On one of the glorious warm Autumn days last month, Robin (friend and mentor) and I went downtown Walla Walla to take in the sites, snap photos, check out a few tasting rooms and relax with lunch and a glass of wine.There is no way to escape the turquoise-colored accented building on Main Street and it also has a way of drawing you inside. If you were dropping by Tru Cellars to pick up a bottle of wine for a dinner party, this tasting room has more than wine. Before you left you could also fi... Read Full Story

I mean - - come on! What else would you name a winery where the majority of the co-founder's are in the construction business and interior design and decorating business? Plumb Cellars, of course!Plumb Cellars was created by a Walla Walla group of friends who love their wine: Margo and Gary Kagels, Edie and Dale Johnson, Crandall Kyle, Chip Madsen, Taylor Sokolowsky, and Meagan & Judah Anderson-Pira. In 2006, Meagan Anderson-Pira, along with the rest of the wine-team, created their first... Read Full Story

Lately my motto has been, "So many Walla Walla wineries and so little time - - and only one of me." And with the best intentions, I still didn't make it to all of the wineries on my list.When I go wine tasting I like having another wine-geek with me to bounce off tasting notes and talk about the politics of wine and styles of winemaking. Jason Baggett, second-year student at the Walla Walla Institute for Enology and Viticulture and assistant at Mannina Cellars ventured out with me on the Satu... Read Full Story

It’s time for Fall Release in Walla Walla and what does this mean? Well, the truth of the matter is every first weekend in November, Christophe Baron of Cayuse Vineyards opens his doors to all of his fans who are on “the list” to pick up their “futures.” It also means it's a great time for the other wineries to show and shine! And what does this mean for the rest of us who are on the main Cayuse waiting list or on the chain of waiting lists to get on the waiting lists? (Hmmmph, I lost my plac... Read Full Story

When it comes to gaming I plead ignorance, but I wasn’t always. In the early 80’s I polished my skills on Ms. Pacman. I was in a situation of "if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em." At the time, my young step-son and his friends were very much into arcades and when we took the kids out for pizza after a football game, they became glued to the video games.Mike James, self-proclaimed gaming geek and owner/winemaker of 8-Bit Vintners realized while gamers were busy slaying dragons and saving princess... Read Full Story

I love scary stories, don’t you? Hold onto your seats because this is the scariest Halloween story you will ever hear.Once upon a time in a little town called Walla Walla there were a coven of four witches by the names of Grand Cru-ella, Claretta, Uvaggio, and Mog. All Hallows Eve was just around the corner, so they decided to plan a soiree to celebrate. Of course, if you are a witch you don’t need to hire a caterer or a sommelier to handle such a grand party, because all you have to do is wr... Read Full Story

In conjunction with the third annual North American Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC), WineCHATr.com will provide 12 citizen wine writers the opportunity to catch a ride across Washington wine country. WineCHATr.com is an online community for the growing wine industry, where both popular wine bloggers and businesses come together to connect and share information on wine.In eight months, hundreds of wine bloggers will converge on Walla Walla for the WBC to sip, sample and see what the Washington ... Read Full Story

I do love them and held true to them even when they were knocked “sideways” by Miles Raymond, the moody self-sabotaging wine aficionado character from the movie Sideways. I stayed faithful and never wavered when a group of writing peers from northern California skewered and flamed me for drinking a wine they felt was merely worthy of blending. Was it my fault they couldn’t get past their own wimpy California Merlots and not realizing that all Merlots were not created equal? Should I have felt... Read Full Story

In the 80's the trendy white wine was Chardonnay. In 2000, it appears to be the little gray grape with the split personality - Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio, depending if you are in France or Italy. I typically don't drink a lot of whites even though I’ve been on my soapbox barking that those of us who favor the red grape, need to give whites a chance. So, although I am not perfect, I try to heed my own words - - once in awhile.After the Labor Day weekend, I remembered a chilled bottle of Locati... Read Full Story

Have you ever had a bottle of wine that you almost cried over when you squeezed the very last drop into your glass? (and nooo - - I didn’t put the bottle to my lips) Well, Seven Hills Winery Cabernet Sauvignon - 2006, from the Klipsun Vineyard at Red Mountain, made my “Crying Over the Last Drop" wine list.Opening a bottle of wine can be like opening a scrapbook filled of memories. As I read the Seven Hills label and noticed the fruit was sourced from the Klipsun Vineyard, it brought back a me... Read Full Story