So Tim is going to build a wine empire in Walla Walla and Jon has his extended family there and the place has grown to an amazing destination since the days of first mention of the town in 1953 by Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc). I spent a lot of time there when I was working as a private Chef for PJ Taggares (owned by Janet now after Pete passed) and it had 3 wineries and lots and lots of Sweet Onions. I have had a love-hate affair with arguable the greatest Walla Walla winery, Leonetti Cellars as the prices and difficulty obtaining the coveted vintages and I love them for their unique qualities.

The Taste of Walla Walla was hosted at the Seattle Center and sponsored by the Walla Walla Alliance to support Fare Start (a very worthwhile cause) and it featured all of the great wineries of the region. When you have the chance to taste so many fine wines, you really get a chance to pick the exceptional wines from the pack and focus on what you enjoy.

Here are my picks in order...

• Long Shadows Winery - Spectacular wines with lots of attention to the details. Chester|Kidder was my favorite as I tend towards Meritage styles in Red Table blends and this one does not follow the formula, but the excellent blend of Cab and Syrah make this #1 for me and it is fantastic! The other wines they make are top notch too.
• Pepper Bridge - I really favor their Cabernet and it is an estate wine which differentiates this from the smaller, leased makers in the region.
• Da Ma - Total female ownership is the shtick they promote and the Syrah was exceptional.
• Bergevin Lane - Jon's cousins own this winery and I like the 2004 Cab.

There was a lot of great wines there, but these are the outstanding ones I enjoyed the most.

We managed to stay reasonably sober and finished the night with an incredible meal at Opal and this being my third visit to the restaurant, they have their game on and produced Tyler's menu perfect once again.

I have been distracted lately by an unfortunate injury to my left knee and I can really appreciate and empathize now with serious sports injuries and those torn ACL's. I slipped off a step ladder and hit my kneecap on the edge of the wash bucket and shot it up my leg. The surgeon was excellent and recovery is slow but proceeding ahead of schedule. So enough of that, it bores me. Here's a shot for the squeamish!