Celebrating Washington Wine: Taste WA

Taste Washington is the event to attend for wine geeks, industry folk and anyone looking to learn more about wines produced in our state. Or rather "market research" wines to incorporate into your wine collection. If not planned properly, the event will be chaotic and overwhelming. Last week, Frank helped us with tips for surviving the Grand Tasting, which was absolutely necessary. Over two hundred wineries, there was much ground to cover. But we did it, with a list of wineries to watch and time to discover a few new wines walking around the massive event space at Qwest Field. Below are our favorite tastes plus a few wineries to watch:

Tranche Cellars: A sister company to the esteemed wine makers at Corliss Wines, recognized by Seattle Magazine as one the ten up and coming wineries to watch, they produce some very high quality wines at an affordable price point. Unlike their parent company, Tranche produces both red and white varietals. Wines to try: Roussanne Voignier, Barbera & Slice of Pape.

Gramercy Cellars: A Seattlest favorite and overall one of the best producers in Washington State especially for Syrahs. Honored by Food & Wine as the 2010 Best New Winery , Gramercy showcases traditional old-world wines with limited new oak influence along with acidity making their wines excellent for pairing with food.

Cartel Wine Group: Marked as a winery to watch, newly established Cartel Wine group buys the "leftovers" from higher end wine makers and creates blends to sell affordable table wine. The Surveyor, a lovely everyday wine, is a very good value (under $15).

Foundry Vineyards: Falling in the category of a new discovery, Foundry is bottling two excellent red blends with strong notes of ripe berries.

àMaurice Cellars: Perhaps our favorite family of wines at the tasting, the family run winery produces some bold, complex and elegant wines. Ones to try: Malbec and Syrah. Like Gramercy, they want food friendly wines. Another fine showcase of the strength of wine making in Washington State.

This of course is just a highlight of the numerous wines we tasted at Taste WA. We relished in the opportunity to chat with winemakers to learn more about their wines. We capitalized on big names such as Betz, Buty, Andrew Will, Delille, Waters, Pepperbridge, Longshadow and a few others. We lingered with a few of our perennial favorites like Dusted Valley's Stained Tooth Syrah (plus grabbed a tooth brush) and the special "Twitter" blend at Trust Cellars. Armed with a list and plenty of notes, we look forward to trying several new wines and profiling soon some of the fabulous wine makers.

Of course the food didn't disappoint either. We especially loved the meat cone from Cured in Leavenworth, Bacon Pancake Cupcake by Yellowleaf, Tom Douglas's trio of pate en terrine from the Dahlia Lounge and Canlis' Braised lamb croquette. Oh and chatting with Brian Canlis who promises us more exciting things to come this spring.

It was a jam-packed day of eating and drinking leaving us even more satiated. Suzi's gallery yesterday captures much of the event.