A note from the Editor

Wine Country's Holiday Top Ten

Wondering what to do for the holidays this year or where to find those special gifts? I say avoid the easy road of department stores and malls and find unique and hidden wine country treasures that will make your holidays sparkle. This year in wine country, you'll find joyful events for you and your loved ones, unique gifts items and delicious accompaniments for all your festivities. Not only will you be offering up a bit of wine country, you will mostly likely be supporting the hard work of local artisans, business owners and feasting on local ingredients and wines. Check out our Holiday Top Ten (in no particular order) and then head to Wine Country to celebrate, stock up and enjoy!

1. Sunnyside's 12th Annual Lighted Christmas Parade - This is a true wine country favorite and not your typical parade. You may have seen Sunnyside’s Country Christmas Lighted Farm Implement Parade in Sunset Magazine or on national television, named one of the top 10 in the nation by A&E. This spectacular event captures the spirit of rural Christmas past and the Yakima Valley’s outstanding agricultural heritage. The parade features lighted farm implements decorated with hundreds, even thousands, of lights. Among them are tractors, combines, harrow beds, swathers, grape pickers, semi-trucks with flatbeds, horse drawn entries, and a variety of unique Christmas floats. The parade route starts in downtown Sunnyside and goes 1.5 miles through the downtown area across Yakima Valley Highway and ends at the west end of the Mid Valley Mall parking area. Approximately 25,000 people are expected to view this year’s parade on December 1st.

Facts & Tidbits

Part One: The Market for Wine

For 13 consecutive years, sales in the U.S. of wine have increased.  The US wine market has grown by 13.7% since 2002 in volume and by more than 15% in dollars. Growing demand for wine is driven by multiple factors:

· One of wine’s key attractions is that it tends to be consumed in moderation, as part of a meal, as socializing at home or in restaurants with food.

· 25% of US households now have incomes in excess of $75,000, who increasingly seek premium products of good value. Wine is seen by this large group of consumers as an “affordable luxury,” a modest expenditure for a quality experience.

· The post-9/11 consumer is looking for special “experiences,” rather than just collecting “things.” Wine is associated with food, sharing experiences in small groups and personal connections, closely corresponding to the priorities of today’s consumer.

from the Wine Institute

Living Wine Country

Along The Wine Road

Happy Holiday Wines
by Christopher Chan, Director of Wine, The Rainier Club

I bet you’ve already seen them – the Christmas trees are on display; heard them – the holiday jingles are being piped through the stores and even had a few of those who’s naughty or nice thoughts dance through your head? Yes, the Holidays are near and almost here. So let’s grab the reindeer by the horns and wrestle us a few tasty wines to “cope” with all the great food, family and friends and that soon to be frosty nip in the air.

What shall I serve for the feast? We’re lucky to live in the land of plenty, especially in this grape state. I like to pair wines that are food flexible for the harvest of flavors that are thrown into most holiday menus such as pecans, onions, figs, apples, yams, cranberries, mushrooms, and of course Tom Turkey. This means wines with white, red and blue fruits, soft tannins, a little spice and always a solid spine of acidity. So, please consider these Washington wines with your stuffing... Read More


Get a Taste of the Destination

Pizazo 7 Seventeen Graces Prosser's Downtown

There's a new kid on the block in Prosser's historic downtown arena and they're creating quite a stir. Picazo 7 Seventeen, named for its address sake at 717 Sixth Street, shows that it's trendy enough to keep the tourists in town and down home enough to bring in the locals.

Owner and Chef Frank Magana came from a long stint at Gallucci's catering in Tacoma. Initially he brought his catering experience to wine country providing wine dinner and special event fare to the local wineries and organizations. Shortly, Frank saw the need for more dining in Prosser and decided to branch out into full service dining.

Magana describes his cuisines as "local fare with a Spanish flair." He recently hired a local, Ryan Hientz to serve as the Chef for the restaurant allowing him time to continue his local winery catering. He also presents a local Northwest wine menu with an emphasis on Washington and a large focus on Prosser wines.

"Folks seem glad to have some place to send visitors and we've seen great local support," says Magana.

The restaurant itself offers visitors a warm Spanish decor with burnt orange walls and local art. The elegance is somewhat muted with a use of black linens in place of white signifying that this is indeed a finer style of dining but with a huge lack of pretension. There are oak barrels throughout and there's a hefty bar with rolling ladders for visitors to gather around.

Picazo 7 Seventeen entered downtown around the same time as another exciting new dining establishment, Pizzeria Venti, owned by Rich and Debbie Wallace.

"These two great restaurants have caused a lot of foot traffic in the evening time downtown. It has literally changed the downtown core as far as a new feel," exclaimed Deb Heintz, Director of the Prosser Economic Development Association.

As one of the quickly blooming areas of Washington's wine country, Prosser continues to see new industry and tourism related business. The clustering of visitor related services such as hotels, restaurants and shopping continue to flock to the local wine communities to create a total tourism package. Often times, it's hard to decide which should come first, the traffic or the business. In a healthy economy and one supported by local government and business, one would hope that it is a simultaneous development. It's always heart warming to see entrepreneurs come into wine country and invest in the local economy. They are the true visionaries and the ones who will be crucial to the continued development of wine country.

The DASH Wine Project represents a unique collaboration of Washington winemakers and growers working toward a common charitable cause. Winery owner Hope Moore launched the project by partnering with some of Washington’s premier vineyards and wineries to produce small lots of world-class wines. These wines are bottled under the Make the DASH Count label with all profits going to the Make the DASH Count Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit foundation dedicated to developing the next generation of philanthropic leaders while also benefiting at risk-youth. For more information on The DASH Wine Project and the foundation, go to www.heavenscave.com
.

At Washington Wine Country our sponsors are truly our partners and without their vision and belief in our endeavors, we would not have been as successful. We are grateful to following companies for their support and generosity.

2007 Wine Country Celebration Sponsors