Cheers To You

Mother’s Day is a day to celebrate and what better way to toast the mother in your life than with a glass of bubbly?

If you’re planning to do a brunch this year for your celebration we’ve got a great recommendation that isn’t your run of the mill bubbly, and it’s made locally.

Ann Vogel’s Mother’s Day recipes for yogurt parfaits and apple Dutch babies calls for a partner in wine with lots of fruit flavor to echo the fruit in the dish; the bubbles will contrast the creamy yogurt.

This is where the Olympic Peninsula’s Finnriver Farm and Cidery enters the picture.

An artisan cidery and organic farm located in the Chimacum Valley, Finnriver produces its ciders from heirloom apples and berries grown at the farm. They also glean apples from old homesteads in the valley and from a family farm in Eastern Washington.

Cider has a long history — it was the drink of choice for the colonists. Cheap and easy to make, it was consumed for any event imaginable — weddings, funerals, Mother’s Day, baptisms, barn and church raisings and even breakfast.

Ciders can and do vary in style from a drier, more traditional style from Normandy and England, to the sweeter sparkling blends made with berries in Washington.

Finnriver’s award-winning ciders are handcrafted from the orchards to the bottle. They like to experiment with small-batches fruit blends to see what Mother Nature has offered them at harvest.

The sumptuous sparkling hard ciders are made with apples, pears and berries. Perfect for this Mother’s Day menu.

A few suggestions include:

The Artisan Sparkling Cider. Fermented using the traditional, labor-intensive méthode champenoise this wine is perfectly balanced, crisp with distinct apple aromas and flavors. The bubbles are small and make a bright, champagne-style cider.

The Sparkling Pear Cider is made from heirloom apples, blended with sweet pear. A soft sprightly sparkle accompanies the definite pear aromas and semi-sweet pear flavors of this cider.

The Sparkling Black Currant Cider is lighter is body and has a pretty blush color. It’s a blend of sweet heirloom apples and tart black currant. This one is also semi-sweet.

Finnriver is located at 62 Barn Swallow Road in Chimacum. A trip to their tasting room gives you a chance to sample their wines — and decide which you might want to serve mom this Mother’s Day.

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Mary writes:

Harbinger 2008 Sieg-MA is a delightful blend of two German grape varieties — Siegerrebe and Madeleine Angevine — grown in the Puget Sound Appellation. Harbinger Winery is located in Port Angeles and it’s a brewery too!

I enjoyed this delightful wine at the recent Holly Ridge Vino in Kitsap tasting and scavenger hunt. Vintner Sara Gagnon has her way with blending. A passage from Harbinger’s website puts it beautifully: “The white wine pixies were flitting mischievously through the winery.”

The wine is very aromatic with a bouquet of flowers and spice. At 10.6 percent alcohol, it is sweet but the acidity keeps it clean and crisp. Gagnon’s description of the wine, a “balance of fruit and acids that leave you feeling as invigorated as a glacially fed river plunge”, is a perfect imagery.

This wine pairs beautifully with spicy Thai or Chinese and fresh fruits and sharp cheddar.

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I missed Thursday’s Manette Wine Walk — unfortunately work kept me in the office and off the streets of Manette. But Mary made the journey and said it was a blast. Here’s her recount of the night:

Mary writes:

It was a sell out. Rebecca Dove-Taylor, owner of The Manette Saloon and Side Bar, was thrilled with the attendance to the first Manette Wine Walk last night. One hundred thirty seven passports were sold in the first hour, and the response was so great that one restaurant ran ou of wine in the first hour.

Dove-Taylor planned the event to bring the community together for a night of wine appreciation and to bring attention to Manette restaurants. The weather cooperated, which may have contributed to the sell-out crowd — what a charming sight seeing so many people strolling up and down Eleventh Street.

For $10, participants tasted wine and sampled food at the Manette Saloon, Boatshed, Der Bloken and for some, La Fermata.

Participants started at The Manette to purchase their passports, where they sampled wines from Olympic Cellars Winery out of Port Angeles (known for their “Working Girl Wines”). Go Girl Red (a blend of Merlot and Lemberger) and Handyman Red (Cab, Merlot and Cab Franc) were paired with hummus, pita chips, fresh vegetables and stuffed mushrooms.

When I asked why she had picked this particular winery, she said, “I’m a ‘Working Girl’ and I just love their wines.”

The absolutely packed Boatshed served up Chateau Ste. Michelle’s ’09 Chardonnay and ’08 Cab. The food samples were eye appealing and there was something for every palate. Olives, hummus, blackberries, strawberries, fresh mozzarella balls, Gouda, salami and prosciutto.

Der Blokken Brewery was serving up Charles Smith’s Velvet Devil Merlot. This was gone by the time I made it up the hill. But they were serving Smith’s Eve Chardonnay as a substitute.

Dove-Taylor has invited the newest Manette restaurant Orion to the next Wine Walk the end of June as plans for a quarterly event move forward.

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Looking for some wine-themed reasons to drive around the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas this weekend? You’re in luck.

As was previously reported, the six of the eight wineries on Bainbridge Island will be open Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. A map of the various locations can be found at the Wine Alliance of Bainbridge Island website. The website also has phone numbers for the seven wineries, and links to the websites for those that have them.

The Olympic Peninsula Wineries Association is also hosting an event the same weekend. The theme of the weekend is “Drink in the Bounty of our Harvest.” The event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will also be a wine themed scavenger hunt, a first for the annual event.

Here’s what the press release says about what wine enthusiasts of all levels can expect from the weekend:

Locally made wines, including new releases, will be paired with harvest inspired appetizers. Hard ciders will be available at Finnriver Farm and Eaglemount. And it’s B.Y.O.G. (bring your own glass) again this year! Last fall’s inaugural B.Y.O.G. tour proved so much fun – and so many unique and extraordinary glasses were shared – that the wineries are bringing it back!

The event is $25, and is a self-guided tour. Tickets can be paid online in advance, or purchased at the door. The cost includes complimentary wine tastings and appetizers at each winery. A tasting fee of $5 per winery applies to visitors without a ticket.

Featured wineries include:

Finnriver Farm, Chimacum
A 33-acre organic family farm and artisan Cidery. Sparkling hard ciders, including Finnriver’s handcrafted champagne-style cider and apple-blueberry cider, will be available for sampling. Harvest-themed sweet treats include pumpkin-rum cookies.

FairWinds Winery, Port Townsend
FairWinds’ Gewürztraminer will be paired with home-grown gourmet stuffed potatoes, while home-grown squash will be made into a dip served on pita chips and paired with the only Mead produced on the Olympic Peninsula. In addition, FairWinds will feature its traditional hot spiced Lemberger wine.

Sorensen Cellars, Port Townsend
Fall harvest treats from the Quimper Peninsula will be paired with Sorensen’s hearty red wines. Case specials will be available throughout the weekend.

Eaglemount Wine & Cider, Port Townsend
Apples from Eaglemount’s homestead orchard will be featured with a new wine release.

Olympic Cellars, Port Angeles
Olympic Cellars will open its cellar – the heart of its 120-year-old working barn that is home to the winery. Harvest treats include pumpkin soup with roasted pumpkin seeds served with Mt. Townsend’s Fromage Blanc; Pane d’Amore Miche bread made with Nash’s organic grains and served with Olympic Cellars Chardonnay Butter; a wine and cheese pairing featuring Mt. Townsend Creamery’s artisan cheeses; hot mulled Lemberger wine; and harvest fresh surprises throughout Olympic Cellars’ cornucopia table. Featured wines include the newly released 2007 Cabernet Franc from Boushey Vineyard and the ever-popular Cranberry Jubilee, the perfect wine for the holiday table. Also, featured will be the 2007 Neuharth Legacy Cabernet Sauvignon, released in 2009 to commemorate the winery’s 30th anniversary, and considered by winemaker Benoit Murat to be his best wine made at Olympic Cellars.

Camaraderie Cellars, Port Angeles
Camaraderie Cellars’ gardens will be open and a harvest display set up in the newly completed arbor area. Inside the tasting room, savory bites of pate, sausages, and local breads will complement a range of red wines perfectly suited for cold autumn nights and hearty fare. Special pricing will enhance holiday shopping.

Harbinger Winery, Port Angeles
To celebrate the end of harvest Harbinger Winery & Brew House will be sipping on its latest release of Cranberry Bliss while sampling chanterelle and butternut squash bisque. Freshly baked pumpkin bread with several festive local artisan butter spreads from Golden Glen Creamery will be available as well. Another new release poured for the tour will be Harbinger’s 2008 Menagerie, a blend of Merlot, Grenache and Syrah. (100 percent of the profits from this wine go to the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society). Guests can also sample the 2007 Columbia Valley Syrah, 2008 Viognier, and the 2009 “Bone Dry” Rose.

(A note for beer lovers: Harbinger’s Brew House Ratz have also been creative in their beer-making endeavors; stop by to check out the surprises they’ve concocted).

For more information or to purchase tickets online, visit www.olympicpeninsulawineries.org, or call 800-785-5495.

For information about bed and breakfasts on the Olympic Peninsula, visit www.opbba.com. The Bainbridge Island Lodging Association has a complete list of bed and breakfasts, as well as other lodging information, on its website.

If I didn’t have to work this weekend, my plan would be to do the Bainbridge wine tour one day and the Olympic Peninsula tour the next.

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