ABOUT THE WILD WALLA WALLA WINE WOMAN

"Something happens to people who love wine. You really discover a camaraderie. It’s not like coin collecting or something cynical. It’s like sharing love in a glass." --- Park B. Smith.

I was born and raised in Walla Walla, Washington, and lucky enough to be blessed with the fermentation gene that traces back in my father’s family many generations. Sure, every family has skeletons in their closet. Our skeletons come from making moonshine in the hills and hollers of West Virginia.

My father made home-brew beer in the 1950s decades before micro-brews became a hot trend, and he made his own wine from Grandma’s backyard grapes. My first fermentation project came at age 18: four cans of fruit cocktail, several cups of sugar, and a couple packages of yeast. The molten sweet fruit bubbled and churned and eventually - voila! - I had "brandied" fruit, and even though it made the eyes water it tasted oh so good. A few years after that success I tried my hand at wine, making what I named "Freaked Out Hippie Wine." The label starred a peace symbol.

We were taught to respect fermented beverages and not to drink outside the home. When family and cherished friends came to visit, my father would bring out his very best. In spite of the parental lectures, I thought I was quite worldly when sipping my first wine outside of my parent's home. That happened at a Maria Muldaur concert ("Midnight at the Oasis, send your camel to bed..."). I sipped from a large green bottle of Spanada that was passed up and down the row of seats in the same way we used to share other things with fellow concert-goers. Early on I discovered I had a very sophisticated palate. Boones Farm Strawberry Hill tasted simply awful to me; I always favored Annie Green Springs - Peach Creek.

Over the past 35 years, as the number of wineries and vineyards in Washington grew from near zero to more than 500, my interest in vitis vinifera got piqued. I went to wine festivals and toured wineries across the state, mostly sipping Merlots and Rieslings. In the 1980s I visited Napa Valley and developed a taste for Cabernet Sauvignon. In the ‘90s I visited the Hunter Valley region in Australia and became very fond of Shiraz/Syrah while down under. Later, I made more trips to the Bay Area in California and learned to love the ripe, spicy Zinfandels made from old-vine vineyards planted decades ago.

By this time my tastes had influenced even my experiences at concerts. Crosby, Stills and Nash, for example, pair superbly with a dense, complex, blackberry and cocoa-layered Cabernet Sauvignon from Washington State.

But appreciating wine from Washington encompasses much more than the romance of wine and the pleasures of the taste. It includes understanding everything that went into a bottle of wine, from the terroir that influenced the vine and its grapes to the craft and dedication of the winemaker. I have spent more than seven years in wine sales and merchandising, and let me tell you, I just don’t want to sell you a bottle of wine, I want you to be intrigued about that liquid in the bottle and I want to help you to fall in love with its personality as well as its story. To help tell you that story and to better describe a wine‘s personality and character, I have participated in many aspects of winemaking, from grafting Merlot clones on rootstock, planting a row of Merlot in a vineyard, working the autumnal crush, and onto the finished product bottled by hand, as well as working the automated bottling line. I have toured vineyards in Washington State to understand the terroir that is only unique to those various appellations.  In 2008 participated as a judge for the annual Northwest Wine Summit held at Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood, OR. I had the great opportunity to study under Dr. Ann Noble, Professor and Sensory Scientist, Emeritus at UC Davis, and creator of the Wine Aroma Wheel.

Besides my studies in enology/viticulture, I have taken courses in web design and retail, especially e-commerce with an emphasis in wine. My "Wine Guru" was correct when he said those courses might come in handy some day, because here I am. He also told me that if I failed, he failed. Thanks Stan, where ever you are. We didn't fail.

The Walla Walla Valley is filled with world class wines. Where to even begin? What’s important to me is selecting wines that offer an ideal combination of quality and value, which hold a rich story and bring a memorable personality. My promise to you is to select wines with heart and excellence, while hoping these wines will bring to you your own story and a memory.