Traci and I had a good time on Sunday at the Riesling Rendezvous – not necessarily from the wine being poured (although there were lots of good wines there) – but from the industry folks we got the chance to hang out with.

Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Woodinville Washington holds this annual even and invites wineries from all over the world to come showcase their goods -we went to the “Grand Tasting” however, the event continues over the next few days in the form of seminars and winemaker dinners at various local restaurants.

Washington State is the nations leading producer and grower of the riesling grape in the nation and Chateau Ste. Michelle puts out more of it than any other winery in the world – so it’s safe to say they have a huge vested interest in helping to pimp this grape.

Dean and Heather Neff of Nefarious Cellars

Gilles Nicault of Long Shadows Winery

$250? Really? Uhh… hmm this or two bottles of Quilceda Creek? Oh, that’s right, you can’t actually buy either! When asked “how many cases of this are produced?” The dude pouring this wine said “.. you mean how many bottles?” – i.e. for those a bit slow (like me), that means production is so small it’s measured in bottles, not cases.

The grapes for this wine are hand-picked from each grape bunch to ensure only the finest grapes go into it – but still, $250!??!?! This thing had better make your toes curl for that price – unfortunately, it didn’t for us.

Have you ever noticed that it seems there is always at least one pompous jerk around at these kinds of events? Well we found one – from Quails’ Gate Winery out of B.C. Its winemaker, Grant Stanley. I was standing there talking with Gilles of Longshadows about how we found the Poet’s Leap at a local Fred Meyer store etc – well Mr. Grant couldn’t help himself but to inject some cheap-shot against Fred Meyer stores (a chain of stores up here in the Northwest area) by saying (in a very smug sort of way) “you know it’s good wine if you find it at Fred Meyer eh?”

First of all, I wasn’t talking to him and secondly he greatly shows his ignorance when it comes to how far most grocery stores in the greater Seattle area have gone in regards to the quality of wine they now carry and most have their own wine stewart. It was how he said it that bothered me – talk about a snob! Ironically enough, there was nobody (at the time) tasting his wines at all – hmm, go figure.