This Wednesday (April 3^rd) was right in the middle of the Spring Break week for my family, but it had been quite some time since my Compadre and I had done some wine tasting or smoked a cigar.  So around 1 pm, Juan Valencia showed up at Diaz Bar & Grill to hitch a ride to Prosser & Red Mountain for some wine tasting.  Our first stop was going to be WIT Cellars, but unfortunately for them, they were closed.  So we ventured up into the hills south of Prosser and ended up at DavenLore Winery.  This picturesque locale overlooks Prosser and the lower Yakima Valley.  As we closed in on our destination we decided to call the winery to ensure they were open, and much to our surprise, the winemaker/owner (Mr. Gordon Taylor) said he’d be happy to provide us with a tasting.  It’s always a pleasure chatting with Gordon, and he has a wealth of wine knowledge he enjoys sharing.  After a quick tour of his barrel room, we had a great discussion about his wines, his wine making techniques, and one of his latest activities where he was developing a matrix (grid) where you could identify a specific winery and determine what types of wines they make.  For the consumer, this tool is really valuable.  He focused on Prosser wineries, but the level of detail and effort was substantial.  Understanding that this grid is a living document that is subject to change from year-to-year and winery-to-winery, the very idea of having a go-to 1-page document that can be used to cross reference specific wines with specific wineries is something that should catch on quickly and prove valuable to the distinctive wine shopper.  Especially in light of the fact that it’s going to be printed on the back of a wine-map that is distributed throughout all of Prosser’s wineries!  Well done Mr. Taylor!

While DavenLore is not a large production winery, Gordon really enjoys crafting a diverse array of wines, in particular varietal wines.  Beyond this, he also makes some really delicious fortified/port-style wines.  Juan and I enjoyed the 2013 Syrah Forté so much, we purchased two bottles before heading out to our next destination.  Gordon was nice enough to sign both of our bottles!  Thank you Gordon for an outstanding tasting experience and Aaron’s Wine Chronicles wishes you continued success in your quest for crafting outstanding wines!

Our next stop was Col Solare – at the top of Red Mountain.  As per always, the tasting was amazing.  Juan was captured by the Grappa that is crafted by winemaker Darel Allwine.  After tasting this Italian liqueur, he decided to buy one for his father-in-law, who is an avid fan of after dinner liqueurs.  With time running out, we knew we had to act fast, so our final tasting was to be at Frichette Winery – one of our favorite places on Red Mountain.  Just before leaving, Juan fielded a phone call from another friend (and colleague) of ours who was just begging to be part of our “cool-man’s-wine-club”.  So we arranged to meet Sir Fredrick Mauss at Frichette as we were winding up our Col Solare tasting.

Just as we were getting situated at the bar with one of the finest wine-owner/winemakers I know (Mr. Greg Frichette), Fred Mauss scrambles up to us asking if he could partake in the “Good Life!”  After a brief interview and a frat-like initiation process, we allowed Fred to play in our reindeer games.  Always the consummate wine host, Greg provided a fantastic tasting, and I ended up leaving with a bottle of the 2016 Ciel du Cheval vineyard – Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.  Always a good decision.  Always.  Last stop of the day was to head back to my place and enjoy a cigar and a port with the boys.  Does it get any better than that?