Walla Walla’s wineries have shifted into high gear for this year’s Spring Release Weekend ~ Thursday, April 29-Sunday, May 2.  Wineries are planting flowerpots, mowing the vineyards and generally sprucing up their facilities, in preparation of more than 3000 valley visitors to this annual ritual of spring.

This year, more than 50 winery events have been posted on our events calendar. We can’t remember as many special events in previous years. This year’s offerings include wine dinners, barrel-making demos, music and more music and of course, great food to accompany the newest releases from the valley’s wineries.

Here are our best picks of special events for this great weekend! In addition, there are plenty of wine club events that can be found on our event listings.

Then, stay tuned next week when we release our list of the “Must-See Wineries” for 2010 Spring Release Weekend, including ones celebrating their first release and our short list of “always favorite” stops.

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This week, in a lengthy email to their list, Cayuse Vineyards once again demonstrated to the industry and their patrons just how independent they are. After 13 releases on the first full weekend in November, they have cancelled this November’s release date and will move their release party to April 2011. According to the email, the Frog’s libido needs the rejuvenation that comes with spring’s warmer weather therefore, this move is permanent.

For those who are on the vaulted list, the Cayuse weekend is THE reason to travel to Walla Walla to taste the next vintage release and to pick up this year’s allocation as it is the only time that the winery opens up to its customers.

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By Guest Blogger: Catie McIntyre Walker

We are all familiar with the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” It’s a melodic and repetitious rhyme with a list of strange gifts.  I mean like if you live in the city, where are you going to put all of those birds, let alone house and feed all of those lords, maids, dancers, pipers and drummers in today’s economy? At least the price of gold has gone up so you can sell the five gold rings to take care of everybody for a while.

However, in the interest of Walla Walla Valley wines, I found an easier way to gift your favorite wine lover during the Twelve Days of Christmas.  And in the interest of time and space, I have listed just the full twelve days of the gifts.   But of course, you are welcome to start the song from the first day of Christmas in honor of traditions: lather, rinse, repeat and sing the carol’s tune.

“On the first day of Christmas, my wine-o friends sent to me: A Leonetti in a grape field. On the second day of Christmas…”

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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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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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By Guest Blogger: Denise Slattery

Tasting wine around the airport in Walla Walla is an excellent way to spend a wine- tasting day.  Once referred to as the “wine ghetto of Walla Walla” by Esquire Magazine (not sure this is a compliment or not!) it certainly does offer delicious treasures for even the most serious of wine collectors.  With over 18 wineries open on a regular basis, you’ll easily discover something wonderful to drink for dinner or a fabulous bottle to stash in the cellar.

Port of Walla Walla Wine Incubators

Up on Piper Ave., the Winery Incubators are a ‘must-see’ and, if you have not yet visited this destination, put the incubators on your wine tasting itinerary this fall.   Five start-up wineries in nearly identical buildings are nestled together in one place, each offering something different in their style and varietals.  Cavu Cellars, Adamant Cellars, Lodmell Cellars, Trio Vintners and Kontos Cellars make up the village and between them have dozens of wines on hand to sample. Stop by on any given day and you’ll most likely be greeted by the winemaker, or be able to spy the work he or she does.  Like many of the wineries at the airport, all the winemaking’s done right there, within full view of the tasting rooms.

Be aware, however, that ‘start-up’ does not necessarily mean ‘new’. The truth is that none of these folks are new to winemaking – just the commercial businesses are. In order to lease a space at the incubators the winery must be brand new.  At the end of the 6 year lease the winery must move out and make way for a new ‘baby winery’. The bare bones buildings allow the winemakers to fashion their own styles in a professional atmosphere and grow their brands.   The resulting quality of wine made here is certainly on par with what you would expect from the wines of the region; excellent wines produced from quality fruit grown in the region and made with great care and passion.

Denise Slattery is one of the trio of winemakers and owners of Trio Vintners in Walla Walla, Wa.

By Guest Blogger:  Catie McIntyre Walker

The Fall Release Weekend is just around the corner and whether you are sage and savvy when it comes to wine weekends or perhaps a newbie, here are a few tips and reminders to help you make the most of your weekend.  First of all and most important: we are assuming that you already have your room reserved along with a few restaurant reservations, because blue tarp camping and staring pitiful at diners with reservations, while drooling on restaurant windows is never attractive.

So how will you survive such a busy weekend? My first suggestion is to head into Walla Walla with the mind set you are here to relax, learn a lot and have a great time.  Also, before you head out the door, take the time to print off a copy of the Walla Walla Wine News Fall Release Guide. This list will assist you in what to expect from the wineries regarding their new releases, activities and their hours for public tastings.  Need a map to the wineries?  Contact the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance for their brochure or catch it online. You can also locate brochures at many of the wineries.

Now, that you have made your list of wineries to visit and checked it twice.  Here is where tourists and wineries are going to find out who’s naughty or nice.  My best advice is to relax. R-E-L-A-X and have a great time.  Be courteous and put your cell phone on voice mail, especially when you are in the wineries.  Are you really that important and if you are, perhaps your Secret Service or Royalty Protection people can answer your calls.

The mornings of wine tasting, walk away from the granola nibbles and enjoy a hearty breakfast. Oh yeah baby, it’s your excuse for biscuits and gravy!  Load up on carbs and proteins and hydrate-hydrate-hydrate! Hydrate with H2O all day! Don’t forget to take the time through the day to have a nosh here and there. Many of the wineries will be serving complimentary appetizers and offering food for purchase throughout the day.

Pace yourself from winery to winery and learn how to spit! It’s the only time momma would approve of you spitting in public.  Take notes of the wines you tasted and don’t be afraid to ask questions, especially if you are a wine newbie.  It’s important to keep an open mind to wines you have previously ignored or did not like, while remembering one winemaker’s chardonnay and vintage may not taste like another.  And while you are keeping an open mind, don’t be all locked into tasting only wines that have received 90-something points and above.  You never know when you may find an affordable treasure that will later be discovered and giving you the advantage of boasting to your wine peers, “I remember them when…”

Keep a realistic goal of how many wineries to visit in one day. The point of these events is to “taste” the wine and learn about the fruit of the area and the winemaker’s style. It’s always a good idea to have a designated driver, but having a designated driver doesn’t mean you have to deaden your taste buds. By the sixth winery visit, your taste buds will become fatigued and fuzzy. So the 25th wine you tasted in one day may taste very different the next time you taste it on a fresh palate.  And the most important reason for not tasting through every wine in the Walla Walla Valley?

We want you to have another reason to come back and visit us!

Catie McIntyre Walker is the original Walla Walla wine blogger at Walla Walla Grape Vine. After eight years of cleaning spit buckets and pouring for the masses in local tasting rooms, Catie hung up her cork screw to pursue her writing and open her online wine store, Walla Walla Wine Woman. Catie also writes a wine column for Walla Walla Union Bulletin’s magazine, “Lifestyles”, blogs for Tourism Walla Walla and is a contributor to Palate Press and Washington Tasting Room magazines.

Traditionally, the first full weekend in November has been the only time Cayuse Vineyards opens their winery doors to their allocation list.  Now, many Walla Walla wineries use this weekend to officially celebrate the end of harvest and release their newest wines.

We have compiled our list of winery hours, new releases and special events in a take-along PDF. Use this as your guide to this year’s Fall Release Weekend. Many wineries have special events including winemaker dinners, art exhibits, food offerings, etc.

As a preview to Fall Release, we will be posting a new blog everyday this week and will be featuring guest bloggers including a ‘Walla Walla Fall Release Survival Guide’ from the famed Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman, Catie McIntyre Walker.

Don’t miss guest blogger and winemaker Denise Slattery of Trio Vintners as she details airport winery happenings and her picks on what not to miss.

Be sure to check back every day as we add events  and new blogs.

Reminder:  If you are coming to Fall Release in Walla Walla, you will have already made your lodging arrangements, but don’t wait to plan where you will be eating. Our restaurants will be very busy this coming weekend, so call early to make sure you have dinner reservations.

We look forward to seeing you here in Walla Walla. Even if you can’t make it to Fall Release, be sure to follow us on Twitter (@wwwinenews) as we tweet all through the weekend.

Have you heard the buzz about “Papa loves Mambo” filtering through the social media channels. At first, I was confused. Is Papa a wine? A band?  Or is it a state of mind emanating from a storefront on Main Street and is slowly taking a life of its own and changing downtown Walla Walla? Dare I say, all of the above?  And along the way, this little winery has  become an overnight success story!

For the uninformed, or anyone who doesn’t stay completely up to date on everything happening in our favorite little town in the corner of the state, technically Papa loves Mambo is a song made famous by Perry Como in the 50s. However, we know it best as a local latin-jazz band and a proprietary blend of Syrah, Sangiovese, and Cabernet Sauvignon crafted by Sapolil Cellars’.  Usually, the two modern versions can be found together in exuberant form at the only place at the moment to offer live entertainment on weekends in downtown WW.  We say, at the moment, for a posh new drinking with dancing venue will open this fall (corner Alder and 3^rd) that will bring life after work to that end of town.

Sapolil Cellars’ is a family winery owned by Bill & Linda Schwerin and their daughter, Abigail. Bill, a wheat farmer, started making wine about seven years ago. Linda has an interior design business and Abby lives in Los Angeles. They might have been one of any number of WW small wineries, trying to realize a dream by making some wine and maybe make a few dollars doing it. In Bill’s case, things changed when he took over a small corner in Linda’s Main Street shop just two doors down from Merchant’s Deli.

You see, Bill needed Main Street, and Main Street needed Bill. Bill is a genuine people-person, not someone who gets their nose into a computer or other projects and then has to wrench himself away to pour some wine. Bill gravitates to folks like a bee to honey.  In fact, the whole family is super friendly and spending any amount of time with them, makes you feel better about life. And that is even before you have their wine.

Before long, the little corner took over the front of the shop. Then, as it often does with these overnight wonders, the details get fuzzy, but somewhere along the way, Linda’s shop name came down, we began to see Abby a lot more often and they added live music every weekend.

In the beginning, it was a place for local musicians to jam on the old piano that serves as their tasting bar, then it started to catch on. Wine visitors stopped in, before and after dinner for a glass of wine, music and a warm welcome. Single-handedly, Sapolil Cellars’ was breathing life into downtown after 6PM.

The neighbors have noticed and we hear that starting this September, Merchants’ (who are now staying open on Fridays) will have a rotating roster of guest wineries pouring on Friday evenings.

As I said earlier, an overnight wonder! And the wine, well, their 2007 Papa loves Mambo (with its lovely Jeffrey Hill label) is now sold out! But don’t let that stop you from dropping in. They have several Syrahs and a Chardonnay to pour and they are looking forward to welcoming you.  Check out Abigail and Bill’s interview with ‘idrinkyourwine.com.’

We love this time of year and despite the current hiccups in our economy, there is no reason not to celebrate the festive season in Walla Walla. Next weekend is Holiday Barrel Weekend, which was first conceived as a thank you to the tolerant denizens of Walla Walla.  Over the past few years, it has become the perfect finale to the year and more recently, the event has moved back to its original premise with its focus on community.

This has happened, in part due to the rise in the Fall Release Weekend (otherwise known as the Cayuse Weekend) and the fact that folks from over on the wet side of the state are solidly into their holiday countdown. This allows Holiday Barrel to focus on what it does best, a joyous celebration of the season filled with wine, music and the arts.

This year, more than 65 wineries will take part, the majority charging a refundable $5 to taste while 27 will not charge a tasting fee at all.

Of course, most wineries are offering special wine club events, art displays, food and music. Here are some of our best picks:

Thursday, December 4

The Wine Alliance holds its third annual Winemaker Fete at the Marcus Whitman Hotel. A gala celebration featuring more than 30 wineries taking part from reception through to dining with a winemaker. Price $150 (tickets still available).

Winemaker Dinner with Bravo TV’s Top Chef:

How Saviah Cellars and Watermill Winery were able to get season three’s Top Chef Stephanie Izard to come to Walla Walla for Holiday Barrel is quite a feat, but what a treat! Tickets $125. Only two tickets left! Call 541 938-5575.

Friday, December 5

This is the best day to be touring wineries; less crowds, great food and many special events, including wine club and art gallery receptions. Here are the events open to the public:

Northstar Open House: Music, nibbles and art. Nothstar is featuring the outdoor sculpture of Bernard Hosey with an impressive exhibit of Aaron Burgess oils.

Trio Vintners: New releases including barrel samples of 2007 Carmenere. Art exhibit by Patrick Slattery.

Sapolil Cellars: Special Engagement co-sponsored by the Walla Walla Blues Society.  Lloyd Jones & Mark DuFresne, Unplugged! Sapolil will host these two blues legends, who will be playing together for the first time. 8 – 11PM   $10 Cover.

Willow of Walla Walla Art Gallery;’Constructions in Glass’ Reception and Art Talk.
Reception and Art Talk for opening exhibit. Regional artists include Frank Janzen, Tom Dimond, Kevin Boylan and Arrianne Jane Bright.

Saturday, December 6

Willow of Walla Walla Art Gallery; ‘Glass Ornament & Pendant Workshop,’ Arrianne Jane Bright offers a glass workshop from 10-2PM. Make up to four ornaments. $85

Three Rivers Barrel Tasting INSANIA with Geoff Tate of Queensryche Geoff Tate, of Queensryche will be at the winery with a barrel tasting of his 2007 INSANIA wine. 12:00pm-2:00pm. Tasting fee: $15 refundable with purchase of Insania Futures.

Foundry Vineyards: American sculptor Deborah Butterfield, best know for her metal sculptures of horses,  will be signing bottles of the newly-released Foundry Vineyards red wine with her artwork on the label. 3:30 -5:30 PM

Macy’s Parade of Lights- Alder and Main, Palouse to 5th, 6-7pm.

Music at Sapolil Cellars: Dr. Mark Brown & Gary Romjue: This duo of musicians is simply engaging and extraordinary. The evening will showcase their talents on a baby grand, trumpet, blues harp, guitar, and fiddle. It is an evening not to be missed. 7-10PM $5 cover.

Enjoy Holiday Barrel Weekend and be safe.