Seeing Stars, Bubbles and Sparks

No sex in the Champagne room. Or is it no Champagne in the sex room?

Whatever your pleasures may be this New Year’s Eve, let’s make it a Champagne alternative bubbly festivity. I say that not because I don’t like the real thing (I really do), but because it’s cheaper and we’re all a little downmarket this year, aren’t we?

So bring in the auxiliary! Cava and Prosecco and Cremant glore!

That’s right, the glass you’re handed at midnight on Thursday at some swanky joint most likely will not be legitimate Champagne, but a MUCH more affordable sparkler in its place that you, contently intoxicated at 11:55pm, will surely and wholeheartedly consume in entirety, fully believing you downed Dom Perignon (a vintage Brut, of course), Vegas-style.

And why shouldn’t you? This shit is good. And duly noted as an affordable option.

Here they are, my strategically mapped out “consumer-friendly” options for your NYE extravaganza. Be it you are supplying these wines for party guests or you are fusing it into a flask hidden in your belt/pocket/flashy undies to drink under the table at a should-be-illegally exorbitant Belltown partay.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name: Beveridge Place Pub

A West Seattle watering hole makes you feel right at home

By Julien Perry

Beveridge Place Pub

6413 California Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98136
(206) 932-9906
www.beveridgeplacepub.com

What else are you going to name a pub located on the corner of California Avenue and Beveridge Place? The West Seattle hangout has been a popular watering hole for locals since October 2003. I know this, because not only do I live in the neighborhood, but the number of dogs in the joint nearly outnumbers the people. If that’s not a sure sign of a home-away-from-home, I don’t know what is.

It’s not unusual to walk in and see a couple of friends sitting on the couch playing checkers, or members of a book club hanging out in the back room discussing their current read while playing a game of foosball or darts. And then there’s the bar: a 1907 cherry-stained tiger maple centerpiece that was rescued from auction at the Buzz Inn in Kent.

Beveridge Place’s philosophy is to offer an ever-changing variety of craft-brewed draft ales and lagers on tap, focusing on those made in Washington. But there’s wine, too—about a half-dozen reds and whites, nothing more than $8 a glass. I had a very comforting moment with a glass of Townshend Cellars white table wine after I wrecked my car last summer. That was the same night I discovered Beveridge Place Pub didn’t serve food; if you’re hungry you’ll be given a collection of local restaurants’ take-out menus. You’re even welcome to bring food from home.

I bet you can even get one of the pub dogs to fetch you your slippers afterwards.

“Washington Women in Wine” Collection to Debut at WSU Benefit Gala and Auction

BELLEVUE, Washington – A new collection of wines donated by women in Washington’s winemaking and grape-growing industry, as well as woman business leaders, will make its debut on the block at January’s “Celebrate Washington Wine” gala dinner and auction. The annual black-tie event benefits Washington State University’s Viticulture and Enology Program.

The ninth annual “Celebrate Washington Wine” will be held on Saturday, Jan. 30, beginning at 6 pm at the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, in Woodinville.

Laura Mrachek, a WSU alumna (’76) and owner with her husband Mike of Saint Laurent Estate Winery in Malaga, Washington, is the honorary chair for the new collection.

“It promises to be a sensational collection, and it’s sure to generate lively bidding,” Mrachek said in a recent letter requesting donations. “We welcome all vintages, varietals and bottle sizes (of Washington wines).”

The new collection is the brainchild of WSU alumna Cheri Brennan, a member of the gala’s organizing committee. All proceeds from the collection will be dedicated to scholarship support for women in the WSU Viticulture and Enology Program.

Editor’s Pick: Cascina Spinasse

Chef Jason Stratton has given the Seattle restaurant an overhaul

By Julien Perry

Cascina Spinasse

Cascina Spinasse

1531 14th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122-4023
(206) 251-7673
www.spinasse.com

My inaugural visit to Cascina Spinasse can be summed up in one word: “meh.” But that was more than a year ago, when there was a different chef, a confusing set-course menu and an unexpectedly icy vibe. Fast-forward to August 2009. A new chef is announced who brings to the table a new menu, a new attitude and a staff who seems as if they are truly happy to be standing on their feet all night.

Chef Jason Stratton recently took over for Justin Niedermeyer, whom he helped launch Spinasse a year ago. The two also worked together during Jason’s five-year stint at Café Juanita. But all you really need to know is that pasta is still the focus at this neighborhood trattoria.

Clubb to Chair WSU Wine Auction “CEO Collection”

BELLEVUE, Washington – Megan Clubb, President and CEO of Baker Boyer Bank in Walla Walla, is the chair of the “CEO Collection” for the 2010 Celebrate Washington Wine gala dinner and auction. The annual event benefits the Washington State University Viticulture and Enology Program.

Each year business and community leaders from throughout the state are invited to contribute a bottle of one of their favorite Washington wines. Donations are combined into “CEO Collection” lots for the annual auction. Each bottle bears a custom tag identifying its donor.

The ninth annual “Celebrate Washington Wine” black-tie gala will be held on Saturday, Jan. 30, at the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville. This year’s proceeds will be devoted primarily to student scholarships and exchange programs.

“The CEO Collection lots always include a unique assortment of some of the finest Washington wines and are a popular auction item,” according to Nancy Harnasch, chair of the auction organizing committee. “We’re pleased to have Megan Clubb leading this year’s effort to bring some interesting contributions to these collections.”

Cork Dork: False Advertisement?

By Chris Nishiwaki

“I was lured to a restaurant with the promise of $5 glasses of wine during happy hour, including one of my favorite Côte du Rhones (Grenache-based blend). When the wine arrived, the glass was merely a third full. Isn’t that false advertisement?”

That’s a great question and one I hear often. Glass pours can be misleading. The fill level of a wine glass is relative to the size of the glass. Some bars and restaurants will serve you a tasting glass filled to the rim that amounts to about two to three ounces of wine. Ideally you would want a large glass about one third full leaving enough room for the wine to release its aromas inside the bulb for maximum enjoyment.

Instead of focusing on how full the glass is, measure as best you can how much wine there is in your glass or simply ask your server or bartender. Pours of five to six ounces for still wine or three to four ounces for sparkling wine are standard. Some establishments may in fact serve smaller pours during happy hour.

One way to ask politely is to enquire how many glasses of wine they pour per bottle. A regular bottle is 750 milliliters, which amounts to a little more than twenty-five ounces. Five glasses per bottle calculates to about a five-ounce pour. Four glasses per bottle equals to about a six-ounce pour.

Dreaming of a Wine Christmas

Christmas is finally here. For those of you that celebrate this holiday, the gifts are probably by now unwrapped, jammies finally changed out of, and meals are being prepared. And, no doubt, there will be wine. If you’ve been good, lots and lots of wine.

Here in Seattle, it’s not quite a Christmas greeting card scene. The sun is shining, it’s nearly warm enough to leave the jacket at home, and the ground is bare and dry. Merry and bright, for sure. However, though it would appear that we just entered Spring rather than Winter, the nature of this holiday makes me want to hunker down as if I was snowed in with a big meaty red wine.

I asked some folks in the wine biz what they’d be drinking on Christmas, both from their own wineries and from others. Below is what they had planned. Leave a comment, and let us know what you’ve been sipping today.

We at WINO want to wish you and yours a happy (and safe!) holiday. Now go drink up!

Heather Neff
Head Chick/White Winemaker
Nefarious Cellars

What wine of your own will you be serving?
Nefarious 2007 Defiance Vineyard Syrah. It works with so many things on the holiday table and always seems to be a crowd pleaser with the family, plus it’s my favorite.

What wine from another winery will you be serving?
2003 Soter Brut Rosé. I could drink this stuff everyday, but Christmas is an excuse for pulling it out that I can actually get away with.

The Essential Wine Tool Kit

Seven must-haves for optimum wine drinking consumption

By Henri Schock

Our favorite corkscrew. We all have one, and without it we would be lost looking into an empty glass of nothing (unless you find a screw cap, of course). But once that cork has been pulled, what do you do with the bottle? Well, drink it of course! But, what’s the best way to consume this juice? What is the appropriate vessel to put it into? What do you do with half drunken bottle on that off chance you don’t finish it? And, with all this wine you’ve been drinking, how on earth will you begin to remember what each bottle was like?

As a carpenter with his tools, a wine drinker needs the proper gear to guarantee that every experience is a pleasant one. Forget all that gimmicky shit you’ve seen; this is the real deal—your essential tool kit for the everyday wino.

A Pinch of This, a Dash of That

The Importance of Understanding Micronutrients in Grapes

By Brian Charles Clark
wine.wsu.edu

When humans don’t get enough zinc, we can get sick with cancer and suffer immune-system dysfunction. The same is true of plants. Micronutrients such as boron, zinc and copper, although only a tiny part of a plant’s diet, can have a profound effect on the plant’s health.

Washington State University soil scientist Joan Davenport and her colleagues at the WSU Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser are studying micronutrient utilization in Concord grapes. Washington is the nation’s number one Concord grape producer, so understanding what happens with micronutrients is important to the industry’s bottom line. And what Davenport learns about micronutrients in Concords is going to be applicable to wine grapes, too.

Micronutrient availability is an issue in Washington’s grape-growing region, with its high pH soils. The soil availability of micronutrients decreases as pH increases.

“Right now, growers apply micronutrients based on their experience and on what’s commercially available. We want to give them quantifiable data to work with,” said Davenport. “Then they’ll be able to supply plants with what they optimally utilize without spending more than they need to on inputs.”

If the vine doesn’t get enough boron, Davenport said, pollen lands on the flower but doesn’t germinate. “That’s a disaster,” she said, “because if there’s no pollination, there’s no seed, and then there’s no fruit.” Copper and zinc don’t affect the plants so dramatically, but do affect the size of the canopy.

Davenport’s current project is based on one that her doctoral student, Suphasuk “Bird” Pradubsuck, finished recently.

A Nefarious Plot

The juicy story of a chick, a couple of guys and a dog

By Erin Thomas

Heather and Dean Neff really are living the dream, as the signs up to their Chelan estate winery suggest. With the green and flourishing Defiance Estate Vineyard overlooking the rolling hills and glistening waters of Lake Chelan, the folks behind Nefarious Cellars are fully aware and grateful for the thriving luxury known as their life.

“We are just a chick, a couple of guys and a dog striving to blow your mind,” the Nefarious Cellars website states referring to Heather, Dean, and their children, George, 4, and Cooper, 9 months.

“The bonus to being the woman in the group is I do notice I tend to smell things a little better than Dean,” Heather said, “That’s my little asset.”

With a bag full of tricks and assets they bring to the blossoming Lake Chelan Valley AVA scene, the chick and the fathering guy have a longstanding history in the industry and as a couple.

The two met in 1996, both striving to crack into the soils of the wine business after attending Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon for enology and viticulture. They then decided to plant a test block vineyard on Dean’s property in Pateros, Washington. At the Rocky Mother Vineyard, named for its soils, Heather said they got a great sense of what they could grow in the Lake Chelan Valley.

The Neffs returned to Oregon, where Dean started working for a vineyard management company, then to study under the uncompromisingly gifted winemakers Isabelle Dutartre of De Ponte Cellars and later with Tony Soter at Soter Winery in Willamette Valley. Heather managed a small tasting room in Carlton, with the intentions of both retaining every aspect of the business but ultimately wanting to start a winery of their own, Heather said.
With the couple having equal parts of formal grape training, they said it was an obvious decision to split production by colors and ultimately give themselves a niche in the industry among giants.

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