Summer Tastings Are In Full Bloom
The Spokesman-Review After a long dry spell, several wine tasting events are scheduled around the area that sound like lots of fun.
The lovely grounds at the Arbor Crest Cliff House will be the site of KPBX’s summer fund-raiser Thursday from 5:30 to 10 p.m.
The event includes a social hour with appetizers (served only for an hour beginning at 6), a silent auction and live music, with dancing to the Pamela McGuire Quartet. Each guest will receive a glass of wine and additional bottles of Arbor Crest wine will be sold for sipping under the stars.
For tickets, which are $20, call the radio station at 328-5729.
A tasting in Sandpoint on Saturday will include more than 20 Northwest and California wineries. The event, which is a benefit for The Festival at Sandpoint, will be held at Swan’s Landing starting at 5:30 p.m.
A full dinner follows the tasting. The menu features a mixed grill with chicken, sausage and ribs, served with a salad, seasonal veggies and a berry shortcake.
Tickets are $35 and can be purchased through the festival office. Call (208) 265-4554 for additional information.
Sparkling wines will provide the pop and sizzle at this year’s Summer Wine Festival on Aug. 18 at the Highlands Country Club in Post Falls. The event is a benefit for Trinity Group Homes, an agency that provides residential care for people with mental illness.
At last year’s event, I was impressed with the caliber of wine that was served. Every wine in Ferrari-Carano’s dynamite lineup was poured, for instance, along with several high-end French wines.
This year, more than 30 sparkling wines - including plenty of French champagne - will be available for sampling. It will be a good chance to taste French bubbly alongside its California counterparts. Moet and Chandon’s White Star will be poured along with selections from its Napa Valley satellite, Domaine Chandon. Mumm’s Cordon Rogue will be served as well as bubbly from Mumm’s well-respected California operation.
An assortment of Spanish, Italian and Northwest sparkling wines also will be available.
In addition to the bubbly, more than 100 wines - reds, whites and pinks - will be poured, including Kendall-Jackson’s upscale grand reserve wines.
Admission to the event includes an appetizer buffet, dancing to live music, a beer garden and a silent auction featuring some nifty oversized wine bottles. A three-liter bottle of Chandon bubbly, a fiveliter bottle of Arbor Crest cabernet sauvignon and a five-liter FerrariCarano cab are among the wines that will be sold to the highest bidder.
Tickets are $27.50 each and are available at regional wine shops. The event begins at 7 p.m. For additional information, call (208) 773-1596.
Chenin’s back
Chenin blanc will never replace chardonnay as the white wine du jour, but there is definitely a place for this underappreciated varietal.
Like at a sidewalk cafe on a warm summer evening or on a picnic, for instance. Chenin blanc can be bright and refreshing, especially when served ice cold.
There’s at least one signal that the fruity, slightly tart wine just might be enjoying new popularity.
The state’s oldest winery, Columbia, has recently reintroduced chenin to its already impressive lineup. The 1994 release is the winery’s first vintage since 1989.
The reason for the return? Customers kept asking for it.
Still, not everyone is a chenin fan. Most seasoned wine drinkers have been turned off by chenin that is made in a cloyingly sweet style.
Columbia Winery has made its chenin in a classic French style, with a crisp edge to balance the lush melon, pear and apricot. I was smitten with this wine after sipping it at a summer party.
It meshed nicely with various nibbles served such as a cold veggie pizza, stuffed mushrooms and a spicy guacamole. I can’t wait to try it with pad Thai or kung pao shrimp.
An affordable price tag, under $7, makes this wine even more attractive.
Other chenin blancs that I’m fond of include those from Worden’s (a perennial fave), Hogue Cellars, L’Ecole No. 41 (available only at the winery west of Walla Walla) and from California, Dry Creek and Hacienda.
They know pinot
Pinot noir has traditionally been considered the exclusive domain of Oregon (and France’s Burgundy region, of course).
It’s a tricky grape to grow and a difficult wine to make, so many vintners in this state don’t even bother. But recently I’ve been blown away by a couple of Washington pinots.
Columbia Crest has released a pinot made with fruit from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, so I’m not sure if it technically qualifies as a Washington wine. Pedigree aside, the wine is bursting with lovely black cherry and berry flavors. It was a fine match for a salmon dinner, but would also complement roast chicken or pasta with a light tomato sauce. It sells for around $10.
Columbia Winery’s Woodburne cuvee pinot has more of a smoky edge to temper its generous fruit flavors. It also has the tiniest touch of licorice.
The “cuvee” in the title is a fancy French way of saying the wine is made from a blend of grapes.
Columbia is no come-lately to pinot, either. Pinot has been part of its portfolio since 1967.
The Woodburne pinot sells for around $11.
, DataTimes MEMO: Grapevine is a monthly feature of IN Food. Leslie Kelly welcomes questions and comments from readers about all aspects of wine. Write to Grapevine, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5486; fax 459-5098.