Catie's Blog (5)

As always, I was blessed with the opportunity to share with friends and family good food and especially good wines from the Walla Walla Valley during this holiday season. And along with a beautiful and extensive selection of wines, "Raclette" has become a standing Christmas Eve tradition for us. What is Raclette? Of course, raclette is a semi-firm cow's cheese originating from Switzerland and also produced in certain regions of France. Typically the round of cheese is heated in front of a fire… Continue

Opening a bottle of wine is like opening a scrapbook. Wine can tell a story: from the label on the bottle to the nose and palate of the splendid nectar. I think there is no other intoxicating liquid quite like wine that has the power to wrap us in remembrances and recollections. Wine is meant to share with others and I wanted just the right moment to share the new bottle of Clarke’s Blend – 2005. You see, it was a limited bottling by the students of Colle… Continue

Yup, it's here. The Walla Walla Holiday Barrel Tasting is this weekend and what can I say about this event that hasn’t already been said? In fact, this is almost a repeat from what I blogged last year regarding this festive Walla Walla wine occasion. This is truly the one time of the year that the "angels" won't be blamed for taking their share of the barrel. What's really cool this year is, not only the Winemaker's Fete will kick off the event on Thursday evening, but Friday evening this town… Continue

Now, I told myself I wasn’t going to blog about it – naa-aah. Not me. No way this year. I was not going to tell my readers what wines make for a perfect pairing with their Thanksgiving turkey. I mean we’ve been reading about it for years from the LA Times to the Seattle Times to the New York Times and back to the LA Times, again. And let's not forget the glossies - perfectly poised and basted birds on the covers of food and wine magazines and between their pages are "perfect wine pairing" sugges… Continue

So after a weekend of tasting a lot of great Walla Walla wines from over 100 different wineries and after the wineries pour several bottles every week to all of their customers - what happens to the empty bottles? Many Walla Walla wineries are now working with Walla Walla… Continue