Wine, Food and Cocktails this Weekend!

As is usually the case, trips to Seattle involve lots of hard work, in my case eating and drinking. I feel like when I am there that I need to try everything, so my graze mentality is in full effect. We started the weekend off at our good friends, Kent and Renee's, where we drank two Sangiovese's from Andrew Will, a 2004 Cuvee Lucia Ciel du Cheval and a 2007 Annie Camarda Ciel du Cheval. The Annie Camarda has about 20% Cabernet Sauvignon blended in. The Cuvee Lucia, does not state the blend but seemed lighter in body, but still full of fruit as well as a little lighter in color. The Annie Camarda was the fav with nice balance of acid and tannin and a little more depth on the palate, with lots of ripe cherry notes.
The evenings dinner festivities started with some killer cocktails at Tavern Law, very cool bar in Capital Hill where we started off with a couple orders of the Foie Gras Terrine with angostura bitters gelee and Cod Fritters with a Remoulade Sauce. The Foie was a hit as we thought we could stay there most the night and just eat that! Wish I could fill you in the cocktails we all had, needless to say they were delicious. Then off to Harvest Vine, a Spanish Basque influenced restaurant. Lots of share plates, this was a killer meal, I could write a whole post on the food and wine. One of the top meals I have had in Seattle! The next day started off with the trip to the Swinery, see the previous blog, then into the city for a little grazing/shopping, Crab cocktail and Bouillabaisse from Jacks Seafood in the Market, BBQ Pork Humbow from Mee Sum Pastry, Flagship Reserve Cheese from Beechers, baguette from La Panier. The evening started back at our friends house with some vintage 96 Shramsberg Blanc de Noir, then off to Wild Ginger Seattle for some some great food and wine. We started off with a 2008 Robert Foley Napa Valley Pinot Gris and a 2007 JA Frey Vineyards Trisaetum Willamette Valley Riesling, both drinking exceptional and pairing good with the Pan-Asian foods, then our buddy Jake Kosseff, dug into the awesome list and found us couple gems! First a 2004 Zind Humbrecht Vieilles Vigne Pinot Gris, this wine was golden in color and had the acid and body that I love, it was screaming for the Indonesian style Satay's. Then to the consensus winner a 1999 Rosemount Balmoral McLaren Vale Shiraz, this wine had a nose the blended with the food that we were eating; Chinese 5 spice, black pepper, hoisin, soy and plum notes with a great dark fruit palate and light tannin, low alcohol to mesh with the lightly spice food. Thanks again Jake for that gem, loved it! Then back to the house for a desert wine from Walla Walla, the 2004 Beresan Just Candy, Late Harvest Syrah. This got me thinking about the Late Harvest Syrah we have going at Dusted Valley and excited to get it in the bottle! The next day brought a little lunch action at Artisnal in The Bravern in Bellevue, a little Kronnenberg and Fruits de Mer were in order. Dinner found us heading down to Tom Douglas' Serious Pie, we had a Fresh Chantrelle and Truffle Cheese pie as well as a Cherry Bomb Pepper and Sweet Fennel Sausage Pie, then couldn't help ourselves and ordered the Venison Sausage, Walla Walla Sweet Onion and sole de sardegna pie! All 3 were amazing, we washed it down with a great 2004 Prunotto Barbaresco and a 2006 Campodelsole Sangiovese. With are bellies full and satiated we hoped in our truck, braved the pass and headed back to Walla Walla.