Winter Wine Tasting

Last summer I visited a friend in Yakima; it was late afternoon (or early evening), and we decided to go to a winery or two in Zillah for a tasting. However, minimal research beforehand left us discovering after a 30-minute drive that all the wineries had closed up shop for the day (and do so around 5pm). Thus, our wine tasting was thwarted.

Fast forward half a year or so, I have found myself in Yakima again. My friend and I arrived in eastern Washington right around lunch time on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in January: clear skies, not too cold. Our first adventure was to find lunch, which proved to be a bit more difficult than expected. It turns out that quite a few restaurants there have limited days/hours of operation. It must just be the slower Yakima pace of life--definitely not the big city!

After walking around the block not having much luck finding open restaurants, the neon glow of an open sign at Russillo's Pizza and Gelato caught our attention, and so it was decided. After lunch, we headed out towards Zillah to begin the wine tastings.

I recall last summer how beautiful it looked while driving through the area with all the wineries with such lush greenery from the vineyards and orchards nestled amongst the Rattlesnake Hills. It probably had something to do with the contrast of irrigation-assisted vegetation in a desert-like area. It's very picturesque, and I definitely recommend checking it out sometime yourself. However, one thing about desert areas in the winter time, when the irrigation ditches run dry and the orchards and vineyards lie leafless in hibernation, the scene is entirely different. It looks so barren and slightly eerie if you time it with the pruning of the fruit trees. I heard it's a rather beautiful scene blanketed in snow, but alas, there was no snow during our visit.

I must admit, I'm a horrible wine connoisseur... I can't pick out all the intricacies in the aromas and flavors. My taste buds just don't seem to be cut out for the challenge. But I do enjoy wines, and I enjoy the time spent with a good friend roaming from winery to winery, stopping in between to snap random photos amongst the orchards. We visited three wineries--Bonair, Paradisos del Sol, and Portteus--all of which I enjoyed for various and differing reasons. Perhaps next time I'll take some more notes and offer up something a little more in depth. Until then...