For those that follow...

I've promised in the past that this blog provides a sneak peek at upcoming events, so here we go:
The Seattle Wine Club Event will be held Wednesday, August 19th. This is a complimentary event that will fill up very quickly. I'll be sending out an invitation the week after July 4th, so keep your eyes open and RSVP quickly! We are also securing a few nearby hotels at a good rate, so those that want a mid-week vacation may want to take advantage of that.
More details (including the location) to follow!

Seattle Wine Awards

How could I forget? A few Sundays ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Seattle Wine Awards. Fidelitas won a whopping five medals that day, including three golds for the Optu red wine, Optu white wine and Ciel du Cheval Cabernet. This is a particularly special award for us, as we are being judged mainly by our peers. The panel is comprised of Seattle-area sommeliers, wine buyers and other professionals in the industry. I will say, we were up against a lot of good competition, but I am very happy with the results.

The event was hosted at the lovely Rainier Club. It really is a neat venue, and pretty cool to see a lot of Seattle history in one place. It's also nice that the one time Boys-club decided to let us ladies in.

A big thank you to Christopher Chan and the rest of the panel!

A little, gritty picture - but you get the idea

Busy times!

My goodness! We've had a busy past few weeks. I keep thinking that summer is the time to slow down just a bit, but I'm proving myself wrong. I had my "other half" Jessica G. come visit me in Seattle for a day of serious work, and a day of not so serious work visiting tasting rooms. The following week, I headed across the pass to Eastern Washington and was lucky enough to go tour the beautiful vineyards from which we source many of our grapes. Then, we hosted our first night of bocce and picnic fun at our Red Mountain tasting room. I'm going to try and get to all of these topics, but honestly, it may take me a bit.
First, Jessica G. and I traveled out to Woodinville's Wine Country to snoop around a bit and see some friends. We got a full tour of Januik/Novelty Hill including a very hidden room with rainbow lights in the basement. We had a wonderful time chatting with long-time friends of Charlie, Mike and Carolyn Januik. Next, we trekked into the beautifully landscaped gardens of DeLille while sipping their Bordeaux and Rhone styled blends. A big thank you to Shawna and Jay, who were wonderful hosts. After that, we said hello our one-time Tri-Cities neighbors at Bookwalter and got a sneak peak of the new tasting rooms for Mark Ryan and Ross Andrew. If you have any interest in concert posters, especially ones with Seattle bands, go visit Mark Ryan. The collection is almost as good as the wine. We ended our day at Efeste, who took over Januik's old space on the north side of Woodinville. The tasting room feels more like a living room, where you are welcome to just hang out and enjoy the wines. Brennan, the wonderful winemaker, was kind enough to preview us on some wines straight from the barrel, along with their great current releases.

If you ever find yourself traveling to any of the wine regions in Washington state, please be sure to contact me. I have suggestions for wineries to visit, restaurants to try and deals at many great accommodations. I'd love to introduce you to some of my friends to make your tasting visit as memorable as this one.

Inconvenient outfits for identification - Jessica G. and I on the foot bridge at DeLille.

This is a tasting room? I want it as my living room!

Jessica G., Brennan L. and Jess A. at Efeste

Wine Tasting Party

Last night I gathered a few professional tasters (i.e. close friends) at my way too warm apartment to try out the new tasting party that I created for our members. We tasted through five wines using a format that I learned in my sommelier training to evaluate the wines. It was great for me to see how the party works with a crowd, and to really analyze these wines. It was great for them to learn a bit more about how wine tasting really works and how to pull out all of those aromas and flavors from the wine. By the end of our tasting, I think everyone felt that they had learned quite a bit.

Once we were done with the serious tasting part, we got in to the food and wine pairing part. I have created recipes for each of our wines, and we spent the evening tasting the different wines with the different dishes. It was a good thing we did because we learned to change a few of the pairings and adjust the dishes to highlight the wines. We also played with three different types of cheeses to see how they interact with different wine styles. We paired up the Semillon and the Malbec with a goat cheese, a sharp cheddar and a gruyere style cheese that we got at the Ballard Farmer's Market earlier in the day.

Here is what we decided on:

Semillon - great with the fig jam and goat cheese, surprisingly good with the sharp cheddar, horrible with the gruyere!

Malbec - great with the gruyere, okay with the goat cheese but really good with fig jam, not so good with the sharp cheddar. We also tried the Malbec with a grilled flank steak and chimichurri. We loved the chimichurri but found that it overwhelmed the wine a bit. Turns out, the Malbec was really good with the next dish...

eight Syrah - We had this with prawns sauteed in a Oaxacan black mole sauce. I know...shellfish and syrah? It worked because the mole had a great chocolate component that gave the dish good depth and brought the prawns up to the level of the Syrah. This dish was also really good with the Malbec.

CV Merlot - We used this wine in the tasting, but for the sake of making it to work this morning, skipped it for dinner. The recipe that I had created for this wine, we used for the Cabernet, but I think it would be awesome with either wine.

CV Cabernet Sauvignon - Oh yum: I loved this pairing. We did herbed parmesan polenta topped with a cherry tomato and wild mushroom ragout. So many times, people will tell you to avoid vegetarian dishes with Cabernet at all costs. However, there were so many earthy notes in this dish that it turned out to be a great pairing. This was also the dish that showcased the wine the best out of all of our courses.

If you are interested in hosting a tasting at some point in time, let me know! I can either send you the "tasting in a box" that we tried last night, or if you are an Optu member, we can arrange a private tasting for up to 10 guests.

Ben, preparing for the tasting.

Evaluating the eight Syrah.

Katie and Dara trying out the Semillon with goat cheese and fig jam.

(It was too hot inside...)

We even wore out the puppy.