The Feast, the food drive, and a new pic

I am back out on Red Mountain, visiting Eastern Washington for a week. Prior to heading over last week, I hosted a pick-up event in Seattle for Optu members in the area. We got to taste a few of the new releases and meet several members from around the Seattle region. It was great to see everyone and even found a new member in the group! At the request of Les (he's only made it a few times now), I've updated my photo for the blog. No more sunglasses. This is me cooking my own birthday dinner last month, since cooking is one of my favorite things to do.
Last Friday night, we hosted our Feast of St. Fidelis here at our Red Mountain Tasting Room. I didn't do any of the cooking, but Tip Pit BBQ did an incredible job. I was loved seeing member's plates overflowing with food, heading to a table in the sunshine with a taste of Fidelitas to go with it. It was a beautiful evening, with plenty of good cheer. We were able to pour just a bit of Champoux Merlot, which was lovely, along with a great selection of other wines. A big thank you to everyone who was able to join, and a really big thank you to all of the Fidelitas staff and volunteers who made this night happen.
Over the weekend we hosted a food drive to benefit Second Harvest, which serves the Mid-Columbia region of Washington. I was so happy to see members kick-off the drive Friday evening with generous monetary and food donations. By the end of the weekend, we filled two very large barrels of food and raised more than $2500 that all went directly to Second Harvest. Thank you so much to all of you who contributed. Spring can be particularly tough for food banks, especially this year. If you are able, I would highly encourage everyone to make a contribution to their local organization.
We are now in the middle of processing the May shipment of 2006 Champoux Merlot and 2006 Champoux Cabernet. These wines are awesome - enjoy them!