Senoj is Back

After a short hiatus, the Senoj Estates tasting room will be reopening this Saturday, from 12-5pm. Many have speculated about why Senoj temporarily closed the doors for the last three months, and there is no better way to find out than to talk to the man himself, Jeff Jones. Stop by Senoj in Woodinville on Saturday, check out the portfolio of the latest wines, and chat it up with Jeff, the renegade of Woodinville.

Senoj Estates
19495 144th Ave NE
Woodinville, WA. 98072
www.senojestates.com

How to Stalk Erin the Lush this Weekend

The Lush is a stealthy creature: sloppy, clumsy and tooth-stained with purple in nature. The Lush has her better known weaknesses: Italian wine, Washington Cabs and free food. She can be found at oenophile functions near the table that either has the most wine/is pouring the biggest tastes and is usually found with any complimentary cuisine that is available. She will probably be on her third helping by the time you locate her.

This weekend, the elusive Lush is rumored to be trudging around the grounds of the historical Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery. Glass in hand and napkin left with only crumbles, she will be partaking in multiple servings of what is to be poured and eaten at the grand ol’ Auction of Washington Wine.

It is only the “must attend wine weekend of the summer,” there is no doubt she has weaseled her way into a media pass and somehow, accidentally got her name twice on the list…

Dine in the Vines – Whidbey Island Winery’s Dreamy Event

August 22, 2009
6:00 pm	to	11:00 pm

Leah Warramaki, assistant winemaker for Whidbey Island Winery, just sent over an email about an event they are hosting this month on the 22nd. I must say, it’s one of the more unique events available to West Siders in that it will be held amongst their estate vines. “Dine In the Vines” features seven pairings of food and wine, prepared by chef Jess of Ca’Buni Cafe and Whidbey Island Winery. Some of the food will include “wild-caught seafood, pasture raised beef, heirloom tomatoes, and local artisan cheeses.” Frickin’ yum. The Winery will also be introducing their new fortified effort, ‘Ouvre La Porte.’

We’ve been big fans of the Whidbey Island Tour since we went last year and for all good reasons. There are some really nice wines out there, including some you won’t find hardly anywhere else in the State, it’s close to metro Seattle, and there are actual estate vineyards to play around in whilst sipping your Madeline Angevine. Charming, accessible and tasty. (Here’s our silly video that features some of the wineries and wines available on Whidbey.)

Dine In The Vines
AUGUST 22nd – 6pm
Tickets on sale at the winery 360.221.2040 for $95/person includes dinner, wine, and tax.

Col Solare Makes Serious Wine, Cute Video

If you’re not familiar with Col Solare it’s likely because you’re a normal wine consumer. By “normal” I mean one who buys wine to drink, not to hustle off to your wine locker or cellar only to watch it age via your CellarTracker account. The Col Solare tasting room, which sits directly above their newish state-of-the-art winery at the very tippy top of Washington’s wine industry crown jewel, Red Mountain, is exclusive and not open to the public but open to the public by appointment. The wine is really big, expensive and built to age. When you drink the 2005 vintage of Col Solare’s only effort, a Cab-based blend, you feel like your drinking the wine of a King, who’s dais you’re a guest but for reasons you know not. It’s seer-ee-us wine, kids. And expensive. Did I mention that already?

So when Big Serious Winery puts Fun, Whimsical Video Interview of their seemingly amiable winemaker, Marcus Notaro, on YouTube, you sorta want to like them for all their bougie ways. Have a look. And if you do happen across a bottle of Col Solare, do yourself a favor and graduate to Wino Connoisseur by putting that bottle away for awhile. I know from experience, dude.

Enter to win tickets to the 2006 Col Solare release party happening August 19th at the Palace Ballroom (downtown Seattle) by simply tweeting the message below via your Twitter account. Go Intermet! Go You! Good luck, the message, below:

RT @ColSolare for chance to win tix to Col Solare 2006 Wine Release Party in Seattle! Check out video here: http://colsolare.com/ #ColSolare

Note: Wino Magazine is not affiliate with this event. I just like the wine and the Palace Ballroom, which by the way will be hosting an event we’re sponsoring: the 2nd Annual Wine Rocks event coming up in September. More on that in the coming weeks.

The Attack: Walla2 or Bust

To the Land of Many Rivers!

With every trip we make along the Washington wine trail, it is further reinforced that the wine industry, as far as it’s come and as young as it still is, is one of the most exciting to be a part of. It’s hardly a wonder that that the substance Galileo Galilee once called “sunshine held together by water” can power such a passionate group of producers, growers, merchants and, of course, the consumers. Even amid a recession.

For this issue we finally packed up the car and headed over the hill to the crown jewel of our state’s wine industry, Walla Walla.

Purple Café and Wine Bar

In 2004, The Seattle Public Library opened their spacey new building on Fourth Avenue in downtown, designed by architect Rem Koolhaas, featuring one of the most innovative things to happen to books since the Dewey Decimal System—The Books Spiral. The Books Spiral is like a parking garage for books, a four-tier ramp allowing contiguous access to the 1.5 million nonfiction books in their catalog. It’s damn impressive.

Walking into Purple Café, just a few blocks from the library, you’re met with the same kind of man-made wonder, the Wine Tower. This monolithic structure rising through two stories of vertical space, ribboned with a spiral staircase, is stocked up with countless bottles of wine, making your eyes widen as you step into the café like you’ve just stumbled upon the Holy Grail while window shopping. You immediately wish you could make like Jack and go beanstalking for treasure.

Meet the Maker: Larry Kurofsky

We sat down with Larry Kurofsky, founder of Purple Café to talk about Purple, the inspiration behind it, and what it offers for the downtown wino.

WINO: The downtown Purple…Inspired, right?

LK: Yeah, you know, it was a big step for us to go downtown. We had a restaurant in Las Vegas that was similar in style, you know, wine bar concept, but then we moved up here and it was the same sort of philosophy that we wanted to use to approach Purple up in this market. And then, it was really a suburban neighborhood restaurant, and then our next step after we opened Kirkland, we thought we’d look at other suburban neighborhoods and maybe a more urban population, and this space became available, our broker found it. We looked at it, got along with the landlord, and it evolved. We thought, let’s try it, let’s see what it’s like in a downtown neighborhood.

Wine Cocktails: Becoming Your Own Mixologist

Wine Cocktails

Time to MAN UP

Whether you’re into the vino, or into the booze, you can get your high-society drink on in a big way with wine cocktails. No ordinary hooch, wine cocktails expand far beyond the sangria and mimosas you’re used to on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings.

Author A.J. Rathbun has devoted one of his many beverage books to the fine art of wine cocktails, and he calls it, appropriately, Wine Cocktails: 50 Stylish Sippers that Show Off Your Reds, Whites, and Rosés. What else would you call a ninety-six page tome full of salavacious libations featuring wine as the main ingredient?

Efeste’s Brennon Leighton: Feral and Unfiltered

Winemakers come in all shapes and sizes, demonstrating as many styles of personality as there are styles of wine. What they all have in common, of course, is the transubstantiation of ostensibly ordinary grapes into that Dionysian elixir called wine, but each winemaker has his or her own approach to making the wines they love.

Brennon Leighton, winemaker for Efeste, has been making his mark on the Washington wine world, practicing a noninterventionist winemaking philosophy with a religious zeal. His hallmark methods, while not necessarily original, are certainly more uncommon that one might expect.

Be Still My Heart

Pacific Distillery and Soft Tail Spirits turn passion into powerful drinks

by AJ Rathbun

On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment, which had banned the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol used for drinking. The Nobel Experiment, or Prohibition (or just a really bad idea) ended on that beautiful day. Except in Washington State.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t just here. There were, and are, other states practicing various forms of prohibition, due to the 21st Amendment’s setting regulation control at the state level. While these prohibitive measures haven’t recently held the heels of the wine industry, they have kept spirits distilleries from becoming established. But on April 10, 2007, Dry Fly announced their intention to be Washington State’s first grain distillery since Prohibition. The Dry Fly folks imported a German still, partook in some serious study, and have since released gin and vodka and will soon release a whiskey. They did run into a snag early on though; due to the existing regulation, they weren’t allowed to sell their products on the premises or to give visitors samples. For most new to a small batch spirit (or wine), the ability to sample product while hearing about it from the creators is a delicious experience.

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