Discover Walla Walla
Secrets and Surprises from Our Corner of the World
Posted by: Steve Rapp in Scenery, Cycling on
Oct 19, 2009
 Like eating a good meal, riding a bicycle can be a savory experience. Autumn in the Walla Walla Valley offers its special entrees.
The local trees and foliage provide wonderful fall colors like those of a carefully crafted meal. No need to travel to New England for postcard perfect pictures. Touring neighborhoods in and around Walla Walla from a bike can provide you with a seat at the ‘Chef's Table.'
Easy rides from town with varying mileage will take the cyclist on roads through harvested fields. Local crops include wheat, Walla Walla sweet onions and grapes. Most of the fields are freshly harvested, leaving behind pleasant aromas for the touring cyclist.
The wildlife is resplendent in the fall. White tail and mule deer are common. Practiced eyes can spot owls and other raptors. Coyotes, fox and even black bear are occasional sitings.
Posted by: Catie McIntyre Walker in Wine on
Oct 12, 2009
 Autumn is my favorite time of the year in Walla Walla. There is something in the Walla Walla air that cannot be duplicated. It's the combination of crisp mornings, leaves changing color, the stubble left behind in the surrounding wheat fields and the sweet smell of fruit fermenting at the wineries. It is also the time of the year I think about returning to my kitchen and bringing out the heavy pots for some serious cooking. And of course, serious cooking means serious wines.
I thought it only fitting to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox and my return to the kitchen burners by treating myself to the matinee, "Julie & Julia." The movie was an entertaining memoir about Julie Powell, a foodie who blogs about Julia Child and Powell's experiences of cooking through Child's classic book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." I returned home from the movie inspired. I immediately wanted to prepare my favorite recipe of Boeuf Bourguignon, try my skills at coq au vin, bake a tarte tatin made with apples from the local orchards, and most of all flip a buttery omelet into the air. But of course, with good French-style food, one must have good French wines. And not only a diverse wine that compliments food, but a confident wine that can stand alone, such as a merlot-based wine from Pomerol or St-Émilion or better yet, from the shared latitude of Bordeaux - - a Merlot from the Walla Walla Valley.
Posted by: Sam McLeod in Scenery on
Oct 05, 2009
 A little while ago, Annie came out on the porch to sit with me. We're drinking a glass of good Walla Walla wine, eating a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs-Annie's favorite meal-and watching the light change as the sun goes down.
Annie just noticed some new lights on the ridge south of us and got the binoculars.
"Another dern house," she said. "Lordy, Lordy, Lordy. We moved out here on the prairie to get away from the crowds and here folks come, moving in around us. We might have to move further out if this keeps up."
"Hmm," I thought. "That's interesting."
As the crow flies that new house is at least three miles from here. We can't see it without the binoculars.
Posted by: Catie McIntyre Walker in Wine on
Sep 28, 2009
 The scene is classic. We often see it in old black and white movies and even contemporary TV sitcoms, such as "Frasier." The scene takes place in the wine cellar or a den. Men are drinking fine wines, smoking cigars and lounging in 19th century soft leather wing back library chairs. These lovers of the vine are dressed in their finest from their haberdashery and wearing silver taste-vins sashed around their neck. They discuss the qualities of a wine that was perhaps from the cellar of Thomas Jefferson, while the women are in the kitchen sharing a pot of tea and keeping the home fires burning. But, in the 21st century in Walla Walla, Washington, when it comes to wine - - there's a lot of girl power going on, baby!
It's the season of "Crush" in the Walla Walla Valley. Holly Turner has been the winemaker for Three Rivers Winery now for almost a decade. She is focused on overseeing every aspect of the Three Rivers' wine production, from sourcing grapes in the vineyard to the finished product on the bottling line. It is this time of the year when French-born Marie-Eve Gilla, from Forgeron Cellars and her black canine-lab companion, Salsa make their annual treks to the vineyards throughout the Columbia Valley overseeing how verasion is coming along. Marie-Eve crafts complex, yet food friendly wines choosing vineyards for their maturity and flavor. Denise Slattery, one of the trio from Trio Vintner's, "tweets" from a Yakima vineyard to her Twitter followers that the fruit is coming on sooner than she thought due to the whopping heat units.
Posted by: Denise Slattery in Wine on
Sep 21, 2009
 Harvest is nearly here, or for some Walla Walla wineries, it's already arrived! We've been preparing for the grape harvest and now, after so many months of planning, coaxing, watering and weeding the grapes will start to come off the vine and into the winery by the ton.
These final weeks (days for some) mean multiple trips by winemakers to the vineyard to check for ripeness. Measuring the level of sugar (brix) with an instrument called a refractometer is one way to go, but tasting is what winemakers truly rely on. We're looking for a complexity of flavors, not just the amount of sugar. It's a very critical time because the condition of the fruit can change quickly, too. Ultimately, it's up to the winemaker to call the shot on harvest. Once the grapes reach the winemakers specified level of ripeness, the fruit is scheduled to pick. It all happens very fast and essentially everyone is on standby. Nature does not keep a date book!
If you are driving through Walla Walla, or around the outskirts of town where a lot of the wineries are located, you may start to notice trucks with flatbeds hauling grape bins. I like to spot these because each winery has their name tagged on the sides of the bins and it's a fun way to keep tabs of who's got fruit in the winery that day. Lots of times it's someone you'll know behind the wheel so a friendly wave is in order. The white grapes come off the vine first of course, followed by early ripening reds and finally the long hanger-oners. This year harvest is a bit sooner for everyone because of the massive heat we had in July and August. The collective heat units stepped up the ripening process quite a bit.
Posted by: Sam McLeod in Wildlife on
Sep 14, 2009
 Well, we thought BIG was a Great Pyrenees puppy when we bought him. That's the way he was advertised. That's what the folks said when we picked him up. That's what he looked like for the next month.
At five months of age, BIG's true colors started showing.
Great Pyrenees are fearless in the face of danger-even the puppies. But confronted with a threat-like a skunk nosing around the chicken coop-BIG would cower at the door and bark furiously as if to say," There's something really scary out here and you humans need to come out and deal with it while I hide under your bed."
Great Pyrenees have cotton-like coats that shun dirt. BIG's coat was not cotton-like. Most of the time, he looked a lot like stuffed animal that had been drug though the dirt.
Great Pyrenees patrol fence perimeters all night long. BIG slept on the old sofa out in the barn. Patrolling wasn't his thing.
Now don't get me wrong. BIG is a sweet dog and we do love the BIG coward, but we'd gone for a guard dog and come back with a lap dog. So, Annie went in search of another Great Pyrenees puppy.
Here he is. His name's Bear. At four months he stands at the fence in the middle of the night and growls at unseen intruders. He patrols the fence line constantly. He's a BIG comfort to BIG. And his coat is cotton-like.
Posted by: Skip Pritchard in Fishing on
Sep 07, 2009
 It's that time of year! Days are growing noticeably shorter, the angle of daylight has shifted from that of the high summer sun, evenings are cooler, there's the scent of dew on freshly mown grass, and... I've got a knot in my stomach!
I grew up playing football. It was my passion and it paid for undergraduate and graduate degrees. By the time I was a graduate assistant coaching college ball my senses were conditioned to such a degree that the smell of dew on newly mown grass in late August and early September threw my stomach into turmoil. My body dreaded what was to come...two-a-days, blood sweat and tears, and counting the days before it was all over and we could start hitting someone other than our buddies.
I went to school in Gunnison, Colorado, elevation 7,708 feet above sea level. School started almost 5 weeks after we reported to training camp my senior season. Two-a-days lasted a couple of weeks allowing for three weeks of time to fill after practices... time for fishing. And boy did we fish! It was incredible. Evening temperatures were just right. Rivers and streams cooled as the oncoming winter began its annual embrace of the high country. Bugs were hatching. Fish were fresh, thick, and aggressive having lost their lethargy from the" dog days of summer". Aspen and cottonwood leaves began their annual turning providing backdrops and settings that burned their beauty into my memory. That fall a transition began to take place helping me survive the passing of my youth and days spent on the gridiron. The shift from summer to fall began to signify that it is time to hit the water and throw flies in earnest.
Posted by: Burgermeister in Food on
Aug 31, 2009
 This month we journeyed to the east end of Main Street to check out the Backstage Bistro. Anyone who loves live music knows what a labor of love the Bistro is for owner Bob Parrish, whose appreciation for food and music seeps into everything he does.
Some may have already forgotten his espresso stand (just "The Backstage") in the old Liberty Theater lobby that's part of Macy's-coffee lovers will remember, I'm sure-but it was merely a sign of things to come, and when the Paula Ray Gallery gave up the ghost, he saw an opportunity at the corner Main and Palouse to serve up a few items that were missing on Walla Walla's dining out menu. Good steaks, interesting pasta dishes, slow-cooked barbecue, and, of course, hamburgers. For a while it seemed like the Backstage Bistro was the only place to find a patty melt in town. In an onion town, that seemed like an oversight. So we sat down to see how the burger has been faring at the Bistro, and it was happy homecoming indeed. I ordered the Bistro Burger with cheddar, and chose sweet potato fries instead of a salad for accompaniment. As you can see, the dish is attractively presented, with the burger served on a cornmeal-dusted bun with shredded lettuce and two large slices of tomato on the upper bun. There were pickles hiding under the burger, much to my delight.
Posted by: Andrew Holt in Music on
Aug 24, 2009
 The bows slowly cross the strings of the three cellos, producing a moaning sound, each bow manipulated in perfect unison by the hands of the three musicians who sit in an open semi-circle facing the enraptured crowd. A young man with jet black hair tinkers on the piano just behind them as the haunting sound of David Popper's "Requiem for Three Cellos and Piano" rises from the instruments and floats through the spartan chambers of Chism Recital Hall.
It is the final concert of the "Second Annual Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival" and the opening piece provides a stark contrast to the airy and upbeat performance of Mendelssohn's' "String Octet in E Flat" the night before where a mirthful audience sat in an open-ended winery production room, taking in the music after filling up on vino and hors' de oeuvres.
The sad but moving "Requiem" is an appropriate piece for Chism, which in its own way, serves as a perfect setting for a festival concert. The warn wooden floor, the lack of any ornamentation to the stage or walls, the small piano cloaked by a dark tarp pushed against the deep back wall of the cavernous stage, all serve to create an atmosphere where ones focus is solely on the music and its performers.
Posted by: Skip Pritchard in Fishing on
Aug 17, 2009
 "... it can take a lifetime's worth of attention to learn even half the secrets of a good river, and in our quieter moments that's all a lot of us want for ourselves: something modest but fine."
John Gierarch
Standing in a River Waving a Stick
Why fly fishing?
When asked this a number of folks simply say it's because of the places it takes them. For others it's respite and therapy from the stress of life. For some it's the "purity" of the sport and the connectedness one has to nature. Still others say it's the aesthetic or the art of it all, the grace of casting or the imitating the natural order of things through tying one's own flies. And for some, there's the sense of tradition and timelessness conjured up by images and memories of cane rods, silk lines, and wicker creels.
The same can be asked of our area, "Fly fishing and Walla Walla? Why?"
The Walla Walla Valley and the foothills of the "Blues" with their rivers, streams, and pastoral landscapes provide ample opportunity to answer the "why." For me the answers started coming shortly after moving to Walla Walla. My first year here I spent more time fishing for personal enjoyment than the prior five years combined guiding in Colorado. It was a no-brainer in Colorado, what time was available to fish was spent guiding to make a buck. Don't get me wrong, I loved every minute of it, but guiding is way different than fishing - with one you watch and with the other you catch. With the waters here I learn or discover something new about the area, how to fish it and how to appreciate it, every time I am out. And, it doesn't hurt that I'm catching a lot of fish.
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