Winemaker's Dinner Saturday, April 28

Make your reservations now for our annual Spring Barrel Tasting dinner Saturday, April 28. This event sells out, so get on the list early. Spend an evening with the winery owners and winemaker as we discuss the wines we are drinking and the wines that are being made. Two wines with each course will allow us to compare a variety of flavors with each course.  Chef Roger and Chef Joreen from Bon Vino's always deliver an outstanding meal. Dinner starts at 6:30PM at our tasting room in Sunnyside. Tickets are $65 per person.  Contact Susan for details and reservations: steppecellars@steppecellars.com or 509-830-8891 Visit the website for more details.

Menu

1^st Course

Venus Cheese with Lime Citrus Scent & Lemon Zest

Italian Meatball drizzled with Huckleberry Sauce

Wines: Semillon & Big Sage Red

2^nd Course

Mixed Greens & Arugula Salad with Dried Berries & Caramelized Walnuts Circled with Cilantro Pesto Goat Cheese Sauce & drizzled with Champaign Vinaigrette

Wines: Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon

3^rd Course

Grilled Lamb with Herb Butter & Grilled Pork Loin with Black Berry Pepper Sauces served with Grilled Asparagus & Roasted Herb Red Potato

Wines: Syrah& Tempranillo/Granache/Mourvedre

4^th Course

Fig Tart & Spice Truffle

Wines: Riesling & Artemisia

Open for the 2012 Season April 6 & 7

We will open for 2012 on Friday April 6. Please visit us the Friday or Saturday of that weekend. We will be closed Sunday April 8. Regular weekend hours will begin the following weekend. We will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, and by appointment

Our First Press Today

We are going to pressing the Merlot today.  If you are out touring wine country today, stop by to see the first grapes of 2011 get pressed and enjoy some wine and wood-fired pizza too!

Two more Pizza Saturdays

We will be firing up the pizza oven just two more times this season.  Come out and join us Saturday, October 15 and Saturday, October 29 when Chris will be cooking up some of his wood fired pizzas.

The Reds are Fermenting

The pictures here show us "punching down" the grapes.  This means mixing up the grapes and the juice during the fermentation process.  In one of the pictures, you can see Susan pushing down through the cap that forms on the top.  In the other picture you can see the bubbling from the fermentation as the yeast are working away turning the sugars into alcohol

Fire burns off our Shrub Steppe land

We had a range fire that burned up all of our shrub steppe dry land.  It came right up to our irrigated land where we grow our crops, but fortunately did not hurt any of our farm crops ( the wine grapes are fine!)  We were a bit worried - especially when we had flames going above the height of the corn.  A neighbor brought up a water truck and along with Tom and Neil helped to get the fire out.  It is wonderful to have such great neighbors and friends to help.  No damage to people or buildings - but we have no more sagebrush.  It will be interesting to watch the regrowth.

Pizza this Saturday

We will have the pizza oven going again this weekend. Stop by Saturday August 27 for some of those great pizzas and a glass of wine under the shade trees at Steppe Cellars.