Last night, I was invited to join Sarah Carlson from The Tasting Room while she conducted a Wine 101 class for none other than the Sockit Wenches, a roller derby team in the Rat City Rollergirls league.  While it was clear that I would be Sarah’s “bitch” for the night (keeping people’s glasses full while she waxed eloquent about wine), how could I decline an invitation to hang out with the lovely ladies of one of the most notorious teams in the league while they drank some great Washington State wine?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with roller derby, the idea here is for the “jammer” (Miss Fortune, in this case, who is also the team captain) to out-race the members of the other team, while her teammates block and clear the way for her.  Points are scored by how many opponents you pass as you whiz around the track in old-school quad skates.  Basically, these chicks are urban professionals by day, and badasses at night, complete with clever pseudonyms intended to intimidate anyone who would skate in their way (e.g. Jackie Hammer, Moe YaDown, Raven Mad, Sister Piston, Shovey Chase,Sugar N. CreamHer, Bonnie Collide, Holley KnockHers, and many others).  I imagine them having to explain bruises to co-workers in Fight Club fashion.

We arrived at the gorgeous home of Ruby Red, and set up shop while she andMiss Fortune arranged a metric ton of food: cheeses, vegetables, dips, breads and crackers (much more food arrived later). Wines were chilled, wines were uncorked, and I may have drooled on some of them. Of course, I brought copies of WINO Magazine for everyone to enjoy. 

More Sockit Wenches and a couple of roller girls from the Derby LiberationFront kept trickling in, and eventually, there were enough attendees to start the class, and I was happy to pour the wines while Sarah gave a crash-course in wine.  We poured Mountain Dome’s sparkling cuvée, Wineglass Cellars’ no-oak Chardonnay, Harlequin’s Chenin Blanc, Wineglass Cellars’ Sangiovese rosé, Wineglass Cellars’ Capizimo blend, and Harlequin’s Minnick Vineyard Syrah. 

The roller girls were full of questions, comments, and could get pretty chatty between themselves once the wine was flowing, but Sarah handled the distractions with aplomb. Team matron Hot Flash was brilliant enough to suggest a rearrangement of furniture to force the girls to pay attention, which was a brilliant strategy that worked for about half an hour.

After the lectures, the night devolved into a more traditional party, everyone hanging out, and drinking a lion’s share of wine and beer.  It was a great time, and I was glad to meet the rollergirls of the Sockit Wenches.  I’m not going to miss their next bout on August 16.

One winery you will not see reviewed in the August issue of WINO Magazine is Col Solare.  But, we tried!

Last weekend, after touring around a lot of wineries in Prosser and Red Mountain, we decided to try to visit Col Solare.  This winery is a collaboration between Chateau Ste. Michelle and the Italian winemaker Marchese Piero Antinori.  In 2005, they decided that a winery devoted to Col Solare wine would best realize the wine’s potential, and in 2007, they celebrated their grand opening on Red Mountain.  We thought it would be fun to check it out, since we could see the huge fortress from the windows of Kiona Vineyards & Winery.

We drove up various little roads through vineyards, the mission-style winery in view on the hill the whole time, guiding us like the North Star (the name means “Shining Hill”).  We finally pulled up to the steps, worthy of a Mayan pyramid.  While Josh was parking the car, Dan and I ran up the steps to find the tasting room.  The place looked swank inside through one of the many glass doors.  I tried the door and it was locked, so I tried another one, which swung right open. 

Burglar alarms started blaring all over.  We didn’t see any people, and we weren’t sure what to do.  We walked around the corner of the building, thinking we’d find someone running up to arrest us, and we were preparing to explain that we weren’t burglars, but honest journalists.  But, no one showed, so we ran back down the steps, jumped in the car, and got the hell out of there like bandits on the run from the law.

To the folks at Col Solare, sorry.  We’ll be sure to visit during operating hours the next time we’re in town.  And, I swear, we didn’t touch anything.

A couple of weekends ago, my buddy Curt and I drove down to Portland, Oregon to see a friend.  The three of us ended up driving to nearby Troutdale to hang out at the Edgefield McMenamins.  If you’ve never been to a McMenamins, put it on your list of things to do.  McMenamins is a brewery that buys historical buildings, restores them, and sets up bar. A lot of them also have hotel accommodations and other fun things to do.  Edgefield, for example, was a poorhouse in the early 1900’s, where (as the name would imply) people who were down on their luck or too old to work could live and be taken care of.  Every room is rich with history, and you can also get a beer or a bite in nearly every room, including the furnace building, which is a small outbuilding out on the property.

We were happy to discover that Edgefiled also had a winery, and so we went for a tasting.  For five bucks, you can taste six wines, so we tasted all the reds, which were big, rich, and pretty tasty.  While we were tasting, we noticed a little girl holding a black rabbit standing off in the shadowy corners behind the bar, watching us.  It freaked us out, even after we realized that she was painted on the surface of a black door.  Her eyes seemed to follow us, which was pretty disconcerting.  We asked about it, and the bartender told us that it was an homage to the ghost that haunts that wing of the poorhouse.  She’s said to be friendly, but gives people the creeps just the same.

What’s interesting about Edgefield (at least, what makes Edgefield relavent to a publication about Washington wine), is that they buy many of their grapes from Washington State.  While they have some estate vineyards, and buy from eight other vineyards in Oregon, some of their wines are either straight varietals from Washington, or blended with Washington grapes.  Edgefield gets fruit from:

• Lonesome Spring Ranch, Benton City, WA – Merlot for “Black Rabbit Red” blending
• McKinley Springs, Alderdale, WA – Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for “Black Rabbit Red” and varietal
• Alder Ridge, Alderdale, WA – Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for “Black Rabbit Red” and varietal
• Chukar Ridge, Dallesport, WA - Varietal Syrah and Syrah Port
• Huber, White Salmon, WA – Chardonnay for varietal

Visit Edgefield if you ever find yourself near Portland.  It’s worth the stop.

This weekend, we rallied a posse of guys and gals and headed over to the wine country of Prosser and Red Mountain.  There were scads of wineries to visit during the day in Prosser, which has become a serious wine destination in Washington State.  The streets are even named after varietals of wine, if that tells you anything, and the wineries are clustered so you can just jump from one to another without having to drive all over the place. (I have no idea what we’re looking at in this photo…)

We were also lucky enough to see the Gallery Walk & Wine Gala, a steet fair of sorts that allowed us to walk around 6th Street with full glasses of great wines from local wineries while looking at work from local artists. How cool is that? Each pour cost one ticket, and each ticket cost fifty cents, so when I do the long math, it was a really inexpensive way to taste a lot of great wine. We took a bunch of video footage, which will be released soon, but for now, follow the link above to see someone else’s video on Viddler.

The vineyards on Red Mountain were gorgeous, and we had a great time stopping in at the wineries up there. Be sure to check out the upcoming August issue of WINO to read more about the area and the wineries, and keep checking back here to see the video footage taken by Dan Tharp ofPeek Productions. -Doug

Blackwood Canyon Winery: A must-see destination… if you have the time.

I had to post this picture of the man, the legend, Mike Moore ofBlackwood Canyon winery. Certainly the wine maker of his kind in the State, perhaps the Country, Mike hearkens back to the “Old School” of wine making. I mean 1500 years old. We’ll be doing an in-depth review of our nearly two-hour experience with Mike, his dogs, and his ideology in the soon-to-publish August issue. -Josh

According to TRW’s blog, Tate was involved in the design of this red signature blend, and he said, “Insania is a creative project similar to the process of making music. Wine has been an important part of my life and the creation of Insania is yet another avenue to express my creativity and give my fans something more they can enjoy. With a limited production, I hope everyone who loves wine will join me in this wonderful new venture.”

In the same blog, winemaker Holly Turner is quoted as saying, ”Geoff Tate simply rocks and so does his love of wine. We share this passion for wine and have put together a powerful blend that represents Geoff. We feel so fortunate to be working with such a well-respected artist that is also a friend.”

Tate will be performing a solo show at Three Rivers Winery on September 20, and they hope to release the wine that night.