Happy Holidays

I hope this holiday season finds you warm and comfortable, safely home or safely travelling, and most importantly, enjoying a fantastic bottle of wine (or two or three) with family and friends.

I recently took a trip down to Texas/New Mexico to visit a friend. We decided to go wine tasting one day, and visited four wineries in New Mexico in the Tularosa area. I'm sorry to say that they were mostly disappointing. The one winery whose wines were actually good, Tularosa Vineyards, unfortunately sported an ignorant tasting room employee, as did another place we visited. Here are some of the things we "learned" from our esteemed friends:

- nobody ages wine in oak anymore - it takes too long (6 years or so) from start to finish, and if anyone says they are aging wine in oak barrels, it's just for show
- the vintage date is the year of bottling - we were informed that one rather young tasting 06 Cab was actually a 12 year old wine
-"there's nothing wrong with California wine that a box can't fix"
- if you blend two 14% wines, you get a 28% wine

And this takes the cake:

"If you need oak in your wine, I've got some toothpicks in the back for ya."

I'm sure you've had some atrocious tasting experiences too! Please feel free to share! :)

Needless to say, MANY excellent winemakers do indeed age their wine in oak barrels, and while it could take six years, it usually doesn't take quite that long. The vintage date is ALWAYS the year the grapes were grown and harvested. And blending two 14% wines would not double the alcohol content.

While New Mexico - at least the area we visited, I can't fairly speak for other regions of the state - was somewhat of a bust, I did discover some truly outstanding wines at Pheasant Ridge Winery in Lubbock, TX. The Pinot Noir and the '02 Cabernet were especially excellent. If you're interested in trying some nice out of state wine, I'd strongly recommend ordering some. You won't be disappointed!

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to many more wine adventures in the new year! Stay tuned for more Whatcom Wine Club activities, and as always, email me with your comments or questions.

Happy wining!

What's new, and what's coming up!

When is this wine club thing going to become more than just a website? Soon my friends, soon! On November 18th, to be exact. That's when the brand new Whatcom Wine Club will descend on Dakota Creek Winery to participate in their "barrel judging" event. Here's the description from the winery website:

"Barrel Judging of 2006 Dakota Creek Wines: This event gives wine drinkers, novices and sophisticates alike, a chance to rate our new 2006 Dakota Creek wines, prior to bottling. Come join the fun and try your palate at wine judging. Prizes will be awarded for the most creative label descriptions."

If you would like to attend this event, please let me know! We will decide on a time that works well for everyone. If you'd all like to, we can meet somewhere before heading to Dakota Creek, or afterwards, to discuss more particulars about the wine club and what direction we want to go in. I'm really excited to hear all of your ideas!

Please join the Yahoo Group! This is a super easy way to stay in the loop, communicate with other club members, and make plans.

This weekend's wine wanderings

This weekend we set out to discover a new winery or two. We had hoped to visit Vartanyan Estates, one of the area's newest wineries, but when we arrived there was no one around. That's ok, we'll try again! The tasting room is still under construction, but it looks like it'll be a really nice establishment, with estate vineyards to boot. You don't always see that in this region.

Next we wandered to downtown Bellingham to find Whatcom Winemakers, a store where you can make your own wine. This business idea has been popular in Canada for many years, and it's finally taking hold in the U.S. You select the wine you'd like to make, and the winery/store takes care of everything for you. You can be as involved -- or uninvolved -- in the process as you want. Prices average out to about $7-$10 per bottle. (Hint: if you save wine bottles, you can reuse them to bottle your own wine! Now there's a new take on recycling!) I hear that this is how a lot of winemakers get their start - using "kit wines", "you brew" stores, and the like. Sounds pretty fun to me!

On Sunday morning we got a call from Ken Peck of Dakota Creek Winery in Blaine. "We're crushing and pressing Chardonnay today... want to come and help?" Um... yeah! We've been waiting for a chance to help out with crush for a while. Despite torrential rains, we had an enjoyable and educational day. Luckily, Ken and Jill have a great "cave" that they've built to serve as a barrel room, and they were able to set up the crusher and press in there, out of the weather.

(Above: Alan shoveling grapes into the crusher/destemmer.)

Having grown up in Yakima, surrounded by apple orchards, I've had quite a bit of experience pressing apple cider. I was very surprised that the fresh Chardonnay grape juice tasted so much like cider! In fact, the whole crushing and pressing process reminded me a lot of cider pressing - 1) grind up the fruit, or in this case, remove the grapes from the stems, 2) press the "mash" to get the juice out. Man, are the results delicious!

I can't wait to taste the finished product. You should be excited about it too! In the meantime, drive out to Dakota Creek for a taste of last year's outstanding wines. (It's a good idea to call ahead to make sure someone will be around, especially during this busy time of year.)

Happy "wining"!

Do you have a purple smile yet?

If you haven't been into Purple Smile Wines in Fairhaven yet, then you're really missing out. It's in a great location in Fairhaven, right next to Avenue Bread & Deli (psst... you can pick up a sandwich at Avenue, bring it down to Purple Smile's sidewalk tables, and enjoy with a glass of wine!), the staff are friendly and helpful, and the wine selection is, of course, excellent, and reasonably priced to boot. Every weekend, there's a new line-up of wines to try from both near and far locales. $5 "pay to play" gets you at least four, and often five or six, different tastes.

Wine is meant to be enjoyed with friends, and Purple Smile is a great place to do it! Keep in the know about what's coming up at the shop by signing up for the email list when you're there, or check the "this week at Purple Smile" section on this blog.

Wild Women on Wine

Ok, so it wasn't exactly wild, but it was great fun! Tonight I attended the first "Girl's Night Out" at Purple Smile Wines in Fairhaven. Jeff Wicklund, proprietor of Purple Smile Wines, created these monthly tasting events specifically to celebrate and promote women winemakers from our great state.

Tonight's tasting featured the wines of DaMa Wines, a new Walla Walla winery. I thought they were outstanding! I came home with some Cabernet for myself, and a Riesling as a token gift for my husband, who grudgingly stayed home.

Get in the loop for future Girl's Night Out tastings, planned for the second Monday of each month. Visit Purple Smile's website for more info, or better yet, stop by the shop in Fairhaven, and sign up for the e-mail list. Jeff has tastings every weekend, and other special events and classes too. You want to be in this loop!

Are you a "Whatcom Wino"?

Welcome to the "Whatcom Winos" Wine Club Blog!

Typically, a wine club is something that you sign up for in order to receive regular shipments of wine from a winery or distributor. This wine club is different. We're not selling wine (although we do advocate the purchasing of wine from local wineries and wine shops!)

The premise of the Whatcom Wine Club is simple:

1) There are fantastic wineries, wine shops, restaurants, wine classes, and wine events right here in Whatcom County and all over the state.

2) There are lots of people in the Bellingham area who love wine.

3) Why don't we all connect, get to know one another, share knowledge, and most importantly, have fun enjoying wine!

Our vision is that this club will turn into a valuable resource to connect people who share an interest in wine (and/or who want to learn more about wine); provide up-to-date information about about area wineries, wine shops, classes, and other wine resources; offer opportunities to gather to learn first hand about our local wineries and their winemaking process; promote local wineries and wine retailers; and maybe even provide opportunities to socialize at fun events and trips centered around Northwest wines.

But first, we need YOU! If this sounds like fun to you, hop on board! Shoot me an email at whatcomwineclub@yahoo.com if you're interested in being involved.

Check out the links to the right to learn more about Whatcom County and Northwest WA wines. And be sure to check back here for more updates, coming soon!