Happy New Year! As we begin 2020, it’s time for our annual Favorite Washington Wineries List for the previous year. The way to get on our list is fairly simple. Above all, wineries must offer great juice and good people who provide an excellent wine experience.
Perhaps we had fun or learned something in a tasting room, a wine shop tasting, or at a wine event. Maybe someone from a winery sent us a personal note or wine samples. Likewise, we were occasionally invited to an incredible winery party.
Most noteworthy, the people who made our experience special are the winemakers, the tasting room staff, and the amazing workers in the vineyards where it all begins.
Happy New Year! As we begin 2019, it’s time for our annual Favorite Washington Wineries List for the previous year. The way to get on our list is fairly simple: wineries must offer great juice and good people who provide an excellent wine experience.
Perhaps we had fun or learned something in a tasting room, a wine shop tasting, or at a wine event. Perhaps someone from the winery gave us a call, or sent us a personal note or samples. Or perhaps we were invited to an incredible winery party.
These people who made our experience special include the winemakers; the winery owners; the hard-working staff in a tasting room who went out of their way to make us feel welcome; and the amazing workers in the vineyards where it all begins.
Taste of Tulalip is always one of the best wine and food events in the Seattle area, and this year was no exception. The sixth annual Taste of Tulalip was an explosion of flavours for every palate.
Kicking off the event Friday evening at Tulalip Resort was the Celebration Dinner, an incredible six-course meal paired with excellent wines. While the entire dinner was beyond magnificent, our ultimate favorites were:
Creamy Jerusalem Artichoke soup, pumpkin seed pesto, creme fruit and crispy leek straws (Chef Brent Clarkson), paired with d’s Wicked Hard Cider “Baked Apple,” Kennewick, WA
Seared scallop with green papaya slaw, micro Asian mallow, golden edamame shoots, with ginger lime vinaigrette and aged balsamic (Chef John Ponticelli), paired with 2012 Alleromb Winery Sauvignon Blanc, Columbia Valley, WA
Blackberry sockeye salmon lox popsicle and salmon souse vide over toasted hazelnut pesto (Chef David Buchanan), paired with 2012 Kosta Browne Russian River Pinot Noir, CA
New York strip, dry aged 46 days, tarragon beurre blanc and New York strip, aged 28 days, wild cranberry demi, with cambazola-mascarpone “Twinkie” (Executive Chef Perry Mascitti), paired with 2011 Leonetti Cellars Reserve blend, Walla Walla, WA
Chef Perry also provided another special treat during the dinner. He not only wowed the house with his, and his team’s, creative and delicious dishes, but also brought down the house with his showmanship by joining the band for a rocking version of “All Night Long.”
There were several musicians entertaining during the dinner, but Daniel Parks of Las Vegas had people on their feet dancing. From old-school Beatles and Neil Diamond tunes to perfect covers of Happy and Blurred Lines, this young man was a star. We hope to see him again; we can’t say enough good things about Daniel Park’s talent.
Can you tell that we totally enjoyed the Celebration Dinner?
Saturday offered a wide variety of things to do at Taste of Tulalip. We decided to spend our time at the Magnum Party and Grand Tasting.
There were two Magnum parties held simultaneously — one for old-world wine and one for new world wine. At the old-world tasting, we sipped an incredible 1985 Bordeaux blend from Chateau Lynch-Bages Pauillac in France — a chateau we visited during our trip to that wine region in 2005. This wine is drinking marvelously right now! We also tasted a pour from a $300-bottle of a Bordeaux blend, which combined Merlot and Cabernet Franc from St Emillion, France.
Hard as it was to leave the old-world event, we thoroughly delighted in excellent new-world wines too: Opus One 2007 Bordeaux blend from California; a lovely 2008 Shiraz from Penfolds in Australia; and our home-grown beauty, 2011 Betz Pere de Famille.
I also won a very cool gift pack that featured the Taste of Tulalip wine blend from the event’s honorary 2014 winemaker, Sean Boyd from Woodinville Wine Cellars. Special coffee and a gorgeous Tulalip medallion were also included in the gift.
How did I win it? Simple – I knew the answer to the trivia question, “Who is the Executive Chef at Tulalip Resort?” Even if I hadn’t already known it, how could I miss after his star musical performance the night before?
Next came the Grand tasting; how could this event make a mark after the activities already outlined above? Easy – we had an opportunity to see our friends and sip wine from some of our favorite Washington wineries: Obelisco Estate, Barrage Cellars, Avennia, Doubleback, Efeste, Gorman Winery, Alexandria Nicole Cellars, Figgins, Force Majeure and Woodinville Wine Cellars. Plus we had a taste of a magnificent red blend from Craggy Range, a winery we enjoyed when we were in New Zealand last May.
Special thanks to Allan Aquila for the invitation!
If you’ve never been to Taste of Tulalip, please bookmark this page, so you will remember to get your tickets for the 2015 event!
Happy New Year! As we begin 2020, it’s time for our annual Favorite Washington Wineries List for the previous year. The way to get on our list is fairly simple. Above all, wineries must offer great juice and good people who provide an excellent wine experience.
