Stemilt Creek Winery threw a 2-day Grand Opening Party to celebrate their new Leavenworth tasting room. Had a great time. Loved the newly released '06 Cab Sav — only available to wine club members now, but will be available to everyone in Sept. Also really liked the '05 Merlot — a real steal at $14. a bottle. The newly released Sweet Adalaide has been a hit with their customers, and features the new label design that focusues on the Mathison family history in agriculture. All the wines were good.  And it doesn't hurt that the owners and their staff are all really nice people.

Stemilt Creek Winery

Time to wrap things up. This fun event came to a close on a beautiful, warm evening at  Tsillan Cellars in the heart of the new Lake Chelan AVA. The evening included a delicious meal, music, dancing, wine, and a silent and live auction. A big thank you to Bob Jankelson for his hospitality and for providing us the perfect setting to wrap up this year's event. As soon as the final figures come in I'll update this post to let you know. An added "treat" was, yours truly got to be the auctioneer for the evening... I'll not be giving up my day job any time soon!

2010 Moteur de Vine Fund raising Ride! We start the day at Karma Vinyards in Lake Chelan Then we head west to Leavenworth to Boudreaux Cellars and visit winemaker Rob Newsom at thei one of a kind winery. Then its head east again to Silvara Vineyards and Winery for a fantastic lunch catered by Visconti's Restaurant, and take in the breath taking view and sample some of Gary's wines! After resting up for a bit and taking a group photo, not an easy task, we head back to Lake Chelan to wrap things up. Look for the next video for this.

Larry and Sarah join wine loving motorcyclists from all over the country in this annual fund raising motorcycle ride to benefit the The Walter Clore Wine & Culinary Center. This year the ride is in the Cascade Valley Wine Country, starting in the new Lake Chelan AVA. The event begins at a BBQ dinner/dance hosted by Lake Chelan Winery. It was a delicious and fun start to a great event.

Moteur de Vine Fundraising Ride

Winemakers and wine enthusiast from Cascade Valley Wine Country gathered at Chateau Faire Le Pont in Wenatchee, WA for the WaWine Tweetup. Josh Wade of Drink Nectar and Sean Sullivan of Washington Wine Report organized the statewide event celebrating Washington wine.  The Social Media event was billed as the largest simultaneous online Washington Wine tasting event ever. People gathered at numerous venues to socialize, drink Washington wine and tweet about it. Others tweeted from home. Here's to WaWine.

Washington Wine Commission

It's time to get to work!  As you can see this is about as much fun work can ever be. Many wineries have this sort of event for friends and wine club members and it's the kind of activity that really sets the wine community apart.

Next time you visit your favorite winery ask about volunteering for bottling or during crush or some other event. The small wineries can really use the help and it's one of the most enjoyable experiences you'll have. Oh, yes... and then there's the free wine!  Enjoy!