I’ve been haunting Purple Cafe in Woodinville since they first opened their doors in a tiny space that seated 22 people. Back then, owners Larry and Tabitha provided such excellent food and service that the place rapidly became a destination. It’s now blossomed into a massive operation whose reach extends into downtown Seattle.

Even though Larry and Tabitha don’t spend as much time in the remote Woodinville store as they used to, the quality of the operation is still stellar. Case in point: My wife and I went in for lunch today and ordered the lamb burger. I didn’t notice that it came dressed with an olive tapenade, (which was clearly described on the menu.) I’m not a big fan of olives — so when it arrived I did ask to see the menu to confirm that I messed up. Sure enough there it was.

To be honest it still was a pretty tasty burger, so I was set to forge ahead. Or so I thought. Our server, Rita insisted that they redo my order without the tapenade(!) I tried to tell her that it wasn’t necessary, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Next thing I know, A brand new burger appears on the house.

How many operations take customer service to that level these days? Not many. Thanks Rita, you know I’ll be back.

Northwest Totem Cellars will be hosting their release party at the Hollywood Schoolhouse in Woodinville Dec 1-2.
Northwest Totem Cellars is a small Woodinville winery that produces hand-crafted wines. These 2005 reds will be released:

Cabernet Sauvignon - 175 cases produced

Low Man Red (Bordeaux blend) - 175 cases produced

Cabernet Franc - 50 cases produced

Syrah - 175 cases produced

Hope to see you there!

Guardian Cellars, the joint venture of Jerome Edward Riener, and Mark Ryan McNeilly is set to launch. Just got this mail from them. Hope to see you at the party.

Dear winery friends,

You are probably scratching your heads trying to figure out why you are getting this e-mail. In the last Mark Ryan Winery release letter we told you about Guardian Cellars, a new winery project created by myself, Jerome Edward Riener, and Mark Ryan McNeilly.

The time is finally here to unveil Guardian Cellars. Please join us from 12-4pm on Nov. 17th as we welcome Guardian Cellars to the Woodinville wine scene and release three wines, including the long-awaited return of Gun Metal. In the Mark Ryan Winery fashion, we will have great music, wine and food for the release party.

Guardian Cellars began with just two barrels of 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon (49 cases) that we worked on between perfecting Dead Horse, Long Haul and the other spectacular wines in Mark’s collection. Mark and I moved ahead with two additional Guardian wines the following year.
The inaugural Cabernet, nicknamed “The Rookie,” will be joined by a 2004 Red Mountain Syrah (56 cases) and, of course, the 2004 Gun Metal (190 cases). Many of you Mark Ryan Winery fans will remember the 2003 Gun Metal. The 2004 vintage is the same grapes, barrels and winemaker, but we changed the label to Guardian Cellars.

We invite you to go to guardiancellars.com to check out the new web site for more information. We have posted the order form online as all the wines are extremely limited and will sell out quickly. Wines will be filled on a firstPary come first served basis. For those unable to attend the release party, you may pick up on a future weekend or your wines can be shipped.

Thanks for the support and hope to see you next month,

The Crew at Guardian Cellars.
Guardian Cellars
19501 144th Ave NE F-1100 | Woodinville, WA 98072
jerry@guardiancellars.com | 206-661-6733 | guardiancellars.com

Although Fidelitas is not a Woodinville winery per se, we’ve been big fans of their wines for several years. In addition, Hoppes wines could conceivably be said to have a Woodinville pedigree. Charlie spent eight vintages working with Mike Januik at Chateau Ste. Michelle.

Fidelitas creates “Bordeaux style wines from some of the best fruit grown in Washington’s Columbia Valley.” Hoppes winemaking diary provides insights into the process they use and the vineyards that provide them with fruit. If you want an inside look at how great Washington wine is made, subscribe to this blog. If you haven’t tasted their wine, you should add Fidelitas your shopping list.

Regrettably, the blog is a blogspot blog which we’ve removed from our normal searches and have advised clients to do the same due to the massive number of spam blogs being created with blogspot.

We’ll send them a copy of our book and encourage them to leverage the awesome power of WordPress!

Nov 10, 2007 (Sat): At this fun, free event, an experienced wreath-maker will lead the workshop using grape vines from Silver Lake's Roza Hills vineyard. Get creative and impress yourself with a one-of-a-kind wreath or make a unique ...

Nov 17, 2007 (Sat): Bottle your own wine for the fun of it. Here's your chance to handcraft wine with a personalized label. You write the text for a one-of-a-kind gift or commemorate your own special occasion. Try before you buy--free samples available. You’ll get to bottle it, cork it, foil it and label it.

Nov 10, 2007 (Sat): At this fun, free event, an experienced wreath-maker will lead the workshop using grape vines from Silver Lake's Roza Hills vineyard. Get creative and impress yourself with a one-of-a-kind wreath or make a unique gift for someone special. Bring your own clippers if you'd like. Saturday, November 10 and Sunday November 11 from Noon to 4pm.

"When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them."

Woodinville is the kind of place that has a country feel to it, yet it’sa tall single, non-fat, no-whip, latte commute to business districts in Redmond and Bellevue, though it’s a venti double, non-fat, no-whip latte commute to downtown ...