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The
small town of Prosser, Washington, in the Lower
Yakima Valley is home to many wineries.
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PROSSER,
Wash. — An adventurous crowd of foodies surrounded me at
the Desert Wind winery’s long dining table. As we
started in on the fried green tomatoes, we noticed a
garnish nobody recognized: what looked like little yellow
cherries topped by tiny corn-husk winglets. The little
wings were swept back as if part of our salad course was
ready to join the kestrels soaring over the nearby Horse
Heaven Hills.
Was
that husk edible or not? Should we ask?
"I
already ate mine," confided Sheila, a Seattleite
sitting next to me.
OK,
I confess, I had, too, washing it down with the suggested
wine, a crisp Wahluke Slope sauvignon blanc. The husk was,
uh, crunchy.
"These
are what we call ground cherries," announced our
host, Chef Frank Magana. "They grow on a bush like a
tomatillo. I peeled back the husks to look like bird
wings. The husk won’t hurt you if you eat it, but
normally we don’t."
Ah.
This
was Desert Wind’s monthly, anyone-is-welcome Supper
Club, and it served to spotlight a big trend in
wine-country tourism: helping visitors enjoy wine together
with local food.
The
Yakima River’s fertile valley and surrounding
sun-toasted hills, the birthplace of Washington’s wine
industry — still producing nearly half the state’s
wine — is the perfect venue for uniting local wines with
the abundance of fresh vegetables, tree fruits, meats and
cheeses that come from just up the road.
It’s
tourism with an emphasis on the "mmmm."
Yakima
Valley winemakers capitalized on the trend this summer,
publishing a deck of recipe cards on which 34 wineries
matched one of their wines with a favorite recipe, often
from the family running the winery. For example, Fries
Family Apple Cake is paired with the family’s Desert
Wind riesling.
Wineries
took turns in July and August offering tastes of their
featured dish and wine to tasting-room guests. It’s the
kind of thing you can expect more of here.
"For
us it was a good choice, because while there are lots of
great winemaking areas in the state, the valley has so
much bounty (of food) as well," said Barbara Glover,
director of Wine Yakima Valley, an association of
winemakers and grape growers. "Our fruit-forward
wines have flavors that pair really well with food."
I
sampled the featured recipes at Prosser’s Vintner’s
Village, a one-stop wine lover’s haven just off
Interstate 82 that’s home to 10 modern tasting rooms
plus a wine-and-food bar called Wine O’Clock.
Milbrandt
Vineyards served baba ghanoush, a smoky eggplant spread on
toasted pita bread, paired with ruby-red grenache. Gamache
Vintners offered a playful peach and riesling smoothie,
made from peaches grown next to their vineyard.
Promoting
the wares of farming neighbors came easily for winery
folks such as Tara Divers, tasting-room manager at
Milbrandt.
"We
have a friend who brings us these beautiful Asian
eggplants," Divers said. "A lot of people don’t
even know we grow eggplant in the Yakima Valley."
For
some of that eggplant, head for Prosser’s Saturday
farmers market, where you’ll also find sweet peaches
that spritz your chin with juice and peppers in colors you
never knew peppers came in (like purple).
And
you can meet Buggirl.
Insects
of all kinds fascinated Stacey Gingras as a child, thus
the name of her business, Buggirl’s Garden. The Prosser
native is a regular vendor at the market, and also
delivers produce to local wineries and restaurants.
Besides
Milbrandt’s eggplant, she provided the green tomatoes
and ground cherries for our Desert Wind dinner.
"It’s
just a lot of fun," Gingras said. "I’ve been
working with Frank (Magana) for about three years. If he
has a special event and has a recipe in mind, he’ll call
and ask if I have something. Green tomatoes? I’ve got
green, red, whatever you want."
And
the ideas flow both ways.
"I’ll
call up (a chef) and ask, ‘How about some radish silique
for the salad tonight?’ It’s a funny-looking bulbous
seed pod that’s crispy but has a cool taste also."
Winemaker’s
dinners, with those adventurous diners, are perfect for
the occasional novelty produce that Gingras likes to mix
with the standards such as green beans or squash.
"The
audience I have, I can introduce something like that and I
know they’ll love it," Magana said. "We talk
with Stacey once a week, and we even go out to her farm.
We want to know our farmers as much as we know our
winemakers."
Those
efforts are bringing repeat customers, such as Joe and
Shari Neuenschwander, of Issaquah, who came to the Desert
Wind Supper Club last month for their third time since
summer 2010.
Along
with the tomatoes, August’s three-course meal included a
stuffed pork chop, paired with Barbera red, and poached
peaches with a late-harvest (sweeter) gewürtztraminer.
Such variety stretches the couple’s wine knowledge, Joe
Neuenschwander said.
"We
like to drink red wines and that’s what we usually have
at home. But this opens you up to thinking about different
things."
Why
spend getaway weekends pursuing the perfect food-and-wine
pairing? Devotees will tell you there’s a sweet spot
that’s worth the quest.
"For
example, if you get a good pinot and have just the right
glaze on duck, everything tastes better,"
Neuenschwander said.
Plus,
when you’re out driving around the Yakima Valley with
the windows down, you’ll revel in some pretty sweet
views of Mount Adams and Mount Rainier from country roads
lined by vineyards, orchards and hop vines.
Only
one whispered complaint around the Supper Club table among
diners from the wet side of the mountains: Green tomatoes?
We have more than enough of those on our own side of the
state this year, thanks.
Then
again, now we know what to do with them.
And
what wine to serve.
–——
IF
YOU GO:
WINEMAKER
DINNERS: Look for winemaker dinners during the harvest
season, including the Experience Harvest dinner and
vineyard tour Oct. 1 at Milbrandt Vineyards, Prosser ($85;