April 21 through April 30 – The Extended Version
To avoid the over-busy Saturday, we are going to be offering Spring Barrel Tasting for ten days from 4/21-4/30.
Paul, the Man in the Wild Pants, has been hosting Spring Barrel Tastings since 1985, both in Spokane and the Yakima Valley. Approximately 45 separate events. He has tried to make each one different and an opportunity to learn more about the complexity that is wine.
It’s getting more difficult to find a new bit to explore that can be done in a brief time and is apparent to most folks. This year we will be comparing free wine to press wine.
Normally we do not separate “free run” from “press wine” in our production. But for logistics reasons we currently have some in separate barrels from the 2022 vintage.
Free run is the wine or juice that runs from the grapes without applying any pressure. Fill a container that lets the juice/wine flow out and hold back skins and seeds (I maintain this is filtration and I’ve yet to find any producer that doesn’t use filtration in the process). (As I frequently say, there’s so much BS in wine marketing there’s no need to buy fertilizer.)
Press wine is when you squeeze the remainder against a screen. Of course, like everything regarding wine, there are many variables from tiny to huge. Some presses and operators can really beat up the skins and seeds (pomace). More modern presses and good operators make really good stuff. Early in my career many winemakers kept them separate, free run and press wine, but with experience they realized they are best together.
You get to be the judge. No wrong answers. Di gustibus non disputum. In taste there is no argument. What you like is what you like.
And in the process, we will teach you how to taste rather than just sample.
The renowned Lupe, Reyna de la Cocina of Lupe’s Kitchen Catering in Toppenish, will have her fabulous street tacos and tamales available on Saturday the 29th in person and we will have the tamales sans Lupe the rest of the days.
And as always, a plate with tiny morsels to explore how our wines are meant to be another food on your table. After the micro-mini seminar, we offer a micro-mini-7-course winemaker tasting, 7 teensy tiny bites of food to go with our 7 different wines. Sip, Sip, Bite, Sip!
We start off with our famous Rosé Paradiso and Mushroom Pâté, Brie and our Oyster White, and Paul’s Peanut Sauce with our Sève. Next are our reds—with our Sangiovese we are serving Glondo’s Pepperoni. Rojo Paradisos is our pizza wine; we would love to have pizza, but it just doesn’t seem to work as a small-bite option, who can eat just one bite? So instead, we have our ever-famous Bleu-Cheese Dip. With the Zort, we have a tiny bite of dark chocolate from Intrigue Chocolate; we suggest you melt this in your mouth rather than bite. Last, but not least, is our Angelica MRS. We have a skosh of Vegan Pumpkin Custard to go with that.
We know it is hard to choose which wineries to visit, so we hope you come to visit us. Our $15 tasting fee is applied towards a purchase of at least $30. 20% of every tasting fee paid is donated to Yakima Humane Society. Club members and returning customers receive 10% off your purchase of 2 or more bottles and 30% or 50% off case purchase on selected wines. For Spring Barrel Tasting, groups of 8 or more will be turned away if they don’t have a reservation. Come Taste Paradise!
