The TTG Team was so pleased to read this announcement that we thought we would share it in its entirety. Marchesi is one of the newer Columbia Gorge appellation vineyards with a friendly wine maker and a nice tasting room with a view of Mt. Hood.
MARCHESI VINEYARDS DOES IT AGAIN!
MARCHESI’S PRIMITIVO WINS ‘BEST OF CLASS’
AT PREMIERE 2011 SAN FRANCISCO WINE COMPETITION
Marchesi Vineyards’ 2009 Primitivo, Valentino won a ‘Best of Class’ at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, proclaimed the “Largest Wine Competition of American wines in the World”, earlier this month.
The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition was held in Sonoma County, California, with a week of judging ending January 8, 2011. Judges, consisting of 55 professional wine experts within the media, restaurant and hospitality, winemaking and retail wine industries, evaluated the entries. The SFCWC broke the records with a staggering 5,050 entries, from 23 states.
“Still gloating from the previous years huge award of a ‘Double Gold’ win for the Sangiovese 2008 Emma in 2010 at the same important wine competition,
we were thrilled to receive the news of the multiple awards to Marchesi Vineyards’ wines; ‘Best of Class’ for the Primitivo, ‘Silver Medal for the Uvaggio, and Bronze Medals for the Pinot Noir, and Dolcetto.
Marchesi Vineyards is a relatively new winery established in Hood River, Oregon In 2004, Franco Marchesi began planting his favorite Northern Italian grapes on his Columbia Gorge property where the latitude is similar to his hometown in the Piemonte region of Italy where he was born and raised. The vintner currently sells six different Italian varietal wines.
The Marchesi Primitivo, named “Valentino,” after Franco’s dad, was awarded ‘Best of Class’ out of a total of 19 medal-winning Primitivo wines: four Golds, nine Silvers, and six Bronze medals were awarded in the Primitivo category. The Marchesi Primitivo Valentino retails for $25.
“Based on the results of this competition, I feel proud to say Marchesi Vineyards produces the best Primitivo in the Northwest,” Marchesi says. “We purchased these grapes from the Horse Heaven Hills, Columbia Valley, where the climate is preferable for Primitivo grapes.”
We are very proud of the Uvaggio named ‘Cereja’ which was awarded a Silver Medal in the Italian Varietals and Blends Category. The Uvaggio is a blend of 25% Sangiovese, 25% Syrah, 25% Dolcetto and 25% Barbera.
Award winners will be featured at a public tasting on February 19 at Fort Mason Center’s Pavilion in San Francisco. Complete results of the 2011 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition can be found online at www.winejudging.com. For more information about Marchesi Vineyards, check out our website at www.marchesivineyards.com or come visit our tasting room. The tasting room will re-open after our winter break beginning February 12th, 2011.
Visit their website at www.marchesivineyards.com
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, November 4, 2010
A Day on the Columbia River
We drive by, drive over, look down upon and live around the Columbia River. It's the view from our restaurant windows, the draw for our tourism, the moderator of our weather and the source of much of the livelihood of The Columbia River Gorge. Seldom do most of us have an opportunity to really experience it, to see what the river sees of us.
Yesterday, on a November day that could only have been a gift from the weather gods, a couple of us got to become part of the river for just a few wonderful hours - courtesy of an avid angler with a small but capable fishing boat. After putting in at Hood River, we motored toward The Dalles, going slowly to absorb every beautiful thing.
Some reflections:
For additional sightseeing tips, go to http://www.travelthegorge.com/what_to_do.asp
Links of Interest
Windseeker Restaurant
Hood River Inn
The Crab Shack
Friends of the Columbia River Gorge
Riverkeepers
Yesterday, on a November day that could only have been a gift from the weather gods, a couple of us got to become part of the river for just a few wonderful hours - courtesy of an avid angler with a small but capable fishing boat. After putting in at Hood River, we motored toward The Dalles, going slowly to absorb every beautiful thing.
Some reflections:
- The river appears amazingly clean. There was little of the litter of daily life along the river.
- There are very few places suitable for launching a boat due to the almost verticle banks along much of the river in The Gorge - resumably a product of the scouring action of the Bretz Floods.
- Very few Gorge restaurants are actually "riverside" The Windseeker in The Dalles, the deck of the Hood River Inn in Hood River,and the Crab Shack near Stevenson, Washington are notable exceptions.
- The landscape as viewed from the river is unbelievably powerful: The basalt cliffs and hanging valleys, landslides and alluvial fans, synclines and anticlines, the surprisingly varied fall colors of the deciduous flora, and above all Mt. Hood peering down on the river from totally unexpected directions.
- Many Canada Geese seem reluctant to leave The Gorge, and there were still many mallards floating along the shores. A lovely Blue Heron, thin, elegant, awaited the arrival of his next snack as though frozen in place.
- The trains and highway traffic that run along the river distract very little. Their movement catches the eye but the sounds are pretty much lost in the movement of the river, the sighing of the breeze and the purr/growl of boat motors.
- Lewis and Clark were HERE, saw much of this as it still is. Goosebumps.
- Barges are REALLY BIG when you're sharing the water with them.
- What impacted most, was the total peace one feels on the river. Brought down to a level with it, moving with it, hearing it gurgle, swish and slap, breathing the river smell of it, all else seems so far away, so impossibly foreign and irrelevant. The river is an ancient, living, moving, breathing force, and all we can be is that "litter of daily life" carried along by it for the blink of an eye. Aaaah, the insignificance of us!
For additional sightseeing tips, go to http://www.travelthegorge.com/what_to_do.asp
Links of Interest
Windseeker Restaurant
Hood River Inn
The Crab Shack
Friends of the Columbia River Gorge
Riverkeepers
Thursday, August 12, 2010
A truly "grand" opening in the Columbia Gorge, August 13, 2010
New businesses open every day, but seldom is there an opening as "grand" as the upcoming Grand Opening of Taste of the Gorge in Husum, Washington, in the Columbia River Gorge. Yes, it's a small restaurant in a small community, but the people involved and the message it sends, make it truly special.
Taste of the Gorge, which has been "softly" open for the last three weeks, occupies the dining space at the Husum Hills Golf Course - a very pretty public course about 4 miles up WA-141N along the White Salmon River from Highway 14, just west of the Hood River Bridge. The restaurant is airy, open and comfortable, with the wonderful energy that restaurants have when their REAL purpose is serving great food and pleasing their guests. That energy is rare, but not surprising here. The owners, Regan and Paula Schindler, have been responsible for creating happy customers throughout The Gorge for decades.
(Here comes the "grand" part.)
Regan and Paula and many of their staff were casualties of the economic tsunami that has washed across The Gorge over the last 2 years. Regan, chef for Hood River's Columbia Gorge Hotel during its award-winning years, had lost his position as chef for Cooper Spur Restaurant when the resort closed earlier this year. Paula, probably the most photographed employee of the Columbia Gorge Hotel, had lost her long-time position when it closed in January of 2009. Both had been revered by owners and customers alike, and both were symbols of good people losing good jobs through no fault of their own. That they have turned past losses into a "win" for themselves and their employees, and for the customers lucky enough to get a table, shows all of us that it can be done, and done well!
Taste of the Gorge celebrates its Grand Opening Friday night, August 13th, 2010, from 5-9pm. The restaurant will be open from then on for lunch and dinner, from 11:30am - 8:00pm, every day of the week except Mondays. Contact information and directions follow below:
TASTE OF THE GORGE
820 SR-141
White Salmon, WA 98762
509-493-4450
From I-84:
1. Head northeast on Hood River Bridge toward WA-14 W 0.5 mi
2. Turn left at WA-14 W/Lewis and Clark Hwy 1.5 mi
3. Turn right at Washington 141 Alternative N 2.2 mi
4. Continue onto WA-141 N 1.8 mi
Additional Columbia Gorge dining options can be found at TravelTheGorge.com
Taste of the Gorge, which has been "softly" open for the last three weeks, occupies the dining space at the Husum Hills Golf Course - a very pretty public course about 4 miles up WA-141N along the White Salmon River from Highway 14, just west of the Hood River Bridge. The restaurant is airy, open and comfortable, with the wonderful energy that restaurants have when their REAL purpose is serving great food and pleasing their guests. That energy is rare, but not surprising here. The owners, Regan and Paula Schindler, have been responsible for creating happy customers throughout The Gorge for decades.
(Here comes the "grand" part.)
Regan and Paula and many of their staff were casualties of the economic tsunami that has washed across The Gorge over the last 2 years. Regan, chef for Hood River's Columbia Gorge Hotel during its award-winning years, had lost his position as chef for Cooper Spur Restaurant when the resort closed earlier this year. Paula, probably the most photographed employee of the Columbia Gorge Hotel, had lost her long-time position when it closed in January of 2009. Both had been revered by owners and customers alike, and both were symbols of good people losing good jobs through no fault of their own. That they have turned past losses into a "win" for themselves and their employees, and for the customers lucky enough to get a table, shows all of us that it can be done, and done well!
Taste of the Gorge celebrates its Grand Opening Friday night, August 13th, 2010, from 5-9pm. The restaurant will be open from then on for lunch and dinner, from 11:30am - 8:00pm, every day of the week except Mondays. Contact information and directions follow below:
TASTE OF THE GORGE
820 SR-141
White Salmon, WA 98762
509-493-4450
From I-84:
1. Head northeast on Hood River Bridge toward WA-14 W 0.5 mi
2. Turn left at WA-14 W/Lewis and Clark Hwy 1.5 mi
3. Turn right at Washington 141 Alternative N 2.2 mi
4. Continue onto WA-141 N 1.8 mi
Additional Columbia Gorge dining options can be found at TravelTheGorge.com
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
On being away from The Gorge
One thing the Travel the Gorge Team is known for is...travel. What a concept. And recently we honored our name with a short trip to Edmonds, Washington. Edmonds is a waterfront town of about 40,000 people north of Seattle. It IS a lovely city with a vibrant arts community, small churches, graceful older homes and the Mukilteo Ferry dock. We had fun. We rode the ferry, did their Thursday night art walk, ate in their restaurants, bought artisanal cheeses and perused used books. It is a town very much worth visiting. But, this being a blog about The Gorge, Edmonds is actually NOT the subject here.
The Team has a lot of miles under its collective belt, and we've found that travel is as much about the place you left as the one you went to. Travel for us is very often about comparisons. We figured this out over a bottle (who are we kidding here) of wine on a rainy Edmonds night in a little French Cafe. Our musings:
We missed the sound of the wind teasing at the windows and rustling the trees.
We missed great white mountains appearing suddenly at a turn in the road or out a random window.
We missed the keening of coyotes in the distance and the instinctive answering yips of family dogs.
We missed the crystal air, so clear that the whole Gorge is a High Def 'ViewMaster' slide.
We missed bumping into so many people we know at the grocery store that we have to plan extra time into our errands for socializing.
We bristled at streets FULL of cars and missed the many courtesies of Gorge drivers.
We had to GO somewhere to take a hike.
We missed the roasted garlic at Stonehedge Gardens and the biscuits and gravy at Cousins and the pizzas at Solstice.
We found there are churches that aren't attended by people in jeans.
We got truly angry at having to pay $7 to park at a Hospital - yes a Hospital. Like you really wanted to go there in the first place.
There are a lot of places in the world that don't have waterfalls, or rivers, or vineyards, or orchards, or fields of wildflowers, or trailers with great Thai food.
Dang, it's nice to be home!!!
For more great dining options, see www.TravelTheGorge.com/dining
The Team has a lot of miles under its collective belt, and we've found that travel is as much about the place you left as the one you went to. Travel for us is very often about comparisons. We figured this out over a bottle (who are we kidding here) of wine on a rainy Edmonds night in a little French Cafe. Our musings:
We missed the sound of the wind teasing at the windows and rustling the trees.
We missed great white mountains appearing suddenly at a turn in the road or out a random window.
We missed the keening of coyotes in the distance and the instinctive answering yips of family dogs.
We missed the crystal air, so clear that the whole Gorge is a High Def 'ViewMaster' slide.
We missed bumping into so many people we know at the grocery store that we have to plan extra time into our errands for socializing.
We bristled at streets FULL of cars and missed the many courtesies of Gorge drivers.
We had to GO somewhere to take a hike.
We missed the roasted garlic at Stonehedge Gardens and the biscuits and gravy at Cousins and the pizzas at Solstice.
We found there are churches that aren't attended by people in jeans.
We got truly angry at having to pay $7 to park at a Hospital - yes a Hospital. Like you really wanted to go there in the first place.
There are a lot of places in the world that don't have waterfalls, or rivers, or vineyards, or orchards, or fields of wildflowers, or trailers with great Thai food.
Dang, it's nice to be home!!!
For more great dining options, see www.TravelTheGorge.com/dining
Friday, June 18, 2010
Murder and Wildflowers in the Columbia Gorge
You can find beauty anywhere, if you look for it, and you don't have to look hard to find it in the Columbia Gorge today. This week the sun came out (it's that yellow presence in the sky that hurts to look at), the wildflowers are saying thank you by blooming they're colorful heads off, and the river is deep blue watered silk with lacy edges, instead of grumpy grey metal. What's not to love about The Gorge?
Maybe the worst part for The Team, especially as we stand here in The Gorge amidst the innocence of wildflowers and the grandeur of creation, is to think that the perpetrators of such an act have walked among us. That they were here in our yard and we failed to see them for what they were. It was somehow easier to believe that people so lacking in humanity came out of the anonymous stream of cars passing us in the night and oozed back into the current to be drawn to another light in the darkness. But no. They were of us and among us and they were us... As much a part of The Gorge as the wildflowers.
Photos by permission USDA Forest Service
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
On the Philosophical Side
The TTG Team just had a near-miss and nothing else seems quite important enough to blog about. One of our team members, actually not "just" a member, but the revered "Team Guru", went into septic shock following the emergency removal of his gall bladder. We didn't know what septic shock was - heck, we pretty much didn't know what the gall bladder was, until a visit to Wikipedia. 50% of the people who suffer toxic shock die from it, and that's 50% of EVERYONE who gets it. That isn't counting people such as The Guru who have underlying health problems.
With septic shock, infection enters the blood stream, which carries it to every organ in the body, and they start shutting down. The blood vessels, "trained" to enlarge in an infected area so more blood goes to the boo-boo, enlarge throughout the body and the blood pressure drops to nothing. The whole body just kind of quits and lots of people die.
The Guru's surgeon didn't expect him to last the weekend - and he's still here. Vitals are up, eyes vaguely open, ventilator gone and blood pressure holding its own. The ICU staff calls him Cat Man, because he must have nine lives. We just call him mean, nasty names for scaring us so badly. He still has a long way to go and a lot of hospital food in his future, but he's still with us and we're grateful beyond bloggy words.
So, where are we going with this? Hug your Gurus every day. Hug your wordsmiths and your boardheads and your fishing guides and your epicures. A team is the sum of its members and becomes a whole new total if it loses one. It can still be a team, but not the same team, and we like ours just the way it is.
Oh yes...and Prayer Works!!
With septic shock, infection enters the blood stream, which carries it to every organ in the body, and they start shutting down. The blood vessels, "trained" to enlarge in an infected area so more blood goes to the boo-boo, enlarge throughout the body and the blood pressure drops to nothing. The whole body just kind of quits and lots of people die.
The Guru's surgeon didn't expect him to last the weekend - and he's still here. Vitals are up, eyes vaguely open, ventilator gone and blood pressure holding its own. The ICU staff calls him Cat Man, because he must have nine lives. We just call him mean, nasty names for scaring us so badly. He still has a long way to go and a lot of hospital food in his future, but he's still with us and we're grateful beyond bloggy words.
So, where are we going with this? Hug your Gurus every day. Hug your wordsmiths and your boardheads and your fishing guides and your epicures. A team is the sum of its members and becomes a whole new total if it loses one. It can still be a team, but not the same team, and we like ours just the way it is.
Oh yes...and Prayer Works!!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Get Mugged at KV Ceramic Studio
Another Columbia Gorge tidbit from the Team at http://www.travelthegorge.com/
At 1082 Tucker RD (a continuation of 12th street if you're coming from the north) - on the heights in Hood River - between a small apartment building and a garden center- hides a very special recreation destination for the crafty among us. Ken and Verna, lord and lady of this quiet little kingdom, greet each visitor by name. If they knew you were coming, your customary chair is ready and your personal treasures are set out ready for your continued attention. A supply of cold sodas (diet Coke, a must) are in the frig.
It feels like home, if your home is warm, friendly, and your tables are surrounded by shelves and shelves of paints, glazes, greenware, bisque and wonderfully created ceramic and glass decor. Everything is here for the amateur or crafting pro to make personalized gifts for friends and self, spend a few rainy hours keeping kids busy and quiet, or throw a party where everyone makes the same thing differently. The possibilities are delightful.
Last Saturday the Team spent two noisy hours creating our own personal versions of ceramic travel mugs. We had seen the mug at the KV Ceramics booth at the Hood River Blossom Festival and decided we just had to do this. There was another table full when we arrived with 3 generations of the same family each painting merrily away at their own levels of ability. (We also had very diverse levels of competence - which doesn't matter a bit.)
While at the studio, take a break to look at the truly lovely selection of handcrafted gifts at their adjoining Gorge-Us Gift Shop. Ken creates some very unique glazed ceramics and pottery and their daughters have obvious talent with fused and etched glass. You can call ahead (541-386-4664) to reserve a table or a whole party, but just dropping by is also totally acceptable.
At 1082 Tucker RD (a continuation of 12th street if you're coming from the north) - on the heights in Hood River - between a small apartment building and a garden center- hides a very special recreation destination for the crafty among us. Ken and Verna, lord and lady of this quiet little kingdom, greet each visitor by name. If they knew you were coming, your customary chair is ready and your personal treasures are set out ready for your continued attention. A supply of cold sodas (diet Coke, a must) are in the frig.
It feels like home, if your home is warm, friendly, and your tables are surrounded by shelves and shelves of paints, glazes, greenware, bisque and wonderfully created ceramic and glass decor. Everything is here for the amateur or crafting pro to make personalized gifts for friends and self, spend a few rainy hours keeping kids busy and quiet, or throw a party where everyone makes the same thing differently. The possibilities are delightful.
Last Saturday the Team spent two noisy hours creating our own personal versions of ceramic travel mugs. We had seen the mug at the KV Ceramics booth at the Hood River Blossom Festival and decided we just had to do this. There was another table full when we arrived with 3 generations of the same family each painting merrily away at their own levels of ability. (We also had very diverse levels of competence - which doesn't matter a bit.)
While at the studio, take a break to look at the truly lovely selection of handcrafted gifts at their adjoining Gorge-Us Gift Shop. Ken creates some very unique glazed ceramics and pottery and their daughters have obvious talent with fused and etched glass. You can call ahead (541-386-4664) to reserve a table or a whole party, but just dropping by is also totally acceptable.
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