Wining and Dining

At 1:00 pm, a stretch Hummer limousine drove up to the Birchfield Manor and 7 couples piled in, including Rich and I. I can count on one hand the number of times I have been in a limousine and in a Hummer. The door is in the back end and we either had to bend way over or crawl on your hands and knees (most of us were doing this at the end of the trip) to get to the seats in the front. The interior was generously appointed with places for wine bottles (cases went in the very back), plus a supply of wine glasses. We weren't driving so we could sample in between sampling.

If you have an iPhone or Android, you can use your QR reader and scan a code from the "Yakima Valley Grown to Greatness" guide to the valley wineries. You can read more about these wineries at www.yakima.mobilewinetour.com.

Todd, our chauffeur for the afternoon, took us to five wineries.

Our first stop was Masset Winery "located amongst beautiful orchards in the Rattlesnake Hills". Tastings are housed in an historic 1905 French inspired farmstead and by appointment only. Indeed we passed many pear and cherry trees on our way. We tasted a mixture of white and red wines. My preference is for white and I enjoyed the un-oaked Chardonnay and the Le Petit Blanc with a taste of green apple. Yummy. There was also a small calico cat that has the run of the tasting room and received many pets from Nancy and myself.

The next stop was Cultura Winery. This was voted the best by our group. Many purchases were made of various red wines. We bought 2 bottles of Merlot. The couple who own and run the winery were very friendly and engaging. If you like horseback riding, you can stay at a BB&B, bed, breakfast and barn, and visit different wineries on horseback including a lunch and tasting stop at Cultura.

The third winery was Silver Lake, more of a large production winery as opposed to the first two which were small boutique style. The person pouring was a little out of sorts and not very friendly as the 14 of us stepped in for tastings. The Girly Girl Chardonnay was okay but nothing to write home about other than the name.

Two Mountain Winery made up for the previous stop. We purchased another Merlot and some dark chocolate, an excellent combination which we all drank and nibbled on in the limo as we rode to our last stop. The two mountains the winery is named for are Mt Adams and Mt Rainier which you can see in the distance from just outside the tasting room.

Our final stop before returning to the Manor, was Hyatt Winery. We purchased a bottle for Riesling and some delicious Bing cherries. I was more excited about the cherries than the wine but the white is a decent table wine.

We returned to the Manor and relaxed before dinner. All 16 of us, some friends of Doug and Nancy's who live in the valley joined us for dinner, sat by the pool and relaxed before dinner. Doug showed us slight of hand trick with two corks that some of us tried to master but unsuccessfully.

Dinner was excellent. We enjoyed fresh baked bread, either cheddar cheese bread or caraway seed baguette, beef and mushroom soup followed by a choice of entrées. The entree choices were salmon in puffed pastry, filet mignon (my choice), rack of lamb (Rich's choice), steak Diane, or prawn and shrimp cakes. Dessert choices were brownie with a small creme brûlée or a cream Josephine with a raspberry coulis. Rich had the later and I chose the former and we shared. Both were great. To top off the evening was a sample of handmade Belgian chocolate, made on the premises.

Monday was definitely a gastronomic delight. Tuesday we drove home in the rain. The crawl space of the guest house we are staying at is being resealed. They started working on Monday and were still busy when we returned. So Rich and I opted to go see a movie and avoid the mess.

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