Here is a wine visitor’s update on the good food stories happening in Walla Walla:

What a year it has been in Walla Walla! From our first blog piece mid-January, announcing the closure of five restaurants, most significantly the demise of 26brix, to the year-end news that Merchant’s Deli has been sold to T. Maccarone’s team of Tommy and Jake, it has been a year of regrouping and retooling.  Another change is that now you will have to pay to read U-B content.

Overall, it was a year where everyone worked a bit harder to sell wine, cheese and hotel rooms; more bottles than cases as some wineries shared with us.

And while wineries and consumers did not spend as freely as they may have in the past, the visitors still came to Walla Walla giving a weekend boom for lodging properties and putting the pressure on the remaining restaurants.

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As it is impossible to visit every Walla Walla winery this Holiday Barrel, at WWWN .com we have surveyed the offerings and compiled our ‘must-see’ list. There are many, fine wineries in our valley, so this is only a short-list. If we have missed your favorite winery or your favorite story, let us know!

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By Guest Blogger: Sean Sullivan

As many of my friends know, my favorite game after a day of wine tasting is to go, person by person, through a series of questions about what stood out. For me, talking about wine is a big part of the fun. The questions inevitably go like this – What was the wine of the weekend? What was the winery of the weekend? What was the most exciting new winery we visited? What was the biggest disappointment?

For 2010 Walla Walla Fall Release Weekend, I have shared below my answers to these and other questions. If you attended Fall Release, feel free to join in the fun and post your thoughts to these questions or other things that stood out during your visit. If you missed Fall Release, Holiday Barrel Tasting is right around the corner on December 5^th and 6^th.

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OK, it’s our little secret. When asked what Walla Walla wines we drink, many of us respond with some of the best names in this valley: Leonetti, Spring Valley, Cayuse or Pepper Bridge.  However, when asked specifically what wine we opened tonight, we will give up our current favorite go-to-Walla Walla wine.

It is the bottle you grab when only you want a glass of wine with dinner.  Or when you just can’t bring yourself to open a more expensive wine when eating lasagna, pizza or hamburgers.  So when you find a great weekday wine, it is a treasure!

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It started this summer when Dusted Valley and Gifford Hirlinger opened their doors in Woodinville. However, even though they were the first Walla Walla wineries to set up a satellite tasting room in Western Washington, other E. Washington wineries were already there and setting the example.  Now, almost every winery of a certain size seems to be contemplating a second tasting room in this suburb of both Seattle and Bellevue.

However, it still came as a shock when we heard last week that Pepper Bridge and sister winery, Amavi would open a tasting room near the Hollywood School House. The venerable Pepper Bridge winery and vineyard by the same name has become synonymous with Walla Walla and its rarefied status as one of the premier wineries in our AVA.

The rationale is simple; a retail presence in Woodinville is the easiest way to reach the west-side population of wine consumers and introduce them to your brand. This is especially important for those labels who beefed up their wine production during the heady years of 2007 & 2008 and before the party stopped when the economy slowed down.

Fast forward to 2009. While an Eastern Washington tasting room may see anywhere from 5000 – 50,000 visitors a year (depending on brand awareness and location), wineries in Woodinville are able to tap into the many national and international visitors visiting Seattle each year. Upwards of 300, 000 visitors make Chateau Ste. Michelle a destination each year, according to a brochure obtained during a tour and tasting visit there several years ago.

What does this mean for Walla Walla? Probably not much. While our attraction as a premier wine destination may be grounded first in our wineries; it is also in our bucolic surroundings, our stunning Blue Mountain vistas, our agricultural heritage (of which grapes are the most recent crop), and our vibrant, renewed downtown.  In a sentence, our authentic wine country lifestyle.  For those of us who live here, we know it’s the real thing.

It remains to be seen if visiting a tasting room with a view of the sluggish slough or alongside a busy commuter road satisfies a wine consumer’s desire to touch the dirt that grows the grapes or if those wine visitors will accept an urban tasting room standing in as a facsimile of our wine country lifestyle.

Two weeks from now, Walla Walla wineries take a break from the mad-dash crush of Harvest 2009.  From the late start of the growing season, to the compressed harvest, it was an unusual year all around. One of my favorite winemakers told me that it was the shortest crush season he can remember.  After such a hectic time, it must be time to party.

Traditionally, the first full weekend in November has  been Cayuse weekend, the only two days that the famed maker of Bionic Frog opens their doors to their adoring fans. This year as every year, wine visitors  will flood our valley.

What Cayuse started, others have joined. As more Walla Walla wineries choose to release their wines this weekend;  the party keeps growing. Look for private events at Corliss Estates, Abeja & Reynvaan Family Winery (their viticulture and wine consultant  is Christophe Baron, owner of Cayuse.)  At these events,  you are either on the list or you will be cooling your heels at the door.

Never fear, later this week, we will roll out our report on who is releasing what new wines and what festive activities are happening that are open to everyone.

If you are coming, lodging accommodations are already in short supply and restaurants will be in over-capacity mode. In this economy, no new restaurants have opened to handle the busy wine & college weekends. However, several enterprising wineries are offering special dinners: Waters Winery (Friday & Saturday) $90 pp, Northstar $85pp/Members$65  and Dunham Cellars $125 pp.

We will be adding events all week, so check back often.

Already known for great restaurants, Walla Walla is also home to a growing (literally) interest in local, sustainable, fresh farm products.  So it was just a matter of time before the area’s premier cheese producer offered aspiring cheesemakers and those keen to expand their whey appreciation,  a chance to experience the art of cheese making firsthand.

Monteillet Fromagerie is the first artisan-farmstead cheese maker in Walla Walla Valley.  Featuring a Grade A dairy and cheese making facility, the Monteillets have been producing traditional hand-ladled chevres (goat) and brebis (sheep) milk cheese since 2002.

Join cheese maker, Jackie Freeman, in two full days of hands-on cheese making at their farm. While making soft and hard goat and sheep’s milk cheese in a small group setting, they will discuss the basic principles of cheese making, equipment use and care, ingredients and supplies, and recipes to try at home.

The introductory workshop includes:

Day 1 (Mondays):  Practicum in Cheese Making

• Work with our cheese maker in the Fromagerie for a hands-on education on making fresh, soft-ripened, and hard (tomme-style) goat and sheep milk cheese
• Learn the basic principles of farmstead cheesemaking, equipment use, milk types, food safety, and more
• Cheese Tasting
• Optional local wine tasting*
• Optional Farm Lunch*

Day 2 (Tuesdays):  Affinage (Cheese care and ageing)

Enjoy a second full day in our cheese room with advanced instruction and hands-on practicum in caring and aging for fresh, soft-ripened, and aged cheeses

• Tour the farm and organic vegetable garden
• Introduction to livestock care and milking
• Cheese Tasting
• Optional local wine tasting*
• Optional Farm Lunch*

Workshop tuition:  The classes can be taken separately, or together.  Class tuition is $160 per person, per day.  If you choose to participate in both days of classes, you will receive a discounted class price of $275.  Your tuition includes hands-on farmstead cheese-making instruction and discussions, instructional materials, cheese tasting, and farm and facilities tour.  Maximum class size will not exceed six students.

Workshop Dates:  July 13-14; July 27-28; Aug 10-11; Aug 24-25; Sept 7-8; Sept 21-22; Oct 5-6

*Farm lunch and wine tasting available for an additional fee.

For more information and to register, visit their website.

There used to be a time when wineries were closed on July 4.  How times have changed! This year, out of 60 wineries reporting their status, only 9 are closed for the holiday.

Here is the most up-to-date listing of Walla Walla Valley winery hours/status.

July 4th Winery Hours PDF

UPDATE: Canoe Ridge is having a Cellar Sale this July 4th weekend. Magnums of Merlot and Cab are half price and half price on cases of Merlot, Reserve Merlot, Cab Franc and 60/40 Blend.

Happy 4th of July!

On the eve of Precept Wine Brands’ public Grand Opening of their new Waterbrook Winery on Hwy 12 in Walla Walla, they announced today that Mike Williamson (CEO of Long Shadows Winery) has been hired as the new President and Chief Operating Officer of their Seattle-based wine company; now the largest privately owned wine company in Washington State.

“Mike is an incredible asset that any organization would want to have on their team. He brings a wealth of industry knowledge and background that will allow Precept to grow for years to come and achieve our desired goals. Mike fits in extremely well with the organization and adds to our strength at the Leadership level,” said Precept Wine Brands’ Founder and CEO, Andrew Browne.

As the first President and COO for Precept Wine Brands, Williamson will oversee the company’s day to day operations and direct reports from all department Senior Vice Presidents including: Accounting and Finance (Phil Kazanjian), Sales (Kirk Brewer), Winemaking and Operations (Ben Hummer), and Marketing, Public Relations and Retail Management (Alex Ootkin-Evans).

Williamson is no stranger to working with Andrew Browne and his founding partner, Dan Baty, having teamed up with the two when he joined Corus Brands, Inc. (Columbia Winery, Covey Run, Alice White) in 1998.

“I’m excited to work with Dan and Andrew again after all these years. They’ve built an incredible organization and I’m looking forward to playing a key role in its future growth and profitability,” said Williamson.