Wine Tour Bus Bachelorette

I think I’ve mentioned that this is the year of the wedding, 2 of my best friends, my brother, and several other family friends along the way. I LOVE weddings and every excuse to celebrate that goes with them – engagement parties, showers, bachelorettes, and then the main event. Last weekend, S and I drove over to Spokane for my friend Kristen’s bachelorette. Rachel, Kristen’s sister, had arranged for a wine tasting tour bus to pick us up and take us to some of the area wineries/tasting rooms.

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We stopped at Latah Creek, Townshend, Bridge Press, and then Nectar.

Latah Creek was having their anniversary sale – which was awesome because they had all of their wines open for tasting and lots of snacks. Plus, they have lots of really cute gifty items.

Next we headed to Townshend, it’s a beautiful area, right on the vineyard. Their T3, is one of my fave red blends, and a great wine to take to a party.

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After Townshend we headed to downtown Spokane and stopped at Bridge Press, which is a warehouse style winery. They bring the grapes in from elsewhere and bottle on site. It was a really cool building.

The final stop was at Nectar, this place was awesome. The guy working was so incredibly patient and obviously amused by our group. It’s kind of like a co-op of 5 Washington wineries. I absolutely love the concept. We tried a couple Hard Row to Hoe wines, that are very cheekily named – an Orange Muscat named “Afternoon Delight” and a sparkling named “Good in Bed”.  Sarah and I both ended up buying bottles of Skylite Sauvignon Blanc to take home.

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The tour bus was SO much fun!

I can’t wait for September to celebrate Kristen and Justin’s wedding!!!

xx

-h

Tintero Vino Bianco Grangia

Let’s talk about summer wines, I’ve made it pretty clear that I reach for sparkling anytime of year and summertime is no different. This week I met a friend at Tom Douglas’ Seatown near Pike Place for dinner. After perusing the wine list I noticed a by the glass called Grangia, next to it the notes said lightly sparkling, crisp. Yes, please!

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First sip- apple, sparkling, oh my!

A blend of Chardonnay, Favorita, Ameis, and a bit of moscato grapes from the Puedmont region in Italy.

Just be careful, Grangia goes down easy!

xx
-h

There’s no place like home

It has been almost a week since I left Park City and moved back to the Pacific Northwest.  People keep asking me why and how the hubby and I came to this decision.  And the majority of it is that, there truly is no place like home.  In the past week, I’ve spent more time with my family and family friends then I have in a very long time.  I already miss Park City, but I know that all of the amazing friends that we made while we were in Utah will visit us, and we will visit them.  We will stay in touch, it’s pretty much mandatory in the digital age.

In the mean time, I’m soaking up all things Washington right now including wine country (this view is from Windy Point Vineyards in the Yakima valley).

photo: hh

Happy hour (we didn’t have those in Utah) – last night it was at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar in Seattle where I got to drink L’Ecole’s 2009 Semillon.  I’ve heard that the spot used to be a bank location, now they use the big circle center staircase as wine storage/display and as the bar location.

photo: hh

And views of the water.

photo: hh

Change is good and there really is no place like home.

-h

Sofia Blanc de Blancs….in a can! Plus other wonderful bubblies!

What can I say? I looove bottles that involve bubbles. So, I thought I would highlight some of my personal favorites:

Photo: Coppola

Perfect for slipping into your purse to watch the latest flick with the ladies or significant other, taste the wonderful fruity flavors while sipping it through the included straw! $20 for a 4 pack.

photo: Zardetto

Zardetto Prosecco, delicious Italian prosecco that is soft and delicate. $14.

photo: Cupcake

 

Cupcake Prosecco is fruity and citrusy at the same time and absolutely reminds me of eating cupcakes. Absolutely delightful. $11.
Just a few of my favorites, be sure that this is not the first time bubbly will be spoken of!
-h