By Traci Garrett

I’ve finally recuperated from Taste Washington. (3 full days later)! I always look forward to this fabulous wine and food event.  

What a terrific way to reconnect with all the people in the industry you know and meet some new faces all under the same roof. The air is filled with electricity as people rally to hit as many wine stands as possible in the short time they have.  Let’s face it folks after the first 10 stands it all starts to taste the same to me.  The food on the other hand plays second fiddle to the wine. 

There are many food aficionados who look for that special something to wake up their palate but I believe most of the people eat the food with no appreciation to what they are really putting in their mouth.  They just want to shove something down to soak up the wine action in their gut and this, of course is all wrong in my book.  I look for that interesting morsel that will pair nicely with that fabulous wine I want to try. Something out of the ordinary — something that will scream out “wash me down with that fantastic Cab over there!”

As a matter of fact, there were quite a few eateries that impressed me this year just for this very reason.  

The first was Salty’s WOW Tri-Colored Vichyssoise topped with a little crab salad – pure heaven and beautiful to boot!

Honorable mention goes to Perche’ No because besides taking a huge risk of serving, God forbid, beef tongue they also served asparagus, which for some folks screws up their wine – tasting buds and changes the whole wine tasting experience for the worse.

On a side note: I kinda like how asparagus changes my taste buds!  I tried several big reds with the tongue and the roasted red bell peppers! What a great way to enhance your wine experience.

But my favorite was without a doubt Pike Place Chowder. Those guys dished up the most amazing Chorizo, Crab, Clam Chowder in a little bread bowl.

We  really enjoyed the Kestrel Chardonnay across the aisle with it too! I was ready to take both those Chowder guys home for some chowder making lessons!

Cindy Sido of Maryhill Winery

I also have to mention:  Maryhill Winery’s Sangiovese paired with some of Cindy’s homemade BBQ sauce.  The only problem with that taste of pure heaven was the cracker they used for the BBQ sauce, both Duane and I thought a spoon, or maybe a shovel, of this stuff with the Sangiovese would work!

For those of you who haven’t been to this event (or something similar) – it could seem fromt the outside looking in that it’s a wine-lovers dream-come-true. 200 wineries pouring quality vino with a supporting cast of local restaurants to help keep the palate in-check is a lot to take in during the relatively “short” 6-hours.

I think what always seems to mess with me at this event is time – the clock starts ticking down at 2pm and before I know it, it’s 8pm and everyone is packing up. It seems I get the chance to hang out with just a few people and “poof” – it’s over. I’d love to hear your stories about this event if you were there.

This year’s event saw – what seemed like – a much smaller crowd than last year and I’m sure that has a lot to do with the state of the economy. Most people I know are looking for ways to cut back on spending money, not shell out $90-120 dollars on a luxury like this event. All that said, it did seem like (from the wineries I did talk to) that everything was going well. They were able to meet their fans, make new ones or even make those who struggle to enjoy their wines feel more validated – who knows?

From our perspective, the Taste WA event is cool in that we get the chance to see industry friends and make new ones as well – one of the things I personally enjoy is seeing all the upcoming wineries striving to make their mark in today’s crowded industry. The guys at NW Totem Cellars, Sweet Valley and Efeste to name a few are part of the catalyst that’ll help shape the NW wine industry of the future – they are passionate, full of life and have the drive to pursure excellence.

What was striking to me, however, was the lack of passion so many “well-known” winemakers had – if they all had the pure, unadulterated, passion of Gilles Nicault – then we’d all be drinking much better wines.  Gilles has that personality that’s highly contagious, highly likable and quite frankly is a breath of fresh air – the wines he helps make seem to reflect that same spirit.

I felt that, overall, the food quality was better this year as well – there were a few mishaps in the house but I think most of them were sampling foods that adequately reflected their restaurants. A few of noteable ones were, Pike Place Chowder, Psalty’s and Kauzlarich Smoked Foods – Traci’s follow-up article will go into more details regarding the food.

So overall, I’m sure we’ll see the Washington Wine Commission releases stats that talk about what a great year this was for them and the industry, however, I think the real winners are the thousands of people like you and me who get to meet the great men and women behind the vino we all love to enjoy. If you’ve never been to this event, I’d encourage you to check it out next year – at least go once.

Find out who this dude in the glasses is by clicking here.

Related Links:
Taste WA – Official Site
2008 Taste WA Wrap-up
Traci’s 2008 Taste WA Thoughts

I’m always amazed at the volume of people willing to pay well over $100 to get into wine events under the notion that they’ll somehow get the chance to properly sample tons of wine – the primary problem is, however, that these events do not cater to helping one develop a good palate for what’s being poured because of many factors. Here are a few guidelines I use if I choose to go to an event like the upcoming Taste WA:

1. Make a mental note to yourself that it’s perfectly acceptable to NOT try every wine being poured.
The reality is that your palate (or anyone else for that matter) gets a beat-down like Mike Tyson on crack at an ear-biting contest whenever you subject it to too much stimulus from more than a dozen or so glasses of wine.

Before you go to the event, get a list of the participating wineries and select (randomly if you want to be adventurous) only a handful to try out during the few hours you’ll be at the event. This way, you get to try out new wines without overwhelming you and your palate.

2. Do make it a point to have some food:
Either sneak some food in (if you’re on a budget) – *cough* I know some folks who will sneak in a pocketful of blue cheese in plastic wrap – or get food from whomever is serving food at the event. You need to do this to be able to coat your palate between glass pours; if you don’t, you’ll find that your ability to pick up on the varying flavors of wine will quickly diminish within the first hour or so.

3. If you do the “sneak” thing:
Here a few examples of foods that should hold up okay in the confines of a loose jacket pocket or backpack etc.:

•    Dried Fruit
•    Nuts
•    Blue Cheese
•    Jerky snacks

Bottom line is that you need the sort of sugars and fats these foods being to the table to make sure your overall tasting experience is good and one to remember.

4. Write things down:
If you don’t have an excellent memory, then bring some sort of notepad and pen to jot down your thoughts on each wine and make it a point to take those notes with you next time you’re out at the store, looking for wine.

Outside of tasting notes about wine, I’ll also make notes about the people pouring the wine, such as:
•    Were they cool?
•    Did they strike me snobs?
•    Did they seem passionate about the wines they poured?

I will purposely avoid buying wine from folks who inappropriately represent their products and the wine industry. It’s a food product; it should be fun and never snobby.

5. Ask as many questions as time allows for:
This is one you’ll need to feel out the situation for. If you you’re at a rather empty table and have some time with the folks pouring, you should ask them questions about the wine, the people behind it etc. Take time to get to know them – many of whom are good, honest folks who love what they do.
If the table is busy, remember, there are others there who also want some time tasting the wine and to chat a bit – be courteous about this. Come back when things “die down” and talk to the folks at that time.

6. Please Spit:
I can’t begin to tell you how many people I run across who either don’t know about spitting or say things like “why would I want to waste the alcohol”? Those spit buckets are there for a reason folks.

For starters, you should be spitting due to the obvious reasons of what too much alcohol intake can do – nobody should ever drive back from an event like this without doing a lot of spitting.

Secondly, if you consume too much, you can easily misjudge the tastes after awhile – why do you think many people start pouring the cheap crap after a few bottles with friends? Because after awhile, it all tastes the same, that’s why.

Lastly, the spit bucket is NOT for rinsing your glass out! I was helping with a pour back in the summer of 07 and there was some lady who came up and rinsed her glass out using the wine in the spit bucket! Ewww – I didn’t have the heart to tell her what she had just done.

7. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes:
Aside from coming across as a wine snob (shudder the thought), wearing those formal clothes and shoes will do nothing for your overall comfort.  I always go casual – jeans, good shoes – you know, the kind of stuff you’d wear on a daily basis (just promise us, you’ll shower).

8. Drink water – don’t rinse with it:
There’s nothing wrong at all to ask the person pouring your taste to have a little “rinse action’ with the wine they’re about to pour. Rinsing with water will only add water into your taste and while I’m sure the local water supply is safe for human consumption, I don’t want it in my glass.

I would, however, highly recommend to everyone to pack in a bottle or two of some good h2o – remember, alcohol dehydrates the body of water – you need to keep yourself well hydrated.