, is French Rabbit ($10). This ecofriendly wine comes in loudly colored juice boxes on steroids and offers a series of varietals, including vintage-dated cab, merlot, pinot noir and chardonnay. Seemingly created with the outdoor enthusiast in mind French Rabbit’s ePod offers up a completely new approach to wine packaging. The box, similar to those used for soy milk and juice, holds a liter of wine – two more glasses than a traditional bottle. After you’re done guzzling wine straight from the box it also folds flat, which the company claims creates a 90% reduction in packaging waste. The environmentally friendly deeds don’t stop there however, because with every four wines sold French Rabbit promises to plant a tree!
But the real question that begs to be answered with both of these new wines and their fancy packaging is…”Can the wine possibly be good?” We’ll let you be the judge of that. This could be a perfect case of, don’t judge a book by its cover. Because afterall, these new untraditional flashy looking containers could hold some great juice! But really, who cares?!!? They’ve got cool packaging! -MP & JC
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