It's a Beautiful Day in W2 - Check it out!

[KQ]

You know you wanna come visit


https://discoverwallawalla.net/webca...me6vS5TY4CSHzM

[smartyiak]

I thought it was flooding. And, maybe, cold...depending on your perspective. It's hard to keep up with the ever changing W2 weather.

[Flyoverland Captive]

I do like that town... some great road biking around there.

We may be passing through in August.

[hawkgt]

[Timberridge]

It looks kinda boring but the drivers seem polite. I didn't see any pedestrians get taken out crossing the street.

[smartyiak]

It looks kinda boring but the drivers seem polite. I didn't see any pedestrians get taken out crossing the street.

What about cyclists?

[old goat]

Just watched a car run a stop sign.

[fatnslow]

what's next, www.watchpaintdry.biz

[Timberridge]

Just watched a car run a stop sign.

Was it a Honda Pilot with Idaho plates?

[KQ]

I thought it was flooding. And, maybe, cold...depending on your perspective. It's hard to keep up with the ever changing W2 weather.

They just took down the flood warning but the river is still running high. Pendleton and Ummatilla are still flooding pretty bad. They have had a much worse time of it than we have.

Yesterday was cold and windy - just nasty but contrary to what the weatherman said it's nice today so I'm going with it. Supposed to be in the 70s by mid-week which is a good thing because there is much to do and we are a month behind. Been a very strange Spring.

I do like that town... some great road biking around there.

We may be passing through in August.

And I still owe you a growler of Dragon's Gate!

Have always loved that one and this:

see 2:29

It looks kinda boring but the drivers seem polite. I didn't see any pedestrians get taken out crossing the street.

What about cyclists?

Ugh... we have a bad record when it comes to killing cyclists. Seriously.

Just watched a car run a stop sign.

Oops. Confession: I've been known to do that on the county roads when I have a clear view of all directions an no one else is around. More a roll through than a hell-bent-for-leather run but def. not a stop.

[Ted Striker]

Was it a Honda Pilot with Idaho plates?

In his defense, that sign was a little confusing.

[G. Gordon Liddy]

I was there yesterday racing my bike. Fucking wind destroyed me. Hardest day on a bike in my life....

[KQ]

I was there yesterday racing my bike. Fucking wind destroyed me. Hardest day on a bike in my life....

Yeah... shitty day for the race. I felt really bad for the riders. Normally nice in April but this year has been the exception.

Other than that how was the race?

[KQ]

See how much fun it is here?






Come spend 4.20 with us @WallaWallaWeedery from 4-8pm. It's gonna be LIT!

#skoshsauce #munchies #weedery #pourk.20

[Timberridge]

In his defense, that sign was a little confusing.

[irul&ublo]

See how much fun it is here?






Come spend 4.20 with us @WallaWallaWeedery from 4-8pm. It's gonna be LIT!

#skoshsauce #munchies #weedery #pourk.20

pourk?

[KQ]

pourk?

I believe it is slang for fat or in this case phat and yes it's pork.

[G. Gordon Liddy]

Yeah... shitty day for the race. I felt really bad for the riders. Normally nice in April but this year has been the exception.

Other than that how was the race?

Race was awesome (minus the cold, rain and wind). Such a well run event and Walla Walla is so rad to put up with the spandex crowd for a weekend. Went to Cross Buck for beers and grub. Nice place, and their guest tap list was pretty on par too.

[KQ]

Race was awesome (minus the cold, rain and wind). Such a well run event and Walla Walla is so rad to put up with the spandex crowd for a weekend. Went to Cross Buck for beers and grub. Nice place, and their guest tap list was pretty on par too.

Great! Glad it wasn't a total slog. Crossbuck just opened last Fall. They do have a very good beer selection.

I posted about the tour in Sprocket Rockets - you should do a TR. I know there are others who have considered doing the race but haven't pulled the trigger. Are you planning on hitting up the rest of the circuit?

[KQ]

Mais oui!



Winery opening shows Walla Walla's mark on world wine map



In 130 years of operating in Spain’s wine industry, Bodegas Valdemar has been at the forefront of a lot of firsts.

Its first winery opened on a narrow track in Oyón in 1889. It planted the first Viura vines in Alto Cantabria. It made Spanish wine history as it released the first wine exclusively fermented and made in a barrel. It became the first European winery to control fermentation temperature.

Now its latest development is not only a first for the fifth-generation business, but also for Walla Walla.

This month Bodegas Valdemar opens Valdemar Estates, a winery and tasting room that marks the company’s first move to the U.S., and the opening of Walla Walla’s first non-American winery.

“The first time outside of the country — it’s a new equation for the next generation,” said Jesús Martínez Bujanda, the 30-year-old, fifth-generation executive director of his family’s Bodegas Valdemar.

The land and growing conditions here are as ripe for success as the national and international coverage has claimed in the last several decades, he said. But the sense of community is unlike anywhere else in the world.

“What I know for sure is that Walla Walla and Washington state are going to be successful,” he said. “The community that you find here makes a recipe for success.”

New venture

Construction was still taking place as Martínez Bujanda led a recent tour of the new, multilevel southside production space and tasting room. Designed by Seattle firm Boxwood, also known for Waters Winery and Reynvaan Family Vineyards among others, the building is at 3808 Rolling Hills Lane, a private road just west of Peppers Bridge Road.

The ground-floor entry takes guests down a concrete-wall corridor to an eye-popping foyer with a barrel room to the left, bottle storage to the right, a peek at production, and a grand staircase in front of them.

“We want people to see part of the winery on their way to the tasting room,” Martínez Bujanda said.

An elevator on the ground floor also serves those unable to navigate the stairs.

A 150-year-old basket press, in the family for five generations, will also be installed in the space, marrying tradition with the modern facility.

The facility is designed not just for tasting, but lingering and enjoying tapas and wine after work. Hours are expected to run until 6:30 p.m. or so. The upper level deck wraps around the building with a private lounge area with sofas and a reflecting pool to drown the traffic noise from the nearby highway stretching around into a main balcony area with a range of sofas, high tables and low tables. For special events, the furniture can be replaced by a long table to seat 30 or 40 people.

“The space is going to be very flexible,” Martínez Bujanda said.

Inside, the tasting room is separated from another private dining space.

The addition of food - albeit not a full menu due to zoning restrictions - is a welcome piece for neighboring wineries, too, wanting to keep guests in the neighborhood a bit longer.

The design and construction is unlike anything for which Bodegas Valdemar is known in Europe, where it produces about 150,000 cases a year and was built on the tradition that started with Joaquín Martínez Bujanda in Oyón. That’s a product of both the local landscape and the pioneering spirit of the next generation. And what that ultimately means is Valdemar Estates isn’t here to duplicate its European wines.

“You can’t come to the U.S. and the Walla Walla Valley and do everything you do in Rioja,” Martínez Bujanda said. “It won’t work.”

That goes for both the operation and the wine. While many may expect a Spanish wine lineup, he said, the European properties have that covered for the time being.

“We want to do wines that reflect the terroir here,” he said. “That doesn’t mean at some point we won’t have some Tempranillo.”

What it does bring is innovation, knowledge and the guiding principles that have carried it through more than a century and a quarter.

Choosing Walla Walla

The Northwest was not a hard sell for Martínez Bujanda when his family began looking for their latest expansion.

“We were first looking at another part of Spain,” he explained. “At some point, it was not exciting any more.

“I asked my family if they were open to looking outside of Spain, and they made the mistake of saying ‘yes,’” he quipped.

“We were searching many other places in the world, too.”

But once they landed in Walla Walla, they found the community they wanted.

“We came here and we didn’t go anywhere else in the U.S.,” Martínez Bujanda said. “We loved it.”

A bit of his heart had already been in Washington state.

Although Martínez Bujanda grew up playing hide-and-seek in the vineyards of Rioja, remembers sitting on the knees of the drivers hauling grapes to the scales and later tasting wines in a process that would be taboo for the age by American standards, his career path in business took him in another direction.

He attended the University of Navarra, eventually earning his International Degree in Management. But along the way, he participated in an exchange program at the University of Washington. He graduated in 2010 and became an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Four years later, he joined the family business as executive director, with his father, Jesús Martínez Bujanda Irribarría, as president, and his sister, Ana Martínez Bujanda, as marketing and public relations director.

A connection to Norm McKibben helped make the expansion here possible. McKibben sold Valdemar the property not far from Amavi Winery where he is a partner. Support from McKibben and other wine industry fixtures Michael Corliss and Kevin Pogue were critical to the project.

Joining the team in Walla Walla as head winemaker is Marie-Eve Gilla. Born and raised in France, she became Forgeron Cellars’ founding winemaker and managing partner in 2001. In 2013 she was inducted into the Seattle Chapter of the prestigious Les Dames d’Escoffier International. Last year she retired from Forgeron.

Her focus with Valdemar initially will reportedly be cabernet sauvignon and syrah, among others.

When Valdemar opens April 27, it will have its Spanish wines to pour, as well as 2017 vintage wines made with grapes sourced from Red Mountain, Klipsun, The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater and more.

Growing renown

For Walla Walla, the opening here is an indicator of the industry’s place on the world wine map, said Ashley Mahan, chief operating officer of the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance.

“When we think about success measurements for the Walla Walla Valley as a wine region, we want to see an increase in international awareness because quality wine is a globally sought-after product,” Mahan said. “We know we have the right ingredients for globally recognized wines based on our unique climate and geology and proven by the boom in tourism and high-scoring wines.”

Benchmarks for success in the industry, she said, have traditionally included wine scores of 90-plus points from major wine publications; influencer engagement; awareness and demand that can include increases in marketing metrics such as website visits, social media growth and engagement, and email list growth; and tourism metrics such as commercial air load factors, hotel/motel occupancy, Winery Guide counts, and tasting room traffic.

The investment in the property and construction, believed to be the first of its kind from a single family, is now another.

“Valdemar Estates will be a destination for tourists, and it’s important to point out that it is not just a large winery project from a Spanish family, but that they’re an entire family choosing to do something different from the four generations before them and choosing to call this Valley their home because of the people they met along the way,” Mahan said.

[plugboots]

Jesus what a pile of marketing bullshit

[KQ]

Jesus what a pile of marketing bullshit

Well sure but the finer point is, there is something new and interesting to come see and try

[plugboots]

Listen, I sold Norm and Francois their bottling line, know all about Walla Walla.
It ain’t Spain.

[MarcusBrody]

I got an email from the community college the other day asking if I'd be interested in applying for a job they have opening up next year. I'm not sure I will be simply for reasons of monetary self-interest, but if my wife would just go get a job making millions, I'd love to. It seems a cool place and I was really impressed by the work the community college is doing.

[KQ]

It ain’t Spain.

Correct

I got an email from the community college the other day asking if I'd be interested in applying for a job they have opening up next year. I'm not sure I will be simply for reasons of monetary self-interest, but if my wife would just go get a job making millions, I'd love to. It seems a cool place and I was really impressed by the work the community college is doing.

The CC just entered into an exchange program with a viticulture school across the pond. I want to say it's in France. There is a recent article about our in our local rag that ran the same day as the other article I posted and yes, I know... W2 ain't France.

Edit/add: yup France

Walla Walla Community College’s Enology and Viticulture program will soon have a French accent, of sorts.

The school has signed a five-year agreement with French university Bordeaux Sciences Agro, or National School of Agronomic Sciences, that’s intended to benefit students learning winemaking, growing and marketing in both countries.

The new partnership will facilitate exchanges of teachers and researchers between the two institutions, opportunities for students to study abroad, joint research programs and conferences.