Cathi Hatch: Our Walla Walla Wine Adventure

Chris Figgins, Sam Baker, Jim Rose

2011 Walla Walla Wine Adventurers at Leonetti Cellars

On the second day of our ZINO Society Walla Walla Wine Adventure, we awakened to cloudy skies and cold winds. Once we boarded our coach, we departed for a vineyard tour of Figgins Family Wine Estates and Leonetti Cellar. When we arrived at the vineyard, winemaker Chris Figgins was there to greet us and we had a spectacular view of the rolling hills covered with grapevines. Though it was visually spectacular, it was freezing outside and there were gale force winds so we didn't last long outside the coach and decided to go straight to Leonetti Cellars and continue our conversation inside. Somehow Ken had missed the location of where we were spending the weekend (maybe thought Hawaii instead of Walla Walla??), so showed up in a bright yellow aloha shirt without a jacket. Brrrrr!!

After our winery tour, it was a delight to meet Chris' sister, Amy, in the tasting room, where we enjoyed tasting several Leonetti Cellars and Figgins wines over lunch. Though several of us were already on the Leonetti allocation list, this was one stop where our group could not buy wine, but were able to sign up to be added to the waiting list for Leonetti, the list for Figgins and for their new Lostine Cattle Company grass-fed, free-range beef.

Darcy Fugman Small

After lunch, we were off to Woodward Canyon Winery where we were greeted by owner, Darcy Fugman-Small and treated to a private wine tasting in their beautiful, new VIP wine tasting room. This was new since my last visit to Woodward Canyon and several pieces of original artwork from which wine labels had been made were hanging on the walls throughout. We missed seeing Rick Small this time since he had just had a flat tire while driving back to Walla Walla from Seattle.

Vladlina & Eric

Judith, Kyle, Douglas & Allen Sh

Barrel Tasting

This turned out to be our most exhausting day because we visited FIVE separate wineries and met with the owners and/or winemakers of SIX wineries. Our next stop was Long Shadows Vintners where owner Allen Shoup, had just flown over for the day to greet our group and take us on a personal tour of the winery. What an impressive winery, both in the public areas replete with Chihuly blown glass art pieces and chandelier and in the cavernous tank room and barrel room where the wine is produced and aged. In addition to tasting each of the nine various labels that Long Shadows produces in conjunction with winemaker partners, we also had the opportunity to barrel taste and then to purchase a new Rose called Dazzle and a new Bordeaux blend, bottled but still unlabeled called Shoup. Because we stayed at Long Shadows a little longer than planned, when we returned to our hotel, there was only time to change clothes before it was time to re-board the coach for our next stop.

Douglas, Ken, Joe and Charles Smith

Joe, the coach driver pulled into the driveway next to Charles Smith's charming home for our visit to K Vintners and in addition to Charles, we were greeted by three small dogs and Charles' beautiful wife. We entered a very small tasting room and tasted a delicious Rose and his famous Syrah before it was time for us to depart for our last stop of the day.

Kathleen Schafer at aMaurice Cellars

We arrived at àMaurice Cellars just as the sun was setting and were greeted by good friends, Kathleen & Tom Schafer, Lillian & Anthony Bay and their son, Stephen. The Bays were assisting the Schafers with dinner that evening featuring their new rotisserie business. It was a fantastic dinner featuring lamb meatballs and Dolmades appetizers and petite chickens cooked on the new rotisserie and served with Moroccan accompaniments. Though I billed it as "Advanced Wine 101 " in our trip brochure, it was much more than that and we were entertained after dinner with complex wine knowledge by Greg Harrington, owner and winemaker at Gramercy Cellars and Anna Schafer, daughter of Tom and Kathleen and winemaker at àMaurice Cellars.