Foothills Magazine - August 2011

WENATCHEE ◆ LEAVENWORTH ◆ CHELAN ◆ AND ALL OF NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON

OOTHILLS THE WINE ISSUE August- September 2011

Grant County wines earn top honors in North Central Washington Wine Awards

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Inside

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EDITOR’S LETTER

P

All In Good Taste

icture the scene: three looooong tables in one room filled with the region’s best wines. There were 720 bottles in all — three bottles of each of the 240 wines submitted for the inaugural North Central Washington Wine Awards. Judging took place June 30 at the Confluence Technology Center in Olds Station.

Even for a casual wine lover like myself — I’m no Two-Buck Chuck, but I have spent as little as $4 on a bottle of wine and only occasionally spend more than $15 on a bottle — all that wine was a sight to behold. Before the day was over, the first-ever comprehensive judging of wines produced in North Central Washington would be complete.

The results were impressive: nearly 13 percent of the wines would earn Double Gold or Gold honors, slightly higher than the typical 10 percent of wines in similar competitions that earn the highest honors, according to Andy Perdue, one of two moderators from Wine Press Northwest who led the judging event.

Grant County wines swept top honors, with the panel of seven judges naming Quincy’s Beaumont Cellars the Best of Show/Best Red Wine winner for its 2009 Syrah.

Best White Wine went to Jones of Washington — also from Quincy — for its 2010 Sauvignon Blanc. Jones walked away with 13 total medals.

Among its impressive haul of 17 total medals, Cave B near George earned Best Dessert Wine for its 2008 Semillon Ice Wine.

Other big winners included: • Chateau Faire Le Pont, Wenatchee, five gold medals among its eight total medals • Tsillan Cellars, Chelan, 12 total medals • St. Laurent Estate Winery, Malaga, 10 total medals • RockWall Cellars, Omak, 9 total medals You can read more about the top

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winners inside this issue’s 23-page wine section.

I extend a big “thank you” to all the wineries that submitted wines for judging. I imagine it’s no easy thing to put your wines before a panel of expert judges for critical analysis. All told, 42 out of the roughly 60 wineries operating in Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Okanogan counties submitted wines for judging.

All wineries in the region were invited to submit entries.

Wine Press Northwest and its professional crew of moderators, judges and workers also deserve much credit for making the NCW Wine Awards a success in its first year.

It was a double-blind judging, with judges knowing nothing about the wines in 16-ounce glasses in front of them.

Wine Press Northwest’s Hank and Nancy Sauer led a group of eight backroom workers — including yours truly — who did a variety of busy work.

We backroom folk labeled glasses,

opened bottles, decanted the red wines by pouring them into a pitcher and then back into the bottle, delivered flights of wine to judges, washed glasses and kept judges supplied with plates of palateneutral snacky foods — mushrooms, crackers and cheese — and two diferent kinds of water.

It was a long day, but it was also a fascinating process to watch as judges — who weren’t allowed into the backroom area until judging was complete — rated the wines.

Foothills writer Rick Steigmeyer, himself an amateur winemaker who worked the backroom, wrote about the judging in his Winemaker’s Journal blog at wenatcheeworld.com: Judges were served lights of competing wines in 17 categories, from varietals like Chardonnay and Merlot, to exotic dessert wines. There were 33 red Bordeaux blends entered in the competition, so judges were each brought three diferent lights of 11

glasses of wine. There were 27 Syrah to be judged, and 26 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Each wine was judged on its own merits, rather than against each other. Every wine was capable of winning a gold medal if it lived up to the judges’ expectations of perfection. The judges were not required to give any gold medals — or for that matter — any medals at all.

Judges swirled each wine in its glass, examining it for depth of color and opacity.

Was there sediment? They raised each glass to their nose and breathed in, searching for loral and fruit aromas. Finally, they tasted the wine, observing alcohol, sugar, acid and tannin irst, then swishing the luid in their mouth to taste the fruit, spice and more complex lavors it had to ofer. Then they spit their wines out into a cup. With 240 wines to test, the last thing a judge wants to do is get drunk.

The judges made notes on a scorecard and gave each wine a rating: gold, silver or bronze.

A minus or a plus could be added if they were willing to compromise on a higher or lower award. Some wines received no score due to laws or lower quality.

When the judges completed tasting the light, they passed their score sheets to a panel moderator. Andy Perdue moderated at one table of four judges. Eric Degerman oversaw another table of three judges.

Perdue and Degerman are editors of Wine Press Northwest and have moderated dozens of wine competitions throughout the Northwest. ... What was most interesting to watch and hear was how the judges in nearly every case were close to each other in their ratings and able to talk precisely about each wine in the discussion round and come to a compromise on each award.

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Judges awarded four Double Gold, 26 Gold, 83 Silver and 73 bronze medals — that adds up to 186 medal winners out of 240 entries, with 30 wines earning the highest honors.

All in all, it was an impressive showing for NCW wines. I salute you all.

Marco Martinez, editor

Follow us facebook.com/Foothills.Magazine

@Foothillsmag August / September 2011

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CONTRIBUTORS Sharon Altaras is an amateur sociologist, wannabe motorhead and fashionista.

She enjoys walking the neighborhoods of Wenatchee, and recently traveled the country in an RV with her dog. As a journalist, she’s covered North Central Washington’s courts, Washington state’s businesses, and has helped launch an eco-conscious fashion magazine.

Doug Flanagan, an award-winning sports and news reporter, grew up in Quincy and attended Arizona State University. He currently serves as editor of Douglas County Empire Press and contributes to a variety of World Publishing publications. If there’s a baseball game being played in the area, he’s probably in attendance.

Growing up near San Diego, Gary Jasinek spent a lot of days at the beach, but he wasn’t a surfer. He might have been a gremmie or a hodad, but he can’t remember now what those terms meant.

MK Resk cannot sit idle for long.

Consequently, she is a Wenatchee-based writer, teacher, performer, volunteer, athlete and traveler. For more on her current projects and escapades, visit her at mkresk.wordpress.com.

Give Mike Irwin a reason to go and he’s gone. The Wenatchee World reporter and blogger loves to wander the area’s towns and backroads in search of the odd and interesting. Everyday objects intrigue him, too, so don’t worry if you find him transfixed by cloud reflections in a mud puddle. It’s normal behavior. Somewhat normal.

Rick Steigmeyer is an amateur vintner who enjoys writing about wine, food and local entertainment on his Winemaker’s Journal blog at wenatcheeworld.com.

He’s been a World reporter since 1989.

Writing about unique homes is a joy for Bremerton native Dee Riggs. She likes exploring the thought process that goes into building or remodeling a home. The University of Washington graduate has worked at The World since 1977.

Kathryn Stevens, owner of Atlas & Elia Photography, merges her years of professional experience in photojournalism with her love for naturallight portraiture to create a company that specializes in fine-art wedding and family photography. Using the surrounding environment and emotion of her clients, she creates images that tell a personal story. Check out her latest at blog, atlasandelia.com.

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CONTENTS 8 Fast 5 Mike Irwin has the skinny on historical landmarks

10 Trail Hound Hunt for wildflowers draws Mike Bonnicksen to Leavenworth area

12 Open Road Pleasure riders Jim and Pat McDonald take their Corvette for a spin on Route 66

14 Bold & Beautiful John Surita’s 1964 Chevy Impala SS was a lucky find

24 And The Winners Are ...

Area wineries show well in North Central Washington Wine Awards

48 Shangri-La Relax, stay awhile — you’re in Stehekin

54 A Growth Opportunity Small-time farmers have big ideas about your health

16 See Spot Walk Five area trails for you and your dog to explore

18 Big Boarding 56 Behind the Iron Gate Stand-up paddling is latest wave in area water sports

Orchard Avenue home shines from the outside in

22 Texting ...

60 Smokin’!

West Mathison Stemilt wunderkind is all grown up

Butcher Mike McKee definitely knows his way around a grill

OOTHILLS A BIMONTHLY LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE ABOUT NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON

Publisher Rufus Woods rwoods@wenatcheeworld.com

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Managing editor Cal FitzSimmons (509) 665-1176 fitzsimmons@wenatcheeworld.com Editor Marco Martinez (509) 664-7149 martinez@wenatcheeworld.com Advertising sales manager Wendy DalPez (509) 661-5221 dalpez@wenatcheeworld.com Voted “Best Floor Store” by Wenatchee World Readers

Special publications manager Michelle Jeffers (509) 661-5226 jeffers@wenatcheeworld.com Design Jared Johnson johnson@wenatcheeworld.com

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Staff writers Mike Irwin Dee Riggs Rick Steigmeyer Staff photographers Mike Bonnicksen Don Seabrook Contributing editor Russ Hemphill Contributing staff Anna Lopez Nathan Mesler

Coming soon!

Foothills Magazine is published bi-monthly

by World Publishing, 14 N. Mission St., Wenatchee, WA, 98801.

Subscriptions $21 annually Send check or money order to: Foothills, Subscriptions 14 N. Mission St., Wenatchee, WA, 98801 or email foothills@wenatcheeworld.com Copyright 2011 with all rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without written permission.

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COMPILED BY MIKE IRWIN

Fancher Field Fancher Field’s high-flying history didn’t always soar. The landing strip on the shrub-steppe flat above East Wenatchee earned its name in 1928 when Maj. John T. Fancher, demonstrating nighttime bombing techniques, was fatally injured by the delayed explosion of a grenade-like device. The city wasted no time in renaming the airstrip in his honor. The field has also been long famous, of course, as the crash-landing site of Miss Veedol, the trans-Pacific airplane flown in 1931 by daredevils Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon.

The 80th anniversary of that flight lands (safely, we hope) in October. Since the 1970s, the field was home to gliders and crop dusters before drifting into commercial and residential use.

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St. Andrews Episcopal Church Divine providence is one explanation for St. Andrews Episcopal Church’s mint condition. Other evidence points to superior design and construction of the 103-year-old church, Chelan’s oldest structure. Its precisely-notched Douglas fir logs (no chinking required) rising on a foundation of local granite show little wear and tear, thank the Lord, because of the lakeside city’s dry climate and a century of attentive maintenance crews. Famed architect Stanford White supposedly designed the church eight years before his murder by a jealous husband, but that’s not true.

The building rose (40 feet high at the bell tower’s peak) from plans drawn by Kirtland Cutter and Karl Malmgren, prominent Northwest architects in the Arts and Crafts tradition.

The

Fast

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Cottage Avenue

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INSIDER TIDBITS ON THE AREA’S LOCAL LIFE AND LORE

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The historical marker should read, “Cute as the dickens,” because nearly every single home along Cashmere’s Cottage Avenue has that bungalowCraftsman quaintness that recalls a nostalgic, Norman Rockwell-type perfection. The 51 contributing homes in the historic district, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, display late 19th- and early 20th-century design and flair — picket fences, wide porches, arched doorways and windows. A handful even boast a modified, flat-roofed Mission or Spanish Revival style made popular in the U.S. before 1925.

A stroll through the district’s park and main thoroughfares — lined with mature trees, ample gardens and flowering arbors — is a step back to another century.

Energy-saving

Bulbs are back

Douglas County Courthouse

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At 2,622 feet above sea level, Waterville still tops all other municipalities in the state as the incorporated town that’s perched the highest. Topping that, the tallest building in town (if you ignore grain elevators) is the three-story, 106-year-old Douglas County Courthouse, stately with its brick exterior and sky-piercing cupola. It remains the home of the county’s Superior Court, despite eforts in recent decades by possible usurpers to relocate the county seat to — we’re not pointing any fingers, mind you — East Wenatchee. But a quick climb up the sun-drenched stairs at the courthouse in Waterville will convince most visitors that THAT’s where enlightened justice should reside.

Sleeping Lady

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Leavenworth’s Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort doesn’t get its name from the loudly snoring woman in the guest cabin up the hill. It’s more poetic than that.

Off in the distance, the peaks and valleys of the Stuart Range rise over the Icicle Valley and — if you use a little imagination — you can see the profile of a reclining woman in peaceful slumber. OK, it’s not perfect, but who really looks their best when sound asleep? Eighty-six-year-old Harriet Bullitt, owner of the resort, said her earliest memory of the Sleeping Lady name dates back to 1935 when a visiting family friend pointed in the distance and said, “Ah, that’s the Sleeping Lady.” Since then, Leavenworth has awakened to tourism, but the iconic Lady dreams on.

Chelan County PUD will distribute FREE compact fluorescent light bulbs to customers from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 27.

Come to your nearest PUD office to receive a bag of 20 free, energy-saving bulbs.

You must show a recent PUD electric bill when picking up the bulbs. Offer available while supplies last.

Questions?

Call (509) 661-8008.

www.chelanpud.org

August / September 2011

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ON THE TRAIL

Ingalls & Icicle I Intricate designs in a old log off the Icicle Ridge Trail.

Ingalls Creek flows briskly.

T

Rain droplets collect in a lupine leaf off the Ingalls Creek trail.

his adventure is the culmination of two trips: Ingalls Creek, located up Blewett Pass, and Icicle Ridge Trail, just a short way up the Icicle. I picked these trails to find some sought-after wildflowers.

After reading some trail reports, I found that Ingalls Creek was known to be a good place to spot Calypso orchid, and Icicle Ridge seemed to be a good place to see Tweedy’s Lewisia. So I headed out in search of both, and found them!

As far as hiking conditions go, the trails are very diferent.

Ingalls Creek is a slow, steady, uphill grade, opposed to Icicle, which is a series of switchbacks up the ridge face. For most of the 5.5 miles up that I went up the ridge, I had a good view back down into the Leavenworth Valley.

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So now it’s time for me to come clean; for the people out there who know something about photography, you may have noticed that my images are taken with a point-and-shoot camera. One giveaway is the wide-angle macro photos.

How is it that a professional photographer can hit the trail, packing a camera smaller than a pack of cigarettes?

For one thing, I’m lazy. I pack big cameras 40 hours a week and this is a way for me to enjoy hikes and yet have fun with photography, embracing the limitations that the point-andshoot camera has.

You can get wonderful photos with the tiny cameras available today, but it does take a diferent approach than shooting with high-end cameras and lenses.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIKE BONNICKSEN

e Inspiration

At left, Western Trillium, seen near the Ingalls Creek Trail, turns from white to pink with age.

Above left, Tweedy’s Lewisia seen off the Icicle Ridge Trail. It’s often found on rocky slopes.

Above right, a Calypso orchid seen near the Ingalls Creek Trail. Below, a bee on the flower of a plant in the sunflower family seen off the Icicle Ridge Trail.

Leavenworth

2 Icicle Ridge trailhead 2/97

N

2 miles

Ingalls Creek trailhead

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GETAWAYS

STORY BY DOUG FLANAGAN

Provided photos

Jim and Pat McDonald’s road trip vacation in their 2003 Z06 Corvette followed the famous Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif. Here they are seen in Pontiac, Ill., home of the Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum.

Gettin’ their kicks East Wenatchee couple travel famed Route 66

J

im McDonald has had a lifelong fascination with Corvettes, and a more recent desire to drive the length of fabled Route 66.

“I’ve probably had 20 (Corvettes) that were drivable. I work on them, rebuild them, play with them,” he said. “I could probably trace (my interest in Route 66) back to when I used to watch ‘Route 66,’ the television program. Those two guys always rode a Corvette on Route 66 in the show.”

A few years ago, McDonald and his wife, Pat, began to talk about shipping one of his current Corvettes — a 2003 Z06 — to Chicago and driving the entire 12

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length of Route 66. In May and June, their idea finally came to fruition — they completed the route in 23 days.

The route, which starts in Chicago and ends just past Los Angeles, is a popular destination for motorcyclists, foreigners and people searching to deepen their understanding of American history, among others.

In its early days, Route 66, which was established in 1926, represented the adventure and romance of the “open road” for many people. Today, 26 years after the route was oicially de-commissioned, it stands as a symbol of a bygone era, or a simpler time, and

A popular sidetrip for Route 66 fans is a visit to Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, Texas. Several layers of spray-painted graffiti might be all that holds these Caddies together.

East Wenatchee

The end of Route 66 is the pier at Santa Monica, Calif. The McDonalds capped off their more than 2,400-mile Route 66 experience by driving their car north to East Wenatchee from Southern California. is an indelible piece of American pop culture.

“Once we got into it and started learning more and more and more about Route 66,” Pat said, “it just became so fascinating to us. ‘Americana’ is a good word, because that’s exactly what it is.”

Along the 2,400-mile route, the McDonalds — along with friends Terry and Lynn Molander of Newberg, Ore., who drove their 1940 Ford Coupe Street Rod — made stops in eight states, connected with fellow travelers and soaked in as much American culture they could.

“This was totally diferent (from any other trip we’ve taken),” Pat said. “We were in a diferent place every night. We were never bored.”

They tried to not travel more than 100 miles per day and locate a hotel by

ROUTE

CA

Santa Monica

Oatman Los AZ ngeles Angeles

around 4 p.m. to allow for plenty of stops and a leisurely pace.

They left Chicago on May 11 and traveled south into Missouri, then crossed over to Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, where they pulled into the Santa Monica Pier, the route’s oicial ending point, on June 2.

During the trip, they saw dozens of unique attractions. They went to the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis; visited the famous Cadillac Ranch, just outside of Amarillo, Texas; saw the Petriied Forest National Park and the Grand Canyon in Arizona; fed wandering burros in Oatman, Ariz.; and stopped at dozens of iconic hotels and restaurants.

Their favorite stop, however, came early on.

“I think that we agreed that Missouri

66

Joplin

Chicago Pontiac St. Louis

Clinton Clin

NM Amarillo OK TX

was our favorite state,” Pat said. “We met a lot of really nice people in Missouri.

It was such a pretty state, and there was a lot of Route 66 there that you can still drive.”

They had some problems while they were there, though.

“We were just ahead of the tornadoes,” Jim said. “We were in Joplin, Mo., ive days before it got wiped of the map. On May 23, when we were in Clinton, Okla., there was a tornado that touched down 15 miles from our door. I was nervous until we got out of Oklahoma.”

The trip was so fun that Jim and Pat are trying to plan their next travel adventure. The problem is, they’ve set a very high standard.

“I don’t know what kind of road trip we can take that can top that,” Pat said.

“I don’t think there is one.”

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John Surita, 30, bought his 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS when he was 15. The Wenatchee man finished restoring the car a couple of years ago, buying parts when he could afford them.

Bold Beauty Taking a risk to bring new life to a ’64 Impala

I

f fortune favors the bold, maybe John Surita had a bit of help finding his 1964 Chevrolet Impala.

“Driving home through Quincy, I saw the car just going to waste,” recalls the now-30-year-old Wenatchee resident.

Surita was combing newspaper ads in 1996 looking for a classic car to restore when he spied the Impala in a yard, its root-beer brown paint faded and peeling.

It had unbolted seats covered in debris and a tree limb growing into the interior.

The car also was rust damaged and a had a busted engine.

But at 15, Surita was fearless.

“I knocked on the door and asked him if he’d consider selling it,” he says of his brief interaction with a man he

WHEELS OF WONDER 14

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remembers as “George.” The boy ofered the man $1,000 he’d earned swamping cherries in an orchard that summer.

George told Surita he hadn’t planned to get rid of the car, which he’d last used as a drag racing vehicle.

“But he was agreeable,” Surita says. “I ran to the bank and came back, and he sold it to me that same day.”

A family friend towed the Impala to Surita’s home, where it took up residence in his dad’s garage.

“I’d always wanted one of those cars. I didn’t know the whole history until I got it. I learned a lot of its history from the old-timer guys. They told me, ‘Hey, you’d better hang on to that,’ ” Surita says.

Since buying the Impala, he’s also

Car: 1964 Chevrolet Impala, limited edition 4-speed Owner: John Surita, Wenatchee

STORY BY SHARON ALTARAS PHOTOS BY MIKE BONNICKSEN

Welcome to A gracious, welcoming, elegant country estate nestled on 10 acres of impeccably maintained grounds along the Wenatchee River.

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acquired a 2007 Mazda RX8 and a 1992 Honda that he drives to work.

The classic car is his weekend cruiser, and a source of pride at local car shows.

He puts just 500 miles on it each year and hopes to someday pass it on to his 5-year-old son.

Now a palletizer at Star Ranch Growers in Wenatchee, Surita has kept receipts for all his updates to the car.

He’s paid for parts and labor as he could aford them and inally completed the project two years ago.

“There was a lot of work done on that one,” says Terry Halverson, owner of Halverson Auto Body in Wenatchee.

Halverson and his crew restored the chassis and rechristened the Impala a teal green with a pearl inish.

The beauty that’s been revealed has brought the car’s value to at least 30 times what Surita paid as a teen, though he says he’s probably spent that much over the years.

When he bought the Impala, Surita says George asked him to keep in touch and call “out of the blue” if he ever got it inished.

Though 13 years had passed since he’d knocked on the Quincy resident’s door, Surita remembered the request.

“The day I got it out of the paint shop, I looked through my numbers and called him up,” says Surita. “And he was going to come through Wenatchee, so he came and saw it.”

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15

PATH WAYS

Andrew and Heather Hubbs of Wenatchee walk their dog Riley in Walla Walla Point Park.

Have leash, will travel

5 hikes for you and your pooch 16

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f you have a dog, you have an excuse to seek adventure, even if only for an afternoon.

And there is arguably no better companion.

Who else could lose themselves wholly in the moment, taking palpable interest in the smells around them, joying at the sight of a creek or lake to splash in, ever ready to drop everything to go for a drive or make a friend?

The Wenatchee area — with its quick access to urban and rural settings, its varied landscapes and distinct seasonal changes — is a perfect setting for people and their canines. Land managed by the city, state and federal governments, public utility districts and conservancy groups includes a wealth of well-known and seemingly undiscovered

August / September 2011

trails. Most, though not all, allow dogs on a leash.

Here are five options within barking distance of the city:

1 Walla Walla Point Park area of the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail Dogs can splash in the Columbia River or let their tongues hang out alongside a steady stream of bicyclists, runners and walkers on part of this busy urban trail loop. Members of Wenatchee Valley Friends Improving Dog Opportunities or F.I.D.O. (wenatcheefido.org) meet here at 4 p.m. each Sunday take a “pack walk.” Dogs motivate people to exercise and help break down social

STORY BY SHARON ALTARAS PHOTO BY MIKE BONNICKSEN barriers, says F.I.D.O. spokeswoman DJ Goodell. All are welcome. Follow Ninth Street east to Walla Walla Avenue.

The Loop Trail is 10 miles in its entirety, relatively flat and paved.

2 Sage Hills area of the Foothills trail system Managed by the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust, the Sage Hills trail is an easily accessible reprieve from the city.

Drive west up Fifth Street, continuing left onto No. 1 Canyon Road. Look for parking on the right, at the start of Sage Hills Road. Follow the trail as long as you wish, turning back to retrace your steps when you’re done.

A gradual incline and narrow dirt trail at the start yields increasingly panoramic views of Wenatchee and the surrounding foothills. Bring water and watch for snakes.

3 Saddle Rock For something more strenuous that’s still close to town, this area, recently acquired from the state by the city of Wenatchee, with help from the Land Trust, does not disappoint. Lizards and other critters will keep your dog interested while you scope out the amazing view. When Wenatchee is cooking, the steep, three-mile trail is best experienced in the morning or evening. Drive south on Miller Street, turning right at the end onto Circle Street, and look for parking.

4 Clara and Marion Lakes Ready to get out further? Wenatchee resident Lori Nitchals has been exploring North Central Washington with her dogs for the past six years, and says this 2-mile uphill hike is one of her favorites. “I love hikes with spectacular views, and having a lake or creek is always a plus to help us cool down,” she says. To access, follow Mission Street at the south end of town as it turns to Squilchuck Road and continue straight for about 11 miles to Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort. Park on the left, just before the entrance to the ski resort’s lower parking lot. The trailhead is across the road. Keep straight at all junctions to reach Clara Lake. From there, a short trail on the left will take you to Marion Lake.

5 Horse Lake Road At the north end of town, where Horse Lake Road heads west toward the foothills, another of Nitchal’s favorites awaits. Exercise seekers may drive to the end of the pavement, park on the right and walk uphill along a winding gravel road for roughly 2 1/3 miles to reach a trailhead maintained by the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust.

For a shorter hike, continue to drive until you see the trailhead. It’s another third of a mile to a gate and then a quarter-mile long spur trail heads north to an overlook with a breathtaking view of the Wenatchee Valley and Cascade mountain range.

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Adam Mckenney, right, gives a stand-up-paddling lesson to Gary Jasinek on the Wenatchee River near Blackbird Island in Leavenworth.

NCW RECREATION

STORY BY GARY JASINEK PHOTOS BY MIKE BONNICKSEN

What’s SUP? Trendsetters bring their surfing skills to NCW rivers

E

ven thousands of miles from any coastline, surf culture has been considered cool for years.

This is why high school kids in Omaha wear board shorts and use words like “gnarly” or “brah.”

But until the past few years, surfing itself remained inaccessible for us inlanders, unless we devoted precious vacation weeks and large portions of our disposable income in pursuit of the waves in San Diego or Hawaii.

This is all diferent now. Surfboards have grown to as long as 14 feet and moved to landlocked bodies of water.

Turns out, you can do more things with these big boards on rivers and lakes than you can with short boards on a shore break at La Jolla.

You can see farther, too.

Lore has it that stand-up paddling, on big boards with paddles longer than the paddlers are tall, has been practiced for hundreds of years by the original surfers in Hawaii. They apparently found it advantageous to get vertical so as to cop an earlier view of the next gnarly set, brah.

Indeed, visitors to Kauai these days will see stand-up paddlers in numbers that rival their empty-handed brethren.

This old aquatic discipline started surging in popularity elsewhere — even in the Midwest — perhaps 10 years ago.

Within the last three or four years, it has caught on here in North Central Washington.

Adam Mckenney, owner of Leavenworth Mountain Sports, says he sold about 15 stand-up paddling (SUP) boards in all of 2010. By June of this year, at least that many had left his shop.

Sales at Wenatchee’s Arlberg Sports are increasing at a similar pace, said owner Scott Paton. Industrywide, growing interest in things SUP shows up

Adam Mckenney prepares to get into the water to surf his stand-up paddleboard, or SUP, on the Wenatchee River at Rodeo Hole near Dryden. in a 28-percent increase in sales in the past year, he said.

Leavenworth’s Mckenney is not just a salesman of the equipment. He is a passionate enthusiast of the sport.

“I’ve been a water person forever,” he said. “I snorkel, surf, kayak, ski. But this (SUP) has taken over.”

It’s the versatility of the boards that makes them so great, he said.

“We can do latwater, or we’ll run the river, surf the river. We’ll do a whitewater section, and then surf some more. Option B is, let’s go park and play (maneuver on standing waves in the river). The Wenatchee is one of the top-10 rivers in the world for play boating. There are so many put-ins, and the quality of the river is just amazing.”

Mckenney said skills acquired on the river can translate easily to ocean suring.

“A good friend of mine is a mountain hippie. He never surfed in the ocean but is a stand-up master of the river,” he said.

“His irst day ever out on the ocean, he caught 20 waves.”

That might be an extreme example.

Many stand-up paddlers may never attempt whitewater or ocean waves, choosing instead to ply calmer waters.

Take Rocky Crocker, for example. An avid bicyclist, Crocker knew little about SUP until about a year ago. But now he uses paddling to cross-train. “There are lots of days when my legs need recovery, but I still need to burn calories,” he said.

“So I take the dog and away I go.”

About twice a week in warm weather, you can see Crocker paddling the Columbia with Magnum, his 7-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever, dutifully manning the bow of his craft.

A 10-year member of the Wenatchee Row & Paddle Club, Crocker stores two canoes and a kayak in the club’s boathouse at the foot of Ninth Street, but he rarely touches them anymore. He prefers the stand-up board.

“This is way more user-friendly. It’s easier to launch and easier on your back, but it involves muscles from your shoulders to your feet, not just your waist,” he said.

August / September 2011

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Adam Mckenney surfs his stand-up paddleboard on the Wenatchee River at Rodeo Hole near Dryden.

“When the sun’s out and the wind is down, boom – I’m here. There’s nothing better.”

Dan Cappellini would agree. Bitten by the SUP bug more than a year ago, he’s translated his interest into building custom boards for his Glassywaves Standup Paddleboards at his home in Cashmere, near the river.

He has sold more than a dozen handcrafted boards. A stay-at-home dad, he plans to expand his business when his kids, now 4 and 6, both are in school.

For now, he uses his boards himself on the whitewater near his home, and sometimes fishes from his board on latwater with his kids aboard.

Like other devotees, he prizes the diferent ways paddleboards can be used.

And besides, they bring suring closer to home.

“I’ve surfed many times. If I lived on the ocean, I’d be a surfer. But I live here, so I surf on the river.”

Getting started Cappellini’s boards sell for about $100 a foot. Leavenworth Mountain Sports sells boards at prices ranging from $700 to $2,000. Arlberg Sports’ boards range from $800 to $1,700. Costco also ofers 20

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August / September 2011

Only two ... uh, make that three ... have fallen Gary Jasinek photo

Stand-up paddler Rocky Crocker and his dog Magnum are a common sight on the Columbia River during warmweather months. beginners’ boards.

You can rent SUP boards at Arlberg ($60 a day), Lakerider Sports Chelan at Lake Chelan ($60 a day) or Leavenworth Mountain Sports ($50 a day, subject to peak-season and day-of-week variations).

Mckenney at Leavenworth Mountain Sports ofers hour-long lessons for $25, all equipment included.

Members of Wenatchee Row & Paddle Club, at the foot of Ninth Street on the Columbia River, have access to two clubowned paddleboards. Annual fees are $75, after a $100 joining fee.

K

nees bent? Check.

Back straight? Yep. Feet wide? Think so.

Glasses secured to your head?

Aw, man….

When I climbed back onto the board from the clear and cold Wenatchee River where it lows gently around Blackbird Island in Leavenworth, it was without my hat, which loats, and my prescription glasses, which unfortunately do not.

My instructor, Adam Mckenney, pointed it out. “Hey, were you wearing glasses?”

Well, yeah, I had been.

Before we started the lesson, Mckenney, owner of Leavenworth Mountain Sports, assured me that, of the 50 people to whom he’d taught the art of stand-up paddling, only two had fallen of the board.

The fact that he’ll now have to

admit to three does not mean that our lesson was a failure. I did have fun, and I did learn the basics: • How to manage the board from car to water (carry it like a briefcase, don’t forget to leave your paddle somewhere you can grab it with the other hand).

• How to get on the board (spread your knees wide, centered on the board; hold the paddle with your top hand down on the shaft).

• How to stand up (hold the paddle perpendicular to and on the board, get your feet under you and stand).

• How to paddle (keep both elbows straight to involve your core muscles; reach out ahead as far as you can, and flick the blade outward as the stroke ends at your heels).

I managed to do all those things, if only for seconds at a time.

And there were glimpses of how cool this sport is. I’ve kayaked and canoed some, and there’s something diferent and very appealing about having a visual perspective that’s feet, not inches, above the water. You can look down through the clear lens of the river. You can see farther ahead.

And you feel the workout not just in your arms, but in your torso and, especially, your legs. It’s like using a

Mckenney, left, shares paddling tips with Jasinek, who later got soaked. balance board, except there’s no loor to save you when you lose it.

Which I did, not once, but three times.

The falling-in-really-cold-water part of my lesson was less like standup paddling than stand-up comedy, if watching someone large and ungainly fail at a simple task is your idea of humor.

The contrast between my pathetic skill level and my instructor’s was demonstrated later that day, several miles downstream near Dryden, where the Wenatchee River forms a wave near

the shoreline so dependable that it has a name, Rodeo Hole.

There I watched Mckenney repeatedly paddle his board from an eddy onto the back side of the wave, heading upstream, and cling there with amazing balance and grace. He was suring.

When he came to shore, I complimented his ride and said, “Hey, I think I’m ready to give this a try.”

The worried look on his face said that he didn’t know at irst that I was kidding.

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Texting...

You became Stemilt president at age 28. What took you so long?

I had lots of mentors along the way — and plenty of help. The better que stion is: My grandfather retired at 79 yea rs old — what took him so long?

Indeed. What was it like growing up in Wenatchee with that family legacy? Other kids treat you differently?

Differently? We grew up in a doublewide mobile home. When I was a kid Stemilt was just another packer. My bro, sis and I had to wor k from 6 a.m. to noon on each Saturday. Basic farm kid story.

Ever order an appletini in a bar?

No, I’ve only seen photos. I prefer local wines. I love my mom’s cab franc and my aunt Laura’s merlot.

Nice plug for Stemilt (Creek Winery) wines. ASB presiden t, star football player at (Wenatchee High School) college grad, competitive skier, now CEO. Were you ever rebellious?

In high school I had a goatee and long surfer hair. I almost dropped out of college to pursue snowboard racing, but then I got religion and finished college.

Not as bad as sneaking an orange behind the shed, I guess.

Honest favorite: apples, cherries or pears?

Depends on the time of year. Righ t now, Rainier cherries are awesom e.

Then SweeTango in September, then Gala, Pinatas. After February I love Anjou pears. But honestly, my bloo d runs cherry red all year.

OFFBEAT

BY CAL FITZSIMMONS

West Mathison

Sophisticated.

Not Stuffy.

W

est Mathison is president and chairman of the board of Wenatchee-based Stemilt Growers, the largest non-citrus tree fruit company in the nation. He took over family business from his grandfather, Tom Mathison, in 2005. His great-great-grandfather, Thomas Cyle Mathison, homesteaded on Stemilt Hill in 1893 and planted his first apple, pear and cherry orchards in 1914.

This interview was done completely by text message. Words in parentheses were not part of the original texts.

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Who is the most

2101 N. Duncan Rd., Wenatchee, WA Mon.-Fri. 9-6; Sat. 10-3 509-662-9500 famous pers on you’ve m et?

I met Bill Ru ssell in a ho picking che te rries. I don’t l in Stockton. We were know what there. It wa s kind of od he was doin d. g

But someon e legacy is hu to look up to. Your gra n ge. Do you feel pressure dfather’s from that?

My grandfa th He impacte er’s legacy is much big d an entire ger than me in . leadership.

There is an dustry when it needed e ntire team o Stemilt who fp ca every day. It rry the passion and le eople at gacy of Tom is so fun to work at such a place.

What kind o f music do yo u like? Favo rite musicia n?

I was a DJ in era” with Ry college during the en an d Stone Temp Homchick. Sound Ga of the “grunge rden, Pearl le Pilots. Sin Jam, ce then, I’ve Christian m usic, yet I lo softened in ve Dave Ma to tthews.

The goatee a what’s your nd hair live on! Finally, favorite thin an apple, o ther than m g to make with oney?

Well, I techn ic really enjoy ally don’t make it but I tasting/jud g Blossom ap ple pie conte ing the Apple folk make a st mean apple . Wenatchee pie.

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The inaugural North Central Washington Wine Awards competition featured 240 wines in double-blind judging. Complete results begin on Page 36.

Bright Beginning f “I

’m the new guy,” Pete Beaumont says when asked when and how he started his winery, Beaumont Cellars.

Beaumont has been growing apples, pears and cherries on Quincy’s Babcock Ridge for 33 years.

But making wine, is indeed something new. His 2008 vintage wines released last year were his first venture into the world of commercial wines.

But new doesn’t imply lack of quality in Beaumont’s case. He entered three wines in the

Pete and Katie Beaumont relax on the outdoor patio at their home outside Quincy where Beaumont Cellars is located.

“It’s satisfying to me to be in control of making and marketing the wine myself.

That’s something I don’t get to do with apples.”

first North Central Washington Wine Awards. All three won medals, two of them gold. His 2009 Syrah won additional medals for Best Red and Best of Show. And his 2009 Sangiovese was the second in the running for those most prestigious awards.

Beaumont said he made his first barrel of Merlot for fun five years ago with help from good friend Mike Scott of Martin-Scott Winery. Martin-Scott also won two golds in the competition, including a double gold for the winery’s 2010 Viognier.

“Ninety percent of what I know about making wine came from Mike,” Beaumont said modestly.

He said he’s also received lots of help from Emily Haynes, lab technician for Milbrandt Vineyards.

Grapes for all of Beaumont’s wines come from Milbrandt Vineyards and Jones of Washington vineyards on the Wahluke Slope.

Beaumont said he plans to stay small and do his own marketing. “It’s satisfying to me to be in control of making and marketing the wine myself.

That’s something I don’t get to do with apples,” he said.

It took less than four months for the winery to sell all 320 cases it bottled last year. Beaumont produced 820 cases for this year, expanding with Sangiovese, Malbec, Pinot Gris and a Rosé.

He expects to bottle about 1,000 cases of 2010 vintage wines and stay around 1,200 cases in the future.

The well-balanced Syrah is probably his favorite wine available this year, he said. The seven judges for the NCW Wine Awards unanimously agreed.

STORY BY RICK STEIGMEYER PHOTOS BY KATHRYN STEVENS

Winner: Best in Show, Best Red, Double gold Beaumont Cellars 2009 Syrah $20

Winner: Gold Beaumont Cellars 2009 Sangiovese $20

g for Beaumont

The young winery earned Best of Show honors for its 2009 Syrah in the inaugural North Central Washington Wine Awards.

August / September 2011

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Winner: Best White, Gold Jones of Washington 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, $16.99

Keeping Up With These Guys J

Jones of Washington was awarded Best White for its 2010 Sauvignon Blanc in the inaugural North Central Washington Wine Awards.

ust 26 years of age, Victor Palencia has already made quite a name for himself in the world of wine. The showing made by Jones of Washington wines at the North Central Washington Wine Awards will certainly do him — nor the winery and its extensive vineyards — no harm.

Jones of Washington won medals with every one of the 12 wines it entered, including a gold medal and award for Best White for its 2010 Sauvignon Blanc and a double-gold medal for its 2006 Barrel Select red blend.

Palencia said the grapes for the Sauvignon Blanc and several other whites came from Jones estate vineyards near Quincy.

“That region is excellent for white wine. They have good acidity, but with weight,” he said.

Palencia blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah for Jones Barrel Select wines, what he calls the best of the best. “We’re shopping for the merriment of all the vineyards in the Wahluke.”

Allan Williams, the winery’s marketer, said this has been a big year for Jones of Washington, with many awards and rapidly expanding distribution. Many wines, including the competition’s Best White, are nearly sold out.

Jack Jones first made his name growing potatoes, onions, apples and cherries in Grant

STORY BY RICK STEIGMEYER PHOTOS BY KATHRYN STEVENS

Greg Jones manages roughly 1,600 acres of grape vineyard

Jack Jones, owner of Jones of Washington winery

County. He expanded with vineyards in the mid1990s and soon became one of the Columbia Basin’s largest contract wine grape producers.

He hired Palencia in 2008 to produce bulk wines for other wineries at J&S Crushing in Mattawa, owned by Jones and Dick Shaw.

Jack’s son, vineyard manager Greg Jones, works together with Palencia to reserve the best grapes grown on the family’s nearly 1,600-acres of vineyard. The grapes they consider the best of the best are used to produce about 8,000 cases of Jones of Washington wines each year, which are distributed throughout the Northwest and California.

Winner: Double Gold Jones of Washington 2006 Barrel Select (red blend), $24.99

Winner: 6 Silver medals, 4 Bronze medals

“We’re shopping for the merriment of all the vineyards in the Wahluke.”

Victor Palencia, winemaker at Jones of Washington winery, tastes wine in the Jones of Washington tasting room.

EstherBric ues

Tasting Room Eagle Creek Winery

Winery

617 Front Street in Downtown Leavenworth Across the street from Gustav’s Open 7 days a week 11am to 6pm

IN LEAVENWORTH Our beautiful tasting room serves a premium and distinctive sampling of red and white wines.

Open Fri., Sat. & Sun., 11am to 5pm May - October Other times call for an appt.

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Handcrafted Wines from Washington’s North Okanogan Valley

509-476-2861 42 Swanson Mill Road, Oroville,WA Tastings Tours Sales RV parking

Summer Hours Noon to 6 pm or by appointment

estherbricques@nvinet.com www.estherbricques.com August / September 2011

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The Judges Name: Paul Sinclair Age: 58 City: Kennewick Profession: Elementary physical education teacher, 36 years Wine experience/credentials: Twelve years working for Wine Press Northwest, judged the Greatest of the Grape in Umpqua, Ore., judged the Wine by the River twice in Bend, Ore. Name: Michael Rader Age: 62 City: Kennewick Profession: Financial advisor Wine experience/credentials: Has worked with Wine Press Northwest on their judging events for the past ive years.

Name: Winnie Alberg Age: 34 City: Ellensburg Profession: Professional wine judge Wine experience/credentials: Obtained a degree in anthropology from Central Washington University. Her family owns Stillwater Creek Vineyard LLC, a 300-acre vineyard in Royal City, where she served as marketing and sales director for 10 years. Owns Agronomics LLC, a company that serves private companies, including business planning development, branding, and the sales and marketing of agricultural products. Member of Wine Press Northwest magazine’s Tasting Panel and a founding roundtable member of the Zino Society. Involved member of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture, Society of Wine Educators and the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers. Has professionally judged many wine competitions, including Washington State Wine Competition, Idaho Wine Competition, Platinum Wine Judging Competition and the Northwest Wine Summit.

www.dutchjohnwines.com bygeorge@usa.net

509-264-1612 509-782-3845 Wine Tasting Room at 207 Mission Ave., Cashmere, WA

“Make a beeline to Quincy to enjoy our hand crafted wines on our patio!”

8634 Road U NW • Quincy • 509-787-5586 www.facebook.com/beaumontcellars beaumontcellars.com 28

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August / September 2011

Name: David Seaver Age: 63 City: Richland Profession: Scientist, decision analysis and risk management (retired) Wine experience/credentials: The retired scientist is enthusiastically pursuing his longtime interest in wine. Member of the Wine Press Northwest tasting panel, tasting hundreds of newrelease Northwest (British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and Washington) wines every year and also participating in Wine Press Northwest peer reviews of speciic wine varietals and categories of wine. Has judged wines in regional competitions such as Greatest of the Grape (Umpqua Valley) in Idaho, Yakima Valley Red Wine and Chocolate, and St. Joseph’s Art and Wine Festival.

Name: Barb Robertson Age: 40-something City: Wenatchee Profession: Restaurateur and account manager for Sysco food service Wine experience/credentials: WSET Advanced Certiication and Diploma coursework.

Has worked in Northwest wine industry for more than 10 years, including distribution, sales, production and marketing.

Name: Daniel M Carr Age: 53 City: East Wenatchee Profession: Chef, restaurateur Wine experience/credentials: Has worked with wine sales in restaurants since 1978. Awards include Wine Spectator Award of Excellence recipient since 1998; Wine Spectator “Best of” Award of Excellence recipient 2009, 2010 and 2011; Washington Wine Restaurant Awards; Winemaker’s Choice award 2009; and Washington Wine Grand Award 2011. Listed In Sommelier Guide to Restaurants in America.

Name: Jay Drysdale Age: 37 City: Oliver, B.C. Profession: Sommelier/business development manager Wine experience/credentials: Has worked in the food and wine industry for almost 20 years.

Came up through the kitchens to become a chef.

Traded in the apron for a corkscrew and became a sommelier. Started judging wine competitions about ive years ago and enjoys discovering great wines of the Paciic Northwest.

Wenatchee Locally grown in the Columbia Valley

Upcoming Wine Events: September 17 Taste of Harvest Festival Wine Garden October 1 Wings, Wheels and Wine Celebration October 22 HalloWINE November 12 Downtown Wenatchee Holiday Wine Walk Thanksgiving Weekend Fall Barrel Tasting & Open House

www.wenatcheewines.com

Chelan Seaplanes 509-632-5555

Drive, boat or visit us by floatplane!

Going North on Hwy 97, take first right past milepost 244.

(509)-682-9713 WWW.RIOVISTAWINES.COM August / September 2011

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Winner: Best Dessert, Gold Cave B 2008 Semillon Ice Wine

Dessert is Deserved C

Cave B’s 2008 Semillon Ice Wine took home the Best Dessert award.

ave B Estate Winery’s 17 medals won at the North Central Washington Wine Awards are a testament to the consistent quality of its wine as well as the diverse skills of its winemaker, Freddy Arredondo. Among the awards was a gold medal and Best Dessert Wine for Cave B’s 2008 Semillon Ice Wine.

The Semillon Ice Wine was made from grapes harvested in mid-December 2008 and finished with 12.5 percent residual sugar. “Ice wine is especially a labor of love. It’s not an easy wine to make,” said Arredondo.

The 2008 Semillon has perfect balance between sugar and alcohol that ofers fragrant summer lavors of ripe pears followed by apricots and peaches, tropical fruits and spices.

The winery’s roots grow deeper than most in the region. Retired Seattle neurosurgeon Vince Bryan Sr. started the Champs de Brionne Winery in the mid-1980s around The Gorge amphitheater. Bryan sold the amphitheater — now one of the nation’s most popular outdoor music venues — but transformed the vineyard and winery into what is now the Cave B Inn and Estate Winery. Arredondo, a former chef who turned to winemaking while working in Italy, is Bryan’s son-in-law.

STORY BY RICK STEIGMEYER PHOTOS BY KATHRYN STEVENS

The vineyards at Cave B Winery are among the oldest wine grape vines growing and in use in Washington state.

“Our focus is deinitely on wines that pair well with food. Food-driven wines are really what I strive to make in every part of the process,” said Arredondo.

The winery uses only natural, minimalintervention methods, he said, without the addition of any enzymes, sugar or acid that would alter the expression of the natural terroir. Cave B grows 17 varietal grapes on 110 acres of vineyard. All wines are made using only estate-grown grapes.

Freddy Arredondo, winemaker at Cave B Winery, samples wine from a barrel in the winery’s barrel room.

Winner: 11 Silver medals, 4 Bronze medals

Cave B Estate Winery is part of a complex that includes the luxurious Cave B Inn, with 55 guestrooms, and the Tendrils Vineyard Restaurant near George.

“Our focus is definitely on wines that pair well with food.”

La Toscana is a small, family-style winery nestled in the foothills of Washington’s Cascade mountains, just east of Leavenworth. Our wines are crafted in the old-world tradition using exclusively artisan techniques.

Tastings by Appointment (509) 548-5448 www.latoscanawinery.com

4147 Hamlin Road Malaga, WA 98828 509-888-WINE www.SAINTLAURENT.net

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Minutes From Town & A World Apart

Tasting Room Hours

May thru December Tasting Room open 11am-6pm every day.

January thru April Open Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays, 11am-5pm However, Doug is there working in the winery nearly every day, and will happily serve you. Stop by or give him a heads-up call at 509-429-8284.

www.rockwallcellars.com 110 Nichols Road • Omak, WA

509-826-0201 Like us on Facebook

August / September 2011

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Winner: 5 Gold Medals Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2008 Pinot Noir Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Tre Amore (red blend) Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Malbec Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Reserve Syrah Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Syrah

A Bounty of Gold J

udges were surprised, but not shocked to find out that they had just awarded five gold medals in a double-blind taste test to a winery they could see out the window 100 yards away.

Chateau Faire Le Pont promotes itself as a producer of “world-class, ultra-premium wine made from local grapes,” and after the winery’s showing in the North Central Washington Wine Awards — held June 30 at the Confluence Technology Center in Olds Station — it’s hard to argue with that. The winery won eight medals in all, bringing home gold for its 2008 Pinot Noir, its 2007 Syrah and 2007 Reserve Syrah, its 2007 Tre Amore red blend and its 2007 Malbec. The wines sell for between $25 and $39.

Doug and Debé Brazil manage the winery, which is housed in a renovated 1920s brick warehouse.

Doug is the winemaker, while Debé is the marketer.

The couple also manage a restaurant, gift store and events center in the building. Doug is a retired U.S. Navy helicopter pilot who began taking winemaking courses while working in Europe.

“I fell in love with wine — drinking it, cooking with it and making it,” he said. He continued taking courses after returning to the United States. After settling in Seattle in the 1990s, the couple became acquainted with Washington’s developing wine industry. Partnering with a small group of investors,

Chateau Faire LePont Winery’s five gold medal winners: 2008 Pinot Noir, 2007 Tre Amore (red blend), 2007 Malbec, 2007 Reserve Syrah and 2007 Syrah.

they purchased and remodeled the building in Olds Station and produced their first vintage in 2002. The winery and restaurant opened its doors in 2004.

They named the winery Faire Le Pont for a French term meaning “bridging the gap,” said Debé, who is French-Canadian.

STORY BY RICK STEIGMEYER PHOTOS BY KATHRYN STEVENS AND MIKE BONNICKSEN

Winner: 2 Silver medals, 1 Bronze medal

“If we were going to pour our heart and soul into this, I wanted the potential to produce a world-class wine.”

Debé and Doug Brazil

Jazz night at Chateau Faire Le Pont winery in Wenatchee.

“If we were going to pour our heart and soul into this, I wanted the potential to produce a world-class wine,” Doug said.

Columbia Basin vineyards ofered that potential.

The winery sources grapes by site and row from the Yakima Valley, Alderdale and Mattawa to produce about a dozen wines each year. Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec comes from vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA, Syrah and Merlot comes from the Wahluke Slope, Pinot Noir and Viognier comes

from Quincy.

The winery produces between 3,000 and 3,500 cases annually. Nearly all of it is sold at the winery, through its wine club or over the Internet.

“Balance, I think, is the key,” Doug said about the prize-winning quality of his reds. “I don’t like a wine where alcohol, tannins or acid jump out at you. We know what we’re looking for and make sure we get really good raw product. Then we accomplish the balance we want through blending.”

August / September 2011

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STORY BY ANDY PERDUE

Regional Wine Scene Comes of Age – Again W

Andy Perdue is editor of Wine Press Northwest magazine. For freshest Northwest wine reviews, go to www.winepressnw.com/ freshpress.

ashington’s most exciting new wine region also is one of its oldest.

The state’s first two operating wineries were in East Wenatchee (1874) and Wenatchee (1875), and grape growing on Lake Chelan flourished in the 1890s.

So it makes perfect sense that North Central Washington — with its rich, deep agricultural history — is blossoming in the state’s explosive wine industry.

For the past decade, Wine Press Northwest has been monitoring the growing quality of wines from North Central Washington with great interest and delight. The Wahluke Slope has emerged as one of Washington’s most important grape-growing areas, and the Royal Slope and Ancient Lakes regions also are coming into their own.

Though Lake Chelan’s modern viticultural history dates back only to 1998, it is making monumental strides in a hurry. In large part, this is a result of the area’s dedication to other agricultural pursuits — apples and cherries.

Undoubtedly, the apple industry’s diiculties for the past decade have forced the hand of many orchardists to turn toward vitis vinifera, but turning

Handcrafted premium wines from estate grown grapes.

April – December : Fri. & Sat., Noon - 5:00 pm and by appointment January – March : Please call ahead for hours: 509-860-0662, or 509-679-8705

Horan Estates Winery Tasting Room 207 Mission Avenue, Suite D Cashmere, Washington 98815

www.horanestateswinery.com 34

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proverbial lemons into Riesling, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon could well end up being much more lucrative than most thought possible.

Look no further than America’s most famous Riesling. Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Eroica Riesling uses grapes primarily from the Ancient Lakes area near George, with some of the blend now coming from Lake Chelan.

But it’s not all about winemaking.

Creating memorable experiences is a key component to success as a wine region.

Chelan and Leavenworth have long been tourism destinations for Washingtonians. Lake Chelan has been a summer magnet for Puget Sound residents for the better part of a century, and Leavenworth’s Bavarian makeover a half-century ago has made it a year-round destination for tourists throughout the Paciic Northwest. Both of these communities have relied on tourism for so long, they know how to treat visitors, and this gives them a huge advantage over more traditional wineproducing regions in Washington that do not have natural ainities for amenities.

Adding wineries has not only extended tourist season by several months per year, but it also is attracting

Andy Perdue Age: 46 City: Richland Profession: Newspaperman (including a stint as a college intern at The Wenatchee World in 1987) Wine experience/credentials: Editor of Wine Press Northwest magazine since co-founding it in 1998 (with Eric Degerman); writes (with Degerman) weekly column on Northwest wine that appears in 17 newspapers; wrote “The Northwest Wine Guide: A Buyer’s Handbook” (Sasquatch Books, 2003); has contributed to four other books on Northwest wine, food and travel; writes Pacific Northwest Wine of the Week email newsletter; edits and co-authors (with Degerman) Fresh Press, a weekly online publication with reviews of Northwest wines; co-produces (with Degerman) a weekly video show about Northwest wine (youtube. com/winepressnw); international wine judge; writes The Wine Knows, a blog on Northwest wine (wineknowsblog.com).

an entirely diferent group of visitors.

Serious wine travelers don’t usually need special events or excuses to attract them to an area, and they tend to spend more money than typical tourists.

With everything North Central Washington has going for it, the region can do even more to take advantage of its growing reputation. Here are a few observations: Continue to improve winemaking.

This might seem obvious, but the next few years will be vital because more consumers are paying attention to the wines coming out of North Central Washington. Great experiences and superb architecture will bring visitors, but great wine will bring them back — with their friends.

Build industry infrastructure. How many businesses cater to the business side of wine and grapes? This is an opportunity whose door will likely close in the next five years.

Explore viticultural future. There’s a saying in the wine business that a site that has been successful with Red Delicious probably will be able to grow world-class grapes. What does the region hold viticulturally? The Wahluke Slope is well established, but the Royal Slope, Lake Chelan, the Columbia Basin and the Okanogan are still being explored. Oh, and the oices of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers are in Cashmere.

Where will North Central Washington be as a wine region in another decade?

Based on its recent success, the future holds great opportunities.

CFFA • 509-433-1054 • www.visitwashingtonfarms.com

•

• •

August / September 2011

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Stemilt Creek Winery Tasting Room locations: WENATCHEE 110 N Wenatchee Ave Wenatchee, WA 98801

509-665-3485 Wenatchee – Summer Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, noon until 6pm

Medal Winners

DOUBLE GOLD

LEAVENWORTH 617 Front Street, Suite 4A Leavenworth, WA 98826

509-888-5357 Leavenworth – Summer Hours: Monday – Thursday, noon until 6pm Friday and Saturday, noon until 7pm Sunday, 11am until 5pm

Category: Syrah Best in Show, Best Red

Category: Viognier Double Gold

Beaumont Cellars 2009 Syrah $20

Martin-Scott Winery 2010 Viognier $12

Judges’ comments: This young Quincy winery has crafted a blockbuster of a wine. It opens with aromas of blueberries, boysenberries and coffee, followed by flavors of cloves, bittersweet chocolate and creamy blackberries. It’s rich on the palate and offers just enough acidity to bring the whole package together.

Judges’ comments: It’s easy to love Viognier when it’s made this well, and Martin-Scott’s version is classic Washington style. It opens with aromas of orange zest and creamsicles, followed by flavors of citrus and cantaloupe. This captures the elegance of the variety.

www.stemiltcreekwinery.com

C. R. Sandidge Wines, Inc.

“Wines of Supreme Elegance”

Tasting Room Location: 145 Wapato Way, Suite 1 Manson WA 509.682.3704

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Tasting room open from 1 to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday or by appointment 8634 Road U N.W., Quincy (509) 787-5586 beaumontcellars.com

Tasting room open noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday 3400 S.E. 10th St., East Wenatchee (509) 885-5485; (509) 886-4596 martinscottwinery.com

Taste Of PureExcellence

Category: Red blend Double Gold C.R. Sandidge 2007 Whistle Punk $20

A

It’s unlike any other Winery

Judges’ comments: Winemaker Ray Sandidge continues to impress us with every release. This red blend shows off complex aromas and flavors of dark fruit, mocha and mint, all backed with lingering tannins and a lengthy finish.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday 145 E. Wapato Way Ste.1, Manson (509) 682-3704 crsandidgewines.com

Doug & Debé Brazil Invite you to dine with us & enjoy our Award Winning Wines Free Tastings & Tours Call Ahead for Barrel Tasting Wines ~ Chocolates ~ Gift Items ~ Gift Baskets

The Château Winery Tasting Room & Gift Shop

Open 7 Days A Week • Mon.-Sat. 11-9, Sun. 11-6

Château Cajun Grill

Open Tues.-Sat., Lunch 11-2, Dinner 5-9

Like us on facebook & mention Foothills for a free appetizer

Voted #1 Winery in North Central Washington

Château Faire Le Pont Winery One Vineyard Way • Olds Station in Wenatchee

667-9463 | 888-874-9463 | www.fairelepont.com Double Gold Jones Of Washington 2006 Barrel Select $24.99

Judges’ comments: This is a fascinating blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, and it provides aromas and flavors of boysenberries, blackberries, strawberries, caramel and a whisper of smokiness. It’s a big wine with plenty of depth and wellintegrated tannins.

This wine has a master’s touch to it.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday from Memorial Day through Labor Day and noon to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday from Labor Day through Memorial Day 2101 F St. S.W., Quincy (509) 787-8108 jonesofwashington.com

Family owned, Estate Grown Vineyards Tasting Room: 509-787-8108 Open Labor Day to Memorial Day Fri., Sat. & Sun. 12-5pm Memorial day to Labor Day Fri., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 11am-6pm

2101 F. St. SW Quincy, WA 98848 www.jonesofwashington.com August / September 2011

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of tannins and pleasing acidity.

bright, clean fruit along with something bold and rich backing it up. It opens with aromas of fresh-ground coffee beans and blackberries, followed by balanced flavors of ripe, juicy black fruit.

Wine tasting by appointment only 9020 Foster Road, Cashmere (509) 548-5448 latoscanawinery.com

Category: Pinot Noir

Medal Winners

GOLD Category: Merlot La Toscana Winery 2007 Merlot $18

Judges’ comments: This opens with enticing dusty purple fruit aromas, including blueberries and boysenberries, all backed with a whiff of smoke and cedar. Flavors of blue fruit push through on the plate and allow this Merlot to stand out because of its superb structure and thin veil

Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2008 Pinot Noir $29.99

Judges’ comments: This rare Washington Pinot Noir opens with aromas that include a touch of cedar, cherries and mint. On the palate, this reveals juicy cherry cola flavors, balanced with notes of black licorice. It is a seamless wine with nice weight on the mouth and mild tannins.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday 1 Vineyard Way, Wenatchee (509) 667-9463 fairelepont.com

Category: Sangiovese Beaumont Cellars 2009 Sangiovese $20

Judges’ comments: This seems to be a Super Tuscan style of Sangiovese, with

Tasting room open 1 to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday or by appointment 8634 Road U N.W., Quincy (509) 787-5586 beaumontcellars.com

Category: Gewurztraminer Eagle Creek Winery 2009 Gewurztraminer $18

Judges’ comments: Here’s a classic example of this German and Alsatian variety. It opens with inviting aromas of rosewater, orange zest and grapefruit, followed by bright, light flavors of citrus, lychee and tropical fruit.

Winery: 10037 Eagle Creek Road, Leavenworth; (509) 548-7668 Winery tasting room open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday D’Vinery tasting room: 617-4A Front St., Leavenworth; (509) 548-7059 D’Vinery tasting room open Monday through Friday noon to 7 p.m.; Saturday noon to 8 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. eaglecreekwinery.com

Tsillan Cellars, an Italian country retreat recreated on the gently sloping shores of deep water Lake Chelan offers a destination experience unique in the entire country.

Sorrento’s Ristorante For Reservations, Please Call (509) 682-5409.

Best of Italy Fine Dining!

See our menu online!

3875 Hwy. 97A Chelan, WA • (509) 682-9463 www.tsillancellars.com 38

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Category: Syrah Benson Vineyards 2007 Syrah $26

Judges’ comments: This opulent Syrah opens with aromas of alder smoke, blackberries and peppercorns, followed by flavors of juicy berries, spiced meat and boysenberries.

It reveals a rich midpalate that leads to a balanced and memorable finish.

Tasting room open daily 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

754 Winesap Ave., Manson (509) 687-0313 bensonvineyards.com

Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Syrah $24.99

Judges’ comments: Many Syrahs are in-your-face red wines. This one, thankfully, takes a more subtle and elegant approach. It opens with aromas of new leather, shaved dark chocolate and ripe raspberries, followed by beautiful flavors of blueberry jam and a hint of toastiness.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday 1 Vineyard Way, Wenatchee (509) 667-9463 fairelepont.com

Dutch John’s Winery 2007 Syrah $16.95

Judges’ comments: Here is a plush and complex Syrah that opens with aromas of blackberries, strawberry candy and a touch of mint.

On the palate, it reveals a solid core of dark fruit, all backed with great structure and character. The big finish is memorable.

Italian Restaurant • Featuring traditional Italian dishes, NW Seafood, and USDA Prime Steaks • Specializing in cooking with apple-wood, bringing you the true avors of Northern Italy • Apple-wood Roasted Salmon, Rotisserie Lemon Chicken • Visconti’s Spaghe i, Linguine alle Vongole, Fe uccine, Baked Pasta Dishes • Now serving at Wenatchee location

Wenatchee 1737 N. Wenatchee Ave. (509) 662-5013 Open Mon.- Fri. at 11a.m.

Sat. & Sun. at 5p.m.

Catering Available On & Off Premises

Washington Wine Grand Award, 2011 Washington Restaurant Wine Awards Wine Spectator “Best of Award of Excellence Restaurant” 2011 Winemaker’s Choice Award, 2009 Washington Restaurant Wine Awards

Leavenworth

Reservations Recommended Lunch & Dinner menus online at www.viscontis.com

636 Front St • (509) 548-1213 Open Daily from 11 a.m.

Dinner served until 10 p.m.

Weekdays & 11 p.m. Fri. & Sat.

Award Winning Wines Crafted with Artistry and Passion

Tasting room open noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday or by appointment 107 Mission Ave., Cashmere (509) 782-3845 or (509) 264-1612 dutchwines.com

Tsillan Cellars 2008 Reserve Syrah $28

Judges’ comments: This beautifully balanced Syrah from Lake Chelan’s south shore reveals beautiful aromas of cedar, cinnamon and blackberries, followed by elegant flavors that include espresso, violets, lavender and dark fruit. It’s all backed by expertly handled tannins that give way to an approachable red wine.

Tasting room open daily 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

3875 Highway 97A, Chelan (509) 682-9463 tsillancellars.com

Tasting room and gift shop open daily: 11-5:30 Sunday - hursday, 11-7:00 Friday & Saturday 348 Silica Road NW, Quincy, WA 98848 - 509.785.3500 - www.caveb.com Located just over two hours from Seattle or Spokane or visit us in Seattle at Urban Enoteca - www.urbanenoteca.com August / September 2011

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complex Syrah then gives way to flavors of rich, lush blackberries, raspberries and black pepper. It is beautifully balanced through the expressive finish.

Tasting room open noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday or by appointment 207 Mission Ave. Suite D, Cashmere (509) 860-0662 horanestateswinery.com

Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Reserve Syrah $29.99

Category: Cabernet

Judges’ comments: This intriguing Syrah seemingly has everything. It opens with aromas of oak, crushed walnuts, mocha, blueberries and mint, followed by flavors of chocolate, smoke and big, jammy black fruit. Its fruit, tannin and acidity are beautifully balanced from first sip through the memorable finish.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday 1 Vineyard Way, Wenatchee (509) 667-9463 fairelepont.com

Horan Estates Winery 2006 CWM Syrah $22

Judges’ comments:

St. Laurent Estate Winery 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon $28

Judges’ comments: Opening with aromas of black currants, cranberries and raspberries, this Cab from one of Washington’s warmest growing regions is superb. It packs plenty of elegant fruit on the palate, including cassis, black raspberries and dark plums. Its chewy tannins provide superb balance to the loads of fruit.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday 4147 Hamlin Road, Malaga (509) 888-9463 saintlaurent.net

Opening with aromas of blueberries, slate and grilled beets, this gorgeous and

Hours of operation Friday and Saturday noon to five.

Or by appointment See our website

Judge’s comments: Owner/winemaker Larry Lehmbecker has another winner here, crafting a Cabernet Sauvignon with aromas of coffee, leather, cedar and dark fruit, followed by seamless flavors of blackberries, black cherries and spices. The tannins are round and supple, making this a wine that is easy to love — and easy to drink.

Tasting room open daily 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

105 Highway 150, Chelan (509)682-2882 vindulac.com

Category: Red blend Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Tre Amore $38.99

Judges’ comments: This red blend from a top Wenatchee winery opens with fascinating aromas of complex spices and mocha characteristics.

On the palate, it’s a big, juicy wine with notes of mint, chocolate and sweet herbs.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday 1 Vineyard Way, Wenatchee (509) 667-9463; fairelepont.com

Family owned and operated Hand-crafted, award winning wines panoramic lower valley view Catered food and wine events for groups up to fifty guests.

3400 10th SE, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

www.martinscottwinery.com

Vin Du Lac 2008 Barrel Select Cabernet Sauvignon $34.99

509-886-4596

The Taber Family invites you to visit and taste their handcrafted Okanogan Valley wines.

Tasting Room Open Daily 9am-5pm Off-Season by Appointment

Copper Mountain Vineyards 33349 Highway 97 (509) 476-2762 40

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! n e p O w o N Wenatchee Valley Wine Tasting Room and Visitors Center Taste the flavor of the area!

Stop by, sample wines from 8 local wineries: Chateau Faire Le Pont • Snowdrift • Jones • Malaga Springs Horan Estates • Stemilt • Saint Laurent • Crayelle

Wine Tasting $4.00 Open Monday through Saturday, Noon – 6 p.m.

5 S. Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee www.wenatcheevalley.org

$2.00 OFF Wine Tasting $2.00 off the regular price of $4.00 Must be 21 years of age or older and have ID available.

Offer good through Oct. 31, 2011.

August / September 2011

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include ripe dark fruit, chocolate and even a hint of orange rind.

Tasting room open noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday 3400 S.E. 10th St., East Wenatchee (509) 885-5485; (509) 886-4596 martinscottwinery.com

Napeequa Vintners 2007 SLR $28 Dutch John’s Winery 2006 Great Northern Red $21.95

Judges’ comments: This red blend already has some good age on it, and it will continue to gain complexity in the next few years. It reveals aromas of spicy oak, caramel and red fruit, followed by easy-drinking flavors of cocoa powder, black cherries and spices, all backed with elegant tannins.

Tasting room open noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday or by appointment 107 Mission Ave., Cashmere (509) 782-3845 or (509) 264-1612 dutchwines.com

Rock Wall Cellars NV Stampede Red $24

Judges’ comments: From the northern boundaries of Eastern Washington comes a superb red blend. It opens with aromas of dusty blueberries and boysenberries, followed by flavors of blackberries and ripe plums. Lively acidity backs up all the fruit.

Tasting room open daily 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

110 Nichols Road, Omak (509) 826-0201 rockwallcellars.com

Ginkgo Forest Winery 2009 Wildwood Blend $24

Judges’ comments: There’s a lot to love here, with aromas of blueberries, boysenberries and cassis, followed by rich, dense flavors of black fruit backed with rich tannins and terrific length.

Tasting room open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday 22561 Road T.7 S.W., Mattawa (509) 932-0082 ginkgowinery.com

Martin-Scott Winery 2008 Raven Ridge Red $23

Judges’ comments: This red blend seems to have it all.

It reveals aromas of leather, plums, mint and something that reminds us of black olive tapenade. The palate is loaded with big, juicy flavors that 42

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Judges’ comments: The name stands for “Sexy Little Red,” and it sure is. It’s a blend of Merlot, Cab and Malbec, but one would swear it has a bit of Sangiovese in it. This is loaded with aromas and flavors that include boysenberries, pomegranates, cherries, coffee and chocolate, with just a bit of saddle leather that rides off onto a memorable finish.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday 18820 Beaver Valley Road, Plain (509)763-1600 napeequa.com

Category: Other White Dry Falls Cellars 2009 Semillon Traditionelle $18

Judges’ comments: Semillon is a rare grape outside of Bordeaux. A few examples can be found in Washington, and this is one of the best we’ve seen. It opens with aromas of almonds, apples and fresh figs. On the palate, it is perfectly weighted with superb viscosity backed with right-on acidity.

Tasting room open noon to 6 p.m. Saturday or by appointment 6828 22nd Ave. N.E., Moses Lake (509) 762-5922 dryfallscellars.com

Best White Jones Of Washington 2010 Sauvignon Blanc $16.99

Judges’ comments: We are coming to expect greatness from this Columbia Basin producer, and this superb Sauvignon Blanc does not disappoint. It opens with floral and tropical fruit aromas, followed by dandy flavors of tangerines and limes.

Bright acidity backs up all the fruit, making this perfect for grilled halibut with a mango salsa or a variety of shellfish.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday from Memorial Day through Labor Day and noon to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday from Labor Day through Memorial Day 2101 F St. S.W., Quincy (509) 787-8108 jonesofwashington.com

Wine Category: Other Red Wedge Mountain Winery 2007 Cabernet Franc $28

Judges’ comments: Cabernet Franc, often thought of as Cabernet Sauvignon’s “little brother,” takes center stage in this superb bottling.

It opens with complex aromas of cedar, spices, cranberries and chocolate, followed by balanced flavors of rhubarb compote, fig jam and ripe raspberries with a hint of smoke. The supple, well-integrated tannins put this wine in a league of its own.

Tasting room open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday 9534 Saunders Road, Peshastin (509) 548-7068 wedgemountainwinery.com

Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Malbec $39.99

Judges’ comments: In the past three years, Malbec has become the new red wine darling of Washington, and this is a superb example, thanks to aromas of cedar, pomegranates and pink peppercorns. On the palate, it shows off ripe fruit that includes marionberries and pomegranates, all backed with dense tannins.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday 1 Vineyard Way, Wenatchee (509) 667-9463 fairelepont.com

Category: Fruit Wedge Mountain Winery NV Roses and Rubies

Judges’ comments: This fortified dessert wine is made with raspberries — and it shouts this fact from the glass.

Huge raspberry and blood orange aromas make way for full-on flavors of raspberries and orange pekoe tea in the finish. This is a high-alcohol wine by design, but that fact is disguised by the wine’s wealth of acidity and flavor.

Tasting room open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday 9534 Saunders Road, Peshastin (509) 548-7068 wedgemountainwinery.com

Category: Dessert Swakane Winery 2010 Late Harvest Riesling

Judges’ comments: One judge described this as baklava in a glass. It is an amazing dessert wine with a lot going on, including aromas and flavors of fresh citrus, lemon-lime, hazelnuts and honeycomb. It has a lot going on and is plenty sweet without being cloying.

Winery: 7980 State Highway 97A, Wenatchee; (509) 662-1928 Winery tasting room open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday Swakane Winery tasting room and bistro: 725 Front St., Leavenworth; (509) 888-7225 Swakane Winery tasting room and bistro: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday swakanewinery.com

Best Dessert Cave B 2008 Semillon Ice Wine $35

Judges’ comments: Using grapes frozen on the vine near George, this rare dessert wine is plush and luscious from first whiff through the lengthy finish. It reminds us of pineapple upside-down cake dripping with honey and rosewater and topped with tropical flowers.

Tasting room open 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday from April through December and 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. seven days a week from January through March 348 Silica Road N.W., Quincy (509) 785-3502 sagecliffe.com

Esther Bricques Winery 2005 Ice Riesling $45

Judges’ comments: This young winery just south of Oroville in Okanogan County is off to a strong start with this luscious dessert wine. It opens with aromas of honey and almonds that lead to smooth flavors of apple crumble. The hard part to making great ice wine is retaining all-important acidity to balance the sweetness, and this wine nails it.

Tasting room open daily noon to 6 p.m. or by appointment 42 Swanson Mill Road, Oroville (509) 476-2861 estherbricques.com

Judging was held at Wenatchee’s Confluence Technology Center.

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Subject to terms, conditions and availability. Savings vary. Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Allstate Indemnity Company, Allstate Fire And Casualty Insurance Company: Northbrook, Illinois © 2011 Allstate Insurance Company.

August / September 2011

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Category: Sangiovese Benson Vineyards 2008 Sangiovese $27 bensonvineyards.com

Icicle Ridge Winery 2009 Sangiovese $50 icicleridgewinery.com

Kyra Wines 2008 Sangiovese $16 kyrawines.com

Jones of Washington 2006 Jack’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon jonesofwashington.com

St. Laurent Estate Winery 2007 Wahluke Cabernet Sauvignon $31 saintlaurent.net

Wedge Mountain Winery 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon $28 wedgemountainwinery.com

Medal Winners

Category: Gewurztraminer Cave B 2009 Gewurztraminer $22 sagecliffe.com

SILVER

Tsillan Cellars 2008 Estate Gewurztraminer $14 tsillancellars.com

Kyra Wines 2010 Pinot Gris $13 kyrawines.com

Lost River Winery 2009 Pinot Gris $14 lostriverwinery.com

Tsillan Cellars 2010 Estate Pinot Grigio $18 tsillancellars.com

Jones Of Washington 2010 Pinot Gris $13.99 jonesofwashington.com

Category: Syrah saintlaurent.net

Crayelle Cellars 2008 Syrah $25

Benson Vineyards 2008 Merlot $25.50 bensonvineyards.com

Lost River Winery 2007 Merlot $22 lostriverwinery.com

Rio Vista Winery 2009 Merlot $23 riovistawines.com

Category: Chardonnay Jones Of Washington 2010 Chardonnay $16.99 jonesofwashington.com

crayellecellars.com

Tunnel Hill Winery 2008 Estate Bottled Syrah $29.95 tunnelhillwinery.com

Silvara Vineyards 2008 Syrah $26 silvarawine.com saintlaurent.net

Copper Mountain Vineyards 2008 Syrah $17.99

Ryan Patrick Vineyards 2008 Reserve Chardonnay $20 ryanpatrickvineyards.com

Category: Pinot Noir Benson Vineyards 2008 Pinot Noir $23 bensonvineyards.com

Category: Riesling Eagle Creek Winery 2009 White Riesling $19 eaglecreekwinery.com

Cascadia Winery 2009 Riesling $10 cascadiawinery.com

Cave B 2009 Riesling $22 sagecliffe.com 44

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coppermountainvineyards.com

Stemilt Creek Winery 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon stemiltcreekwinery.com

coppermountainvineyards.com

Category: White blend Mellisoni Vineyards 2010 45 Degrees $32 mellisonivineyards.com

Rock Wall Cellars NV Centennial White $22 rockwallcellars.com

Rock Wall Cellars 2009 Breccia Blanc $19 rockwallcellars.com

Tunnel Hill Winery 2010 Camino $16.95 tunnelhillwinery.com

St. Laurent Estate Winery 2007 Syrah $23 saintlaurent.net

Category: Red blend Category: Viognier

Horan Estates Winery 2006 HVH Red $22

Rio Vista Winery 2010 Viognier $19

La Toscana Winery 2007 Rosso Toscano $18

riovistawines.com

Jones Of Washington 2010 Viognier $16.99 jonesofwashington.com

Cave B 2010 Viognier $20

horanestateswinery.com latoscanawinery.com

Rio Vista Winery 2007 Loony Red $25 riovistawines.com

sagecliffe.com

Rock Wall Cellars 2007 Second Generation Red $34

Category: Cabernet

St. Laurent Estate Winery 2005 La Boheme $42

Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon $37.99

Ryan Patrick Vineyards 2008 Rock Island Red $19.50

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Copper Mountain Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon $17.99

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Cave B 2010 Unoaked Chardonnay $19 Tsillan Cellars 2008 Estate Chardonnay $22

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Mellisoni Vineyards 2007 Syrah $30

St. Laurent Estate Winery 2006 Syrah $22

Category: Merlot

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Dry Falls Cellars 2008 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon $28 Cave B 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon $25

St. Laurent Estate Winery 2005 Reserve Syrah $40

Category: Pinot Gris

Silvara Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon $30

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Dutch John’s Winery 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon $16.95 dutchjohnwines.com

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Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Confluence $42.99 fairelepont.com

Napeequa Vintners 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon $30

Tsillan Cellars 2007 Bellissima Rossa $28

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Jones Of Washington 2007 Barrel Select Red Blend $24.99

Rock Wall Cellars 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon $21 rockwallcellars.com

Vin Du Lac 2008 Red Cafe Cabernet Sauvignon $19.99 vindulac.com

Eagle Creek Winery 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon $29 eaglecreekwinery.com

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Rock Wall Cellars NV Centennial Red $22 rockwallcellars.com

St. Laurent Estate Winery 2007 Lucky Red Blend $15 saintlaurent.net

Ginkgo Forest Winery 2009 Coalesce $26 ginkgowinery.com

Chelan Estate Winery 2005 Ce Vineyards Reserve Red $30 chelanestatewinery.com

Ryan Patrick Vineyards 2006 Reserve Red $40 ryanpatrickvineyards.com

Category: Other White Cave B 2009 Semillon $20 sagecliffe.com

Cave B 2010 Sauvignon Blanc $20 sagecliffe.com

Cascadia Winery 2010 Roussanne $18 cascadiawinery.com

Kyra Wines 2010 Chenin Blanc $13 kyrawines.com

Category: Other Red Benson Vineyards 2008 Cabernet Franc $32.50 bensonvineyards.com

Rock Wall Cellars 2008 Cabernet Franc $20 rockwallcellars.com

Martin-Scott Winery 2008 Malbec $24.50 martinscottwinery.com

Cave B 2009 Malbec sagecliffe.com

Cave B 2009 Barbera $28 sagecliffe.com

Lake Crest Winery 2008 Lemberger $13.99 lakecrestwinery.com

Malaga Springs Winery 2009 Zinfandel $24 malagaspringswinery.com

Cave B 2009 Tempranillo $28 sagecliffe.com

Ginkgo Forest Winery 2009 Grenache $26 ginkgowinery.com

Category: Rose Rio Vista Winery 2010 Sunset on the River riovistawines.com

Cave B 2010 Saignee $18

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St. Laurent Estate Winery NV Rose Of Syrah $15 saintlaurent.net

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Category: Fruit Cascadia Winery NV Apple Wine $12 cascadiawinery.com

Category: Dessert Ginkgo Forest Winery 2009 Late Harvest Syrah $22 ginkgowinery.com

Copper Mountain Vineyards 2006 Riesling Ice Wine $24.99 coppermountainvineyards.com

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Medal Winners

BRONZE Category: Pinot Gris

Dan Carr judges wine at the Confluence Technology Center.

Beaumont Cellars 2008 Pinot Grigio $16 beaumontcellars.com

Mellisoni Vineyards 2010 Pinot Grigio $35 mellisonivineyards.com

Tunnel Hill Winery 2008 Estate Bottled Pinot Noir $24.95 tunnelhillwinery.com

Category: Merlot

Vin Du Lac NV Red CafĂŠ Pinot Noir $19.99

Jones Of Washington 2008 Merlot $16.99

Ginkgo Forest Winery 2008 Pinot Noir $24

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Kyra Wines 2007 Merlot $16 kyrawines.com

Category: Riesling

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Wedge Mountain Winery 2010 Dry Riesling $18

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Eagle Creek Winery 2008 Merlot $21 eaglecreekwinery.com

Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery 2007 Merlot $22.99 fairelepont.com

Wedge Mountain Winery 2007 Merlot $20 wedgemountainwinery.com

Mellisoni Vineyards 2006 Reserve Merlot mellisonivineyards.com

Swakane Winery 2008 Barrel Select Merlot swakanewinery.com

Category: Chardonnay Kyra Wines 2010 Chardonnay $13 kyrawines.com

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Crayelle Cellars 2009 Dry Riesling $15 crayellecellars.com

Tsillan Cellars 2008 Estate Dry Riesling $16 tsillancellars.com

Rio Vista Winery 2009 Riesling $16 riovistawines.com

Copper Mountain Winery 2009 Riesling $15.99 tsillancellars.com

St. Laurent Estate Winery 2009 Riesling $12 saintlaurent.net

Category: Sangiovese Jones Of Washington 2007 Sangiovese $18.99 jonesofwashington.com

Cave B 2009 Sangiovese $28

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La Toscana Winery 2007 Sangiovese $20

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Chelan Estate Winery 2006 Chelan Estate Pinot Noir $25 chelanestatewinery.com 46

FOOTHILLS

August / September 2011

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Jones Of Washington 2008 Syrah $16.99 jonesofwashington.com

Tsillan Cellars 2008 Lakeside Vineyard Syrah $28 tsillancellars.com

Martin-Scott Winery 2006 Syrah $22 martinscottwinery.com

Swakane Winery 2008 Syrah swakanewinery.com

Category: Viognier Waterville Winery 2009 Viognier $10 watervillewinery.com

Napeequa Vintners 2009 Randonee Viognier $19 napeequa.com

Vin Du Lac 2010 Vie Viognier $17.99 vindulac.com

Category: Cabernet 37 Cellars 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon $36

Category: Gewurztraminer

Horan Estates Winery 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon $22

Bella Terrazza 2008 Gewurztraminer $14 bellaterrazavineyards.com

Category: Pinot Noir

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Cave B 2009 Chardonnay $25

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Eagle Creek Winery 2009 Syrah $21

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Tsillan Cellars 2008 Estate Riesling $18

St. Laurent Estate Winery 2008 Chardonnay $20 Vin Du Lac 2009 Barrel Select Chardonnay $19.99

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Frenchman Hills Winery 2005 Syrah $35

Cave B 2009 Syrah $25

Rock Wall Cellars 2008 Merlot $24 Dutch John’s Winery 2007 Merlot $16.95

Category: Syrah Lost River Winery 2007 Cote-Wall

Tsillan Cellars 2008 Reserve Gewurztraminer $16 tsillancellars.com

Mellisoni Vineyards 2009 Gewurztraminer $35 mellisonivineyards.com

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Jones Of Washington 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon $16.99 jonesofwashington.com

Cascadia Winery 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon $28 cascadiawinery.com

Waterville Winery 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon $15

Tsillan Cellars 2008 Estate Sinistra $23

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Bella Terrazza NV Bella Rosso Blend $22

Ginkgo Forest Winery 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon $18 ginkgowinery.com

Wedge Mountain Winery 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve $80 wedgemountainwinery.com

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Stemilt Creek Winery 2007 Adelaide “AJ” Mathison Boss Lady stemiltcreekwinery.com

Stemilt Creek Winery 2007 Estate Thomas Syle Mathison A Day’s Work stemiltcreekwinery.com

Category: White blend Eagle Creek Winery 2009 Adler Weiss $21

Category: Other Red

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Napeequa Vintners 2007 Malbec $32

Lost River Winery 2008 Rain Shadow $15

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Dry Falls Cellars 2008 Reserve Barbera $ 28

Wine glasses are reflected in judge Jay Drysdale’s iPad.

Category: Fruit Swakane Winery NV Wild Blackberry Dessert Wine $28

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Category: Red blend Tsillan Cellars 2008 Bellissima Rossa $28 tsillancellars.com

Wedge Mountain Winery 2009 Trois Chevaux Rouges $20

Bella Terrazza NV Lemberger $22

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Dutch John’s Winery NV Melomel $21.95

37 Cellars 2009 Petit Verdot $36

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Category: Dessert

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Category: Rose

Cave B 2008 Cuvee Du Soleil $45

Vin Du Lac 2009 Rose $14.99

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Tsillan Cellars 2010 Estate Bocciolo Di Rosa $19

C.R. Sandidge 2007 Kiss $35

Kyra Wines 2008 PSV $16

Copper Mountain Winery 2007 Late Harvest Riesling $17.99

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Eagle Creek Winery 2008 Montage Red Wine Blend $23

Rock Wall Cellars 2009 Pink Gewurztraminer $22

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Lake Crest Winery 2009 Ice Wine Cabernet/Merlot $29.95 lakecrestwinery.com

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PATH WAYS

STORY BY RICK STEIGMEYER PHOTOS BY DON SEABROOK

The Stehekin landing is a hub of activity — and inactivity — when the Lady of the Lake arrives. Here, lodge employee Nathan Render sits on fellow employee Serena Giese while Serena’s visiting sister, Amanda Giese, relaxes. The National Parks Service bus is in the background, ready to take visitors to Rainbow Falls and other points of interest.

Peacefully Pristine

Stehekin is where time stands still

T A cup of coffee is a staple in the dining room of the Stehekin Valley Ranch.

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ake the slow boat to Stehekin if you plan to stay awhile. What’s the hurry when you’re traveling to a place that time, in many ways, has forgotten. And where you can forget time and relax from the stress of the by-the-clock world.

At a leisurely 15 mph, the Lady of the Lake II will take you the 55-milelength of Lake Chelan in about four hours. The ship’s co-captains are always scanning the steep hills that rim the narrow lake and will point out mountain goats, bears and herds of

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Pies are a featured product of Robbie Courtney’s bakery in Stehekin. It’s a favored stop along the valley road. deer often sighted along the way.

There are faster ways to make the trip.

The Lake Chelan Boat Co. ofers the Lady Express that cuts the travel time in half. Chelan Seaplanes ofers daily lights to Stehekin. But there are no roads to this remote valley.

The slow boat gives you time to transition from the world of traic, stoplights, cell phones, computers, a whole universe of bad news, bad commercials and the countless demands of our busy lives.

“It’s pristine here,” said Karl Gaskill, a full-time Stehekin resident who owns — and in the summer, tends 16 hours a day — The Garden, where visitors and locals can buy fresh fruit and produce. “There’s no crime, no pollution and few cars. We all heat with wood. It’s an old-fashioned lifestyle.”

Stehekin is an Indian word meaning “the way through.” Native Americans and fur trappers used the lake and the Stehekin River Valley as a way through the Cascades to the Paciic coast. Hikers still go through the valley to reach the Paciic Crest Trail and the surrounding North Cascades National Park.

But Stehekin is also a friendly place to linger awhile. A few hours is good. A few days even better. The community

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Stehekin Valley Ranch wrangler Blake Sorano rounds up a herd of horses. is often there at the landing to greet the boat. Yes, local folks are that friendly. But the boat is also the way mail, groceries and supplies come in each day. There are no grocery stores, taverns or even churches in the remote community of less than 100 year-around residents.

Stehekin, in a way, is Washington’s answer to Shangri-La, where time stands still and people never age. OK, that’s stretching it. But people here do seem to age more gracefully and wisely. And those who come even for a short visit take something back that lives forever.

“Here, you’re forced to relax whether you want to or not,” said Bethany Gerhard, manager of Stehekin Valley Ranch. Gerhard, her youthful face shadowed beneath the broad brim of a cowboy hat, sat at one of a dozen log picnic tables where ranch guests eat together in the spacious cookhouse — also made of massive pine and ir logs, but with a primitive sawdust-covered floor.

It’s a scene right out of the Old West.

A pot of cowboy cofee warms on the open ire stove. The cathedral windows ofer majestic views of the Cascade peaks. Closer in, a wrangler can be seen rounding up a herd of cream-colored Norwegian jord horses, chasing them from pasture to corral in the evening light.

“You can sit down here and have dinner with somebody you don’t know 50

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and after a few minutes you feel like you’ve known them all your life,” she said. “Even people who are totally tuned into the city will relax after a few days.”

The ranch, owned by Clif and Kerry Courtney, has about a dozen rustic rental cabins that come with homecooked meals in the cookhouse and transportation to and from the boat landing, nine miles away. The ranch also ofers horseback riding, bicycling, hiking,

ishing and raft and kayak trips down the Stehekin River.

What they don’t ofer is phones, radio or television. There is no cell phone reception anywhere in Stehekin.

“It’s a whole diferent way of life. Some people don’t understand what we don’t have,” said Nancy Davis, manager of the Stehekin Landing Lodge, the 28-room lodge at the landing that ofers more upscale accommodations, a tiny store

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(509) 886-8720 Wildlife can be seen up the Stehekin Valley, here, near the bakery. At left, hikers walk past the National Park Service’s Golden West Visitor Center in Stehekin on their way to the lakeshore trail that rims the north shore of upper Lake Chelan. and wireless Internet for those who must stay connected.

Lynne and Chuck Stewart were dining in the lodge’s restaurant, where steaks, ribs, salmon and artichoke-stufed chicken breast are on the menu, along with a selection of Washington wines.

The Stewarts came from their home in Hawaii for the quiet.

“We love the outdoors, but we live in a very touristy part of the world,” Lynne

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A group of rafters heads down the Stehekin River past wildflowers from the Stehekin Ranch to Lake Chelan. said. “We like to go to places that are very diferent from where we live.”

There are a few other lodging options in Stehekin as well, like the Silver Bay Inn Resort and Stehekin Log Cabins.

There are campgrounds for the more rugged.

But most visitors linger only for a few hours before catching the boat back to 52

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August / September 2011

Chelan. And that’s OK. At least as an introduction. Time enough to take one of the bright red Park Service bus tours to spectacular Rainbow Falls. Rent a bike at Discovery Bikes — owned by Ron Scutt, teacher at Stehekin’s one-room schoolhouse for the past 35 years — and ride up to the Stehekin Pastry Co. for fantastic fresh pastries, also sandwiches,

ice cream and espresso. You can ride to the historic Buckner Orchard, preserved by the Park Service. And be sure and stop at The Garden to pick up organic vegetables, fruit, fresh goat cheese and meaningful talk with gardening guru Karl Gaskill.

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GOOD STUFF

STORY BY MK RESK PHOTOS BY MIKE BONNICKSEN AND KATHRYN STEVENS

Farm Fresh Faces Local growers share benefits of local produce

A

griculture means big business around North Central Washington, but some local farmers prefer to keep things small.

Inspired to teach the next generation about where food comes from, connect with past generations through the soil and help people eat well, several area growers have found meaningful ways to turn their backyard hobbies into small businesses. Here are a few of the people who produce your local produce:

Sara Rolfs Sara Rolfs of Wenatchee’s Grinnin Meadows has kept a garden since the mid-90s, when she took a Master Gardener class while serving as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Vermont.

Recently, she started producing more than her family and friends could eat. Now she sells eggs, teas, jams and produce right from her 80-acre backyard. Her items are also available at Mike’s Meat and Farmers Market and in area restaurant dishes.

“It’s a mechanism of teaching my kids about where food comes,” Rolfs says. In addition to helping grow and harvest the crops, her daughter and son, ages 7 and 5, help select an organization in town each month to donate 10 percent of their gross sales

Mike Rolfs photo

Sara Rolfs and her son Taggart, 4, harvest a pumpkin.

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Chris Bailey works in his garden off Horselake Road in Wenatchee. He sells his produce commercially to businesses in the area and at the Farmers Market. “ … to teach them to give back to the community,” she adds.

Rolfs says eating locally “attaches you to your food and let’s you put a face on it.” Gardening with her children and others “teaches about food stability and seasonability.

Food might come in diferent forms throughout the year, like apples that are sometimes dried,” she says.

The Parsons Scott and Ruth Parsons own The Healthy Gourmet Food & Lifestyle School. They have been involved in food production for decades. “Forty years ago, I made the decision to go into agriculture. There was absolutely no prospect of any good pay but there was a prospect of a good life, and that’s what it’s been,” Scott says.

They garden in Chelan and Wenatchee and enjoy the whole process of producing food, from seed to inished product. Scott says, “We’re core producers of ingredients where people can make the good life just a little bit better by adding things that

Ruth and Scott Parsons of the company The Healthy Gourmet. we grow or bake.”

“It’s about being close to the point of production and having it fresh,” Scott shares. They want to “empower people by allowing them to realize they can create a neighborhood food system. Any yard with irrigation and soil can produce a really signiicant quantity of food,” Scott says.

He wants people to know that eating locally does not have to be expensive.

“Local food should be a much better deal than food that comes a thousand food miles to get to you. I want to help convey how easy it is to be involved

with the earth and then allow those people to learn and teach just as humans have done for thousands of years,” according to Scott.

Their produce and baked items, like delicious latbread pizza crusts, are available locally at Mike’s Meat and Farmers Market. Their bread is also served at Sleeping Lady’s O’Grady’s Pantry in Leavenworth and at Campbell’s Resort in Chelan.

Everyone wants to stay engaged in life.

Chris Bailey Chris Bailey was an airline pilot for Horizon Airlines until two years ago.

He now plants over 100 types of crops in north Wenatchee. His produce can be found at the Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market, Mike’s Meat and Farmers Market, in the Farmhouse Table’s Community Supported Agriculture boxes, and sometimes at local restaurants.

Bailey has been gardening since childhood but never dreamed of doing it professionally. The drastic career change was, “as much for the lifestyle and to be home every night, to see my kids grow up,” Bailey says, than for anything else. “It was not for fantastical agrarian dream kind of reasons. I thought it would be a really interesting way to make money; I thought it would keep me stimulated,” Bailey says.

Why does he think eating locally is a good idea? “It’s good for economic reasons more than anything. Why buy anything local? Because you’re supporting your neighbors. To me, that’s as good a reason as quality or food miles or any of those other reasons that are often given for having a local diet,” says Bailey.

Culinary tourism With the colorful bounty in our big backyard, this region is poised to become the next culinary tourist destination. Places like Napa Valley, Calif., Bend, Ore., and Walla Walla have grown from mere wine centers to innovative foodie hot spots. As Chris Bailey puts it, “The wine and culinary industries almost always go hand in hand.” Since Lake Chelan recently gained distinction as the state’s newest American Viticultural Area, maybe it’s only a matter of time before Top Chef’s talent scouts ly to town. After all, with such an array of locally produced food and drink, it’s not at all ironic that Pangborn Memorial Airport’s code is EAT.

It’s just that some have forgotten how.

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INSIDE HOME

STORY BY DEE RIGGS PHOTOS BY KATHRYN STEVENS

Orchard Opulence C

heryl Dye doesn’t employ a house cleaner.

“I want to spend my money on the yard,” she said.

And what a yard it is. Created and maintained by two professional gardeners, the one-and-a-third-acre lot shines with myriad flowers, trees and shrubs all landscaped to perfection. It’s located behind a distinctive wrought iron fence in the 1200 block of Orchard Avenue and surrounds a 1940 colonial-style home with a brick exterior.

Dye shares the home with her husband, commercial real-estate investor Tom Dye. The couple, who went to grade school together in Yucaipa, Calif., married in 1965. They lived in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles before moving to Wenatchee in 1980.

While living temporarily in a condominium, Tom learned that the Orchard Avenue home was for sale and took Cheryl for a drive to see the house.

“I said, ‘Oh, the yard, the yard. What a place to raise kids; it’s so spacious,’ ” Cheryl recalled.

They bought the house and moved there in 1981.

The 4,500-square-foot house, which includes a full basement, had been built for the late Dr. A.G. Young, and had been owned by only one other family. Cheryl recalls that the yard was overgrown.

“When we first moved in, I worked outside in the yard probably three full days a week to make it look decent,” she said.

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Cheryl and Tom Dye’s home at 1225 Orchard Street in Wenatchee. At right, a statue greets visitors to the home. At left, the water in the fountain at the front entrance glints in the light on a June morning.

“I said, ‘Oh, the yard, the yard. What a place to raise kids; it’s so spacious.’ ”

Several large planters filled with flowers adorn Tom and Cheryl Dye’s yard on Orchard Avenue. Sisters Cindy Sangster and Brenda Taylor do nearly all the decorative garden work at the Dye residence. Above, the kitchen looks out onto the yard.

But with two young children, Cheryl realized she needed help and hired Cindy Sangster.

“We call it Cindy’s Yard, and we live here,” Cheryl said with a laugh. “She has full reign of the yard. If she wants to plant a plant, she plants one. I don’t give her any guidance. We just enjoy what she’s done and walk around and just 58

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August / September 2011

soak it in.”

In recent years, the Dyes have redone the pool and added a fountain in the front yard. This year, they remodeled the kitchen. And two years ago, they added a sunroom that replaced a porch.

French doors in the sunroom open onto the patio and pool area.

The sunroom, Cheryl said, is her

favorite room in the house.

“It’s just a delightful space,” she said. “I like to come out here and read or eat breakfast, and the grandkids love to lay on the floor and look up at the skylight and see birds, airplanes and clouds.”

And as for the garden, “everything is my favorite,” Cheryl said. “I love it all.”

Planters Galore T

he sisters say a yard should have accent pieces.

“It’s just like the inside of a home: If you don’t put in accents, it’s pretty sterile,” said Brenda Taylor.

To that end, Brenda and her sister, Cindy Sangster, create spectacular pops of color throughout the huge yard of Cheryl and Tom Dye. Many are in planters, which the sisters say are their favorite things to work on.

“We’ve never done the same pot over again,” Cindy said.

“That’s what’s always fun: change,” Brenda added.

The Dye’s yard is one of eight that the sisters work on in the Wenatchee area and Manson, sometimes with the help of their other sister, Polly Taylor-Dennier of Julieta, Idaho. Cindy, who lives in East Wenatchee, has been creating beauty in the Dye yard for 18 years. Brenda, who lives in Lewiston, Idaho, travels here frequently to work with Cindy.

“We don’t have to tell one another what to do; we know what to do,” Brenda said.

Two of the gardeners’ planters are always on display in the front of the house on Orchard Avenue, but numerous other pots are only visible to guests.

Their arrangements have included a hanging tomato, bougainvillea, mandevilla, rosemary, potato vines, lobelia, geraniums, heuchera, hibiscus, grasses, verbena, dracaena, euphorbia and tree roses.

In the fall, they decorate planters with pumpkins and goards. For the Christmas holidays, they highlight pots with cut evergreens, wooden plant remnants for texture and lighted globes on metal spikes.

The sisters say one of the biggest mistakes people make with pots is not giving the plants enough water. Twice a day is often necessary. Plants also need fertilizing at planting time and throughout the growing season.

The sisters suggest that gardeners keep an eye out for unique things.

Their philosophy, according to Cindy: “We just go shopping, and, if we ind something we like, we put it in a pot.”

Rentals Available Full Service Restaurant For Tee Times Call 800-246-5361

www.LakeChelanGolf.com

A passion for doing what’s right Leaders at the oice and in the community, John, Curtis, Judy, Kyle and Jean are equally commited to their work with investors like you. Let them impress you with their passion, professionalism and knowledge. hey are part of D.A. Davidson & Co. — helping build brighter futures since 1935.

509-664-9063 or 1-800-664-9063 151 South Worthen Street, Suite 201, Wenatchee, WA 98801

The Riverfront Investment Group members of D.A.Davidson

John Peterson, CWS® Vice President, Financial Consultant, Branch Manager

Curtis S. Harvey Vice President, Financial Consultant

Judy Rolfs Vice President, Financial Consultant

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kITCHEN CREATIONS

COMPILED BY MARCO MARTINEZ PHOTOS BY MIKE BONNICKSEN

The Heat Is On Barbecue recipes from butcher Mike McKee

Mike’s Basic Beef Brisket

1 (10 to 12-pound) beef brisket, trimmed Light coating of your favorite mustard 1/2 cup smoked paprika 1/4 cup seasoned salt 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/8 cup cayenne pepper 1/4 cup granulated garlic 1/4 cup black pepper 5 to 10 small hickory chunks soaked in water Special equipment: smoker Coat brisket with mustard, mix spices together and rub into meat. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove brisket from refrigerator approximately 1 hour before cooking to allow it to come to room temperature.

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In a smoker, prepare a charcoal fire on one side of the grill. Set a pan of water on the other side. When the fire is hot, add water-soaked chunks of hickory wood to the charcoal. When the heat registers 235-250 degrees, place the brisket over the water pan and cover. Monitor the temperature, keeping close to 225 degrees.

Smoke the brisket for 10 hours, keeping temperature steady. Remove the brisket from the smoker and wrap completely with aluminum foil. Return the covered brisket to smoker and cook for another 2 hours or until it reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees.

Remove from smoker and let stand for 30 minutes. Unwrap, then slice thinly across the grain and serve with your favorite barbecue sauce.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Mike’s Basic Rib Rub and Pork Ribs

Two racks of pork spare ribs or baby backs 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon onion powder 1/2 tablespoon white pepper 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup smoked paprika 1/4 tablespoon cayenne pepper (optional) Light coating of your favorite mustard Apple juice If your butcher hasn’t done so already, remove the tough membrane on the back of the ribs as it will impede the absorption of spices and smoke, not to mention that it

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Mike McKee Title: Owner Place of work: Mike’s Meat and Farmers Market Professional experience: Several years in the construction trade, financial services and working on the family farm Personal (married, kids, etc.): Married with four children ages 23, 23, 17 and 15 Place of birth: Wenatchee Current hometown: East Wenatchee Hobbies: Fishing, Hunting with my yellow labs and photography Something people may not know about you: I love to fly — piloting a small plane or launching my paraglider of a mountaintop.

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isn’t very appetizing.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Apply a coat of mustard and “Rub” onto your pork ribs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight (between 8 and 12 hours).

Remove from refrigerator approximately 1 hour before cooking. Arrange the racks of spareribs on the grill grate, bone-side down.

Heat smoker to 225 degrees and cook for 2 to 4 hours.

After the first hour, spray the ribs with the apple juice, and spray every hour after that. When the ribs are tender, the meat will have pulled away from the ends of the bones about 1/2 inch. Brush the ribs on all sides with the barbecue sauce and return to the grill for 15 to 30 minutes to “tighten” the sauce.

To serve, cut each slab in half or into individual ribs. Ofer additional barbecue sauce on the side.

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PARTING SHOT

The setting sun casts highlights on Lake Chelan, the close of another active, July day at Lakeside Park.

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AND ALL OF NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON

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Hidden among the tall pines in East Wenatchee • Championship Golf Course • Driving Range and Practice Facility • Pro Shop • Great Views • Pool • Great Food • Family Events • Year round card games; Poker, Bridge, Mah-jong, etc.

Stop by today and see why the Wenatchee Golf & Country Club is the Valley’s best secret!

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Experience great friends, great food, and exclusive member events at WG&CC. Effective immediately through the end of 2011 you will pay no initiation fee for Social membership at WG&CC. Wenatchee Golf & Country Club 1600 Country Club Drive East Wenatchee, WA 98802 (509) 884-7105 www.wenatcheegolfclub.org

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