Taste Washington this Sunday in Seattle

This upcoming Sunday, April 5th, Charlie, Jessica G, Ron and I will all be at Taste Washington in Seattle. For those of you who haven't been before, this is a HUGE event that features over 200 Washington wineries and more than 60 restaurants from around the state. It is a great opportunity to not only come taste our wines, but to explore and taste through several other wineries and restaurants. I've heard that the event is nearly sold out, so if you don't have tickets, act fast! Visit http://www.tastewashington.org/ for more information.

The Feast is filling up!

A month away, and we are already more than half full for the Feast of St. Fidelis party on April 24th. If you have not received your invitation for this member-only wine club event, please let me know ASAP so you can join us! For more information, go to our website: www.fidelitaswines.com

Recipes!

As you all know, we like to feature a chef each shipment and share a few recipes that have been created to pair with our wines. For March, I worked with the team at Sip Restaurant in Sammamish (and now Gig Harbor!). I chose this restaurant because of the countless amount of Fidelitas Fans who let me know the first time they discovered our wines was while dining at Sip. They do a wonderful job with many of our wines on their list, which of course, is much appreciated. Chef Marc Powers came up with two absolutely amazing recipes to go with our March wines. A Spice Rubbed Teras Major that is accompanied by braised greens, truffled potatoes and a mulled wine sauce pairs with the 2006 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. For the 2006 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon, he created a beautiful Blackened Jumbo Tiger Shrimp that rests on a ginger rice cake and is surrounded by a zest Asian slaw.
We'll be sending these recipes out in our March Newsletter, and certainly have hard copies available as well. I'll also be featuring them on the blog here as I get the chance to make them myself. I just can't decide which to start with...
If you get the chance to pair one of these recipes with the wines, let me know what you think. Or, if you have any other great Fidelitas pairings, please share them. I'd love to hear what you enjoy most while sipping Fidelitas.

March is Washington Wine Month

This March we celebrate Washington Wine Month, just as the 602nd Washington winery received it's license from the state. As members of our wine club and fans of Washington wine, you probably already know some of the great things about the wines that are produced in this state. Washington wines tend to show bright fruit, balanced acidity and silky tannins. Wineries from around the state are already producing well known varietals - riesling, sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah - and many are starting to experiment with lesser known grapes such as malbec (ours is a great example), roussane, carmenere and mourvedre.
The Washington Wine Commission states that Washington is the "Perfect Climate for Wine", and I'm not going to argue. We lay at about the same latitude as the top producing regions in France, meaning that our growing season and angle of the sun is very similar to those great regions. Eastern Washington experiences about 300 days of sun per year giving us a dry growing season with roughly 17 hours of sunlight per day during the summer. We have what is known as good diurnal shift which means that our grapes get plenty of warmth and sunlight during the day to build ripe sugars and cool temperatures at night to let the grapes rest and establish balanced acids.
Regions such as Red Mountain, where we are located, are especially good for grapes. This is due to our southwesterly slopes, poor soils (which are perfect for grape growing), and proximity to the Yakima River that wraps around the base.
With this, I propose a toast to Washington wine. To help me celebrate, go to one of the many tasting events around the state, whether it be the Sip of Snoqualmie or Taste Washington, or one that may be hosted at your local wine shop or restaurant. Take the time to visit the Washington Wine Commission's website to learn more about why this is such a wonderful place for wine production. Most importantly, please don't forget to support your local wine shops who support Washington wineries. Without them, many of the premier wineries in the state would not be where they are today. Go to these independent shops and talk to the people who work there to learn more about the wide variety of great wines that come from this state. I'm sure you'll be really glad you did.

Plenty of Events and a Shipment

We are a bunch of busy bees around Fidelitas these days! I started with a pick-up event in Seattle for our OPTU members last week (definitely a perk of the OPTU level…), hosted a food and wine pairing event a few members over the weekend at the winery, and am about to issue our March wine club shipment. In addition to all of that, we have plenty of other fun things coming up:
Wednesday, March 4 - Wine Club After Hours: We’re staying open until 7pm for members to pick-up their shipments. Come by, say hi, taste the wines and have a few nibbles.
Saturday, March 7 - JDRF Auction: If any of you will be attending the Juvenile Diabetes Auction at the Sheraton, please be sure to come find me!
Sunday, March 8 - COCHON 555: As much as I’d like to taste all these great wines and munch on various parts of pig, I’m letting Charlie and Cyndy go to this one at Seattle's Bell Harbor. I think it’s going to be really fun!
Tuesday, March 10 - Legendary Swirl: This is an awesome line up of wineries at El Gaucho in Seattle. I’m really glad that we (specifically, me) get to be a part of this group.
Wednesday, March 11 - Winemaker Dinner on Red Mountain: I unfortunately won’t be able to attend this one either, but Charlie and Jessica will be there. I think it’s going to be so great.
Saturday, March 14 - Sip of Snoqualmie: Another great grouping of wineries at the brand new Snoqualmie Casino. Should be lively…
Sunday, March 15 - Tasting at Fine Wine and Cigars in Redmond: If you’re in the neighborhood, come taste Fidelitas wines from 1 – 5 with me!
March wine club shipments are being shipped on Monday, March 9th and are ready to be picked up now at the winery. These 2006 wines are really blowing me away right now. I have to say, the Columbia Valley Cab is drinking really well, and is definitely priced to be an unbelievable bargain.
As I mentioned earlier, I did a food and wine pairing event over the weekend. With my great love of both food and wine, this is definitely something I love to do. In upcoming blogs, I plan to go over a few points of pairing and give some examples of the dinner that we did. Stay tuned!