The cool wet spring might have slowed the ripening of Oregon blueberries this year, but the appeal of the tasty fruit is picking up steam locally and internationally.

The arrival of warm weather is heating up the harvest of what could be a record-setting crop this year, allowing the industry to keep up with growing demand. Fresh berries are still a hit in Japan, but have great potential in the fast-growing economy of India and possibly South Korea.

“Blueberries remain the popular superfood in Asia,” said Amanda Welker, international trade manager with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. “The health benefits are notorious and the flavor profile fits the Asian palate well. While blueberries have been popular in eastern Asia for quite some time, Indian consumers are just learning about the fruit and its health benefits.”

India is a very small niche market right now, Welker said in a news release, but has room for exponential growth as that county’s market matures.

“The benefit for Oregon is the timing of our season. We can offer a fresh fruit in the middle of India’s hot and muggy summers when there is a lack of local fresh fruits in the market place,” she said.

Fresh cultivated blueberry exports from the U.S. in 2009 reached 14,391 metric tons with a value of $64 million. Specific data for Oregon blueberries is not available, but export markets remain a key point of sale.

Oregon’s blueberry production is predominately in the Willamette Valley, with Marion and Washington counties both having plantings in excess of a thousand acres, said Bruce Pokarney, ODA spokesman.

“In fact, more than 4,300 of the 5,700 acres in blueberry production are in the Willamette Valley,” Pokarney said. “There is smaller production along the coast and Morrow County reports 400 acres in blueberries.”

Umatilla County also has at least two farms growing blueberries with the closest to Walla Walla being Lampson Farms on Day Road near Milton-Freewater. The second is Golden Valley East in Stanfield, Ore.

Per capita consumption of blueberries has increased in recent years not only in North America, but in Europe and Asia largely because of the health benefits blueberries offer for both young and old.

In the 1990s, a Tufts University study showed blueberries to have higher antioxidant activity than all other fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants neutralize the effects of free radicals, those unstable compound molecules that can attack human cells and damage DNA. Additional studies and reports in the last decade continue to reinforce the berry’s health value.

“Health benefits are the overriding reason for our market success,” says St. Paul grower Doug Krahmer, member of the Oregon Blueberry Commission and State Board of Agriculture. “But health benefits alone won’t sell fruit. Taste, convenience, and quality must be high for us to continue selling our fruit at a profitable price.”

Prices have strengthened this year, compared to 2009. The demand is high, but so should be the supply.

“Barring unforeseen circumstances, we should easily break the 50 million pound mark for production, which would be a new record for Oregon blueberries,” says Bryan Ostlund, administrator of the Oregon Blueberry Commission. “Fortunately, I think we have the markets to support that production.”

Find a farm

Oregon blueberry farm locator: www.oregonblueberry.com/index.html

Lampson Farms, Milton-Freewater: www.lampsonblueberries.com

Washington blueberry farm locator: www.superblues.net

Recipes
Blueberry Waldorf Salad

• 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen blueberries, divided
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups (about 4 ounces) baby spinach
• 1 tart apple (e.g. Granny Smith), cored and thinly sliced
• 2 ribs celery, cut into 1-1/2-inch matchsticks (about 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup pecan or walnut halves, toasted

To prepare dressing: In a blender container, combine1/2 cup of the blueberries, oil, marmalade, lemon juice, mustard and salt; blend until a smooth, thick dressing forms. In a bowl, toss spinach with apple slices, celery, pecans and remaining 1/2 cup blueberries. Arrange equally on four serving plates. Just before serving, blend dressing again until smooth; drizzle over the salads. Serve immediately.

4 servings

Blueberry Cheesecake for Calorie Counters

• 3 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs
• 2 containers (6 ounces each) low-fat vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
• 4 ounces fat-reduced cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• Blueberry Sauce, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350¬?F. Spray bottom and side of a 9-inch pie plate with vegetable cooking spray; sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs, and tilt to coat evenly. Place a coffee filter or two layers of paper towels in a strainer; stir 1 container of the yogurt and spoon it into the filter; set aside to drain, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a food processor, blend the remaining container of yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese and cornstarch until smooth. Add the eggs and pulse until combined. Carefully pour into the crumb-coated pie plate; smooth top. Bake until set in the center, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the Blueberry Sauce. When pie is set, spread the drained yogurt over the top; bake 5 minutes longer. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Chill until cold. Serve with Blueberry Sauce

Blueberry Sauce:

• 2 cups blueberries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water

In a medium-size saucepan, over medium heat, stir blueberries with sugar (or granulated non-nutritive sweetner), lemon juice and water until berries are soft, about 5 minutes; chill.

8 portions

Per Portion: Including 1-1/2 tablespoons blueberry sauce: 152 calories; 19 g carbohydrate; 4.5 g total fat (2.6 g saturated fat); 1 g fiber

If you have ever read any articles about wine, you may have come across the word, “terroir.” Terroir is a French word that loosely translates into “a sense of place.”

The word acknowledges agriculture sites in the same region that share similar soil, weather and even farming techniques that contribute to the qualities of the crops.

Chef Bear Ullman has created his “sense of place” that is unique to the historical corner of Second Avenue and Rose Street in downtown Walla Walla. The Chef’s Table at the Marcus Whitman Hotel is where Chef Bear can be found sharing his very special terroir with others. It is a culinary adventure as Chef Bear’s guests make a connection to the terroir and terrain of the Walla Walla Valley through his “Sense of Place” dining event.

This epicurean experience offers an opportunity to learn about the innovative local partnerships that bring the best of the Valley right to the table. It was an experience I knew I had to indulge in and also share with friends. Jaime Chalk, wine club manager from L’Ecole Nº 41, joined our intimate gathering and

Chef Bear Ullman

added to the evening’s combination of great people, food and wine.

Our “Sense of Place” package included lunch with Chef Bear at the Chef’s Table, Q&A session with our chef, cooking demonstration, tips on wineries to visit during our free time before dinner and the seven-course, wine-paired dinner.

In this package, special hotel room discounts are available, so one can dine well and be safely guided by the elevator to a well-appointed room.

We started our experience with lunch and were presented with a plate full of spring colors, from the perfectly grilled, moist salmon to its bed of fresh- picked local asparagus, spinach and bite-sized, roasted fingerling potatoes. We watched Chef Bear prepare, at our table, a sauce verte to be enjoyed with the salmon. It was an herb-infused sauce made with aioli, crème fraiche, whipped cream, a green “juice” of macerated herbs, freshly squeezed lemon juice and fresh ground pepper from a pepper mill that Chef Bear had handcrafted from dark hardwood. This fragrant mixture was then hand-whipped into a light and airy emulsion, and once on our plates, it was sprinkled with purple chive flowers. I couldn’t think of a better wine with which to pair our lunch than what was already in our glasses, L’Ecole Nº 41 Fries Vineyard Semillon.

After lunch, we did what any tourist would do: checked into our rooms, jumped up and down on the beds (No, not really. Just checking to see if you were paying attention), opened drawers and cabinets and tried on the monogrammed robes. Eventually, we settled in, went downtown to shop, took many photos and then a nap so we could be vibrant for what was yet to come. Later, we met at the hotel’s Vineyard Lounge for cocktails.

Once again, we were swooped away to the Chef’s Table, which faces a stainless steel inner sanctum — a well-oiled machine of skills meeting flavors. It is a view of the “behind the scenes” where a guest of the hotel can actually see how their food is prepared. Chef Bear gave us a tour of his microgreen garden in the kitchen. Those intense and compact flavors of freshness would later be incorporated into our dining experience.

We were seated at our table and given our menu, which was met with “oohs” and “ahhs.” Some of Chef Bear’s food and wine pairings seemed bold and not traditional, but with the first bite and the first sip, we knew these pairings were well- thought-out — perfection.

You quickly realize some of the foods, such as California Meyer lemons and Spanish Marcona almonds, do not grow in the Walla Walla Valley, and Maine lobster is not plucked from Mill Creek. These items may not be part of our local terroir, but Chef Bear had a vision for these exotic foods, and he artfully combined these non-native foods with our local food and wine and made them part of his own terroir.

We left the Chef’s Table and journeyed to our rooms. Our evening left us feeling giddy, satisfied and overwhelmed. We didn’t have to go around the world or even to the nearest metropolis — an epicurean adventure was just around the corner.

On the Menu

I’m a big fan of Thai food. While living in Seattle, I found a certain comfort in always being just a few steps away from the sweet, savory and fresh flavors found in the city’s countless Thai restaurants. Now that I’m a full-time Walla Walla resident, you can probably guess how I feel to have, once again, a choice of Thai cafés in my own backyard. Who says you can’t have it all?

Behind the walls of its unassuming brick facade, Thai Ploy restaurant consistently serves a variety of traditional Thai dishes in a large, colorful dining room adorned with rich wood paneling and traditional Thai artwork. From exotic soups, salads and noodle dishes to spicy curry and seafood entrees, Thai Ploy’s menu conveniently bridges the nearly 8,000-mile divide between Walla Walla and Bangkok.

Song Suriyo and Ploy Noisri

Owned by Ploy Noisri, with manager Song Suriyo busily overseeing the front, back and sides of the house, Thai Ploy is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. Take-out orders and medium- sized caterings are gladly accepted by phone.

Between afternoon and evening rushes, Suriyo sat down with me to talk Thai food, foreign spices and good old lady luck.

LIFESTYLES: Are you originally from Thailand?

SURIYO: Yes, I’m from Bangkok. I lived there for a really long time. Actually, almost everyone who works here is from Thailand.

LIFESTYLES: Do you get back to Bangkok very often?

SURIYO: Yes. We still have a house there, and I go back to visit family and friends about once a year. Some of our family comes to visit us here too, which is nice.

LIFESTYLES: Is Thai Ploy’s menu pretty traditional, or is this the “American version” of Thai food?

SURIYO: No, it’s very traditional, but we do have to adjust the spice a little bit (grinning).

LIFESTYLES: What do you mean?

SURIYO: We have to make things a little less spicy than we would in Thailand. Back home, they want to make you sweat, but here we received feedback from customers that some dishes were too hot, so we adjusted the recipes. We try to make each dish as spicy (or not spicy) as they want it.

LIFESTYLES: It’s on the star system, right? With one star being the mildest and five stars being extra hot?

SURIYO: We actually do one to four stars … but if you want five stars, we can definitely do that, too.

LIFESTYLES: What about seven? Can I get seven stars?

SURIYO: (Laughing) If you want seven stars, we’ll probably just give you the extra spice to add in yourself. We don’t want you throwing food away because it’s too hot to eat.

Red curry with chicken

LIFESTYLES: Good thinking. So what’s behind all that heat?

SURIYO: Here, I’ll show you (retrieves a large tray of spices and herbs from the kitchen). We use chili powder, fish sauce with fresh chili peppers and several types of curry pastes.

LIFESTYLES: Looks like you use a lot of herbs too.

SURIYO: Right. We use fresh cilantro, sweet basil, tamarind, ginger, galangal …

LIFESTYLES: What is galangal?

SURIYO: It’s a larger ginger root, and it’s a little sweeter and spicier than regular ginger. It’s a main ingredient for most Thai dishes.

LIFESTYLES: What’s your most popular dish?

SURIYO: Almost every table orders the Restaurant Pad Thai and some type of curry.

LIFESTYLES: What’s your favorite dish on the menu?

SURIYO: I like a lot of spice. The basil beef is probably my favorite.

LIFESTYLES: Best dessert on the menu?

SURIYO: (Pauses to consider) I like the sticky rice with mango. It’s a very traditional Thai dessert and the mango is really sweet.

LIFESTYLES: What kinds of foods do you enjoy when you’re not at the restaurant?

SURIYO: Well, I eat Thai food almost every day. But I do eat a lot of American food, too. I’m here so much that sometimes I just want something different, you know?

LIFESTYLES: Like a hamburger and fries?

SURIYO: (Laughs) Yeah. Sometimes.

LIFESTYLES: Before I go, I have to ask about that shrine with the three little statues … (Smiles) Well, those are lucky ladies from different parts of Thailand. We give them offerings of rice, fruit and grape juice.

LIFESTYLES: Have they brought you any luck?

SURIYO: Oh, yes. A lot of luck … A lot.

The 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference has wrapped up and now we take a moment to sift through the various Tweets and blog posts to bring you a post-conference collection of thoughts and impressions of our lovely little town.

The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin had this post-conference story:

Michael Davidson, Tourism Walla Walla executive director, said today he was very impressed with organizational work done by the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance.

Overall the event “was just phenomenal and it was just a great showcase opportunity for us,” Davidson said. “I think it was a great opportunity for Walla Walla and a great opportunity for Washington state.”

The Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman, Catie, of Through The Walla Walla Grapevine:

Most of all, I am overwhelmed with spirit and friendship. It is the energy from the collaborative spirit and these friendships that I realize that I would not be where I am with my wine blogging, if it weren’t for these valuable friendships. I have never been involved with a group of people before who could come together so quickly in the last three years through online social media tools and embrace each other face-to-face as if we had been long-time friends forever.

Nicky Vallee of the Vino Chick blog:

One of the most fulfilling aspects of my trip was meeting so many of my fellow wine lovers and bloggers. I received tremendous feedback about my site, and was surprised and honored to learn that some of these oenophiles had already heard about Vino Chick! The power of social media should NOT be underestimated.

William Pallard of Wild 4 Washington Wine at the Marcus Whitman Hotel & Conference Center during the three-day wine and bloggers conference.

Josh Wade of Drink Nectar left the conference with some ideas of how to improve his blog:

5 Actions Items from WBC10

• SEO – Search Engine Optimization: I know it’s important but it’s an area that I need further help with. If you know of good tools, classes, sites, please share.
• Improve the quality of my video: Starting with video 100 I’ll be moving to HD, investing in better editing software, paying attention to audio quality and planning shots / scripts in a more thoughtful way.
• Improve the quality of my writing: I like to write. I feel I write good engaging pieces. I understand my voice, but I don’t pay enough attention to the mechanics of the writing. I need to start waiting to post and reading out loud. Just because this post is done now, I’m not going to post it until later.
• Reorganize content: I’ve written 200 pieces that include sexual wine 101 courses, social media tips, wine business opinions and wine reviews. Now that I have established a more clear direction I need to better organize the content so it makes sense to the reader and is easy to find.
• Improve wine reviews: Some say wine reviews are dry and boring and don’t get read. Many disagree with the practice of scoring wines. I disagree. Scores help educate consumers and make better informed decisions. It’s my blog, so I’ll do what I want. I’m going to modify my scoring format a hair and create a more reproducible graphic / summary that more succinctly wraps up the review.

The folks over at Wine Press Northwest share this gallery of photos form the conference:

http://www.winepressnw.com/2010/06/27/5092/gallery-2010-wine-bloggers-conference.html

Joe Power of Another Wine Blog:

It has been a lot of fun, but I think my liver will find a way to rip itself out of my body and check into a detox center any moment now if I don’t give it a break. Damn, they make some

fine wine up here in Washington!

We had the opportunity to meet so many amazing, dedicated, and talented wine makers, who not only shared their wine with us, but also vast amounts of knowledge.

Tamara Belgard of Sip With Me! came away with Top 10 Things I Learned at Wine Camp :

8. Remember to use all of your sensory experiences when tasting wine. See it, smell it, feel it, taste it. (Meg Houston Maker, MakersTable) Shhhh, be vewy, vewey quiet… Can you hear the wine?

9. Walla Walla can mean water water in the native american lanaguage, but more traditionally it’s defined as “Many Rivers.”

10. What happens at Wine Camp, stays at Wine Camp.

Ricardo Villarreal (@skovi) of Travel + Wine:

We’re leaving Walla Walla and already missing this beautiful, charming town full of friendly people (and excellent wines). #WBC10

@KVintners

Thanks #wbc10 for kickin it in W2 all weekend. We loved having you here! Rock on…

@Catie

I was really impressed with those from East who attended #WBC10 Thank you for being there!

This is only a small sampling of what has been written about #WBC10. It’s only the day after and I’m sure many of the attendees need a few days to digest all they saw, heard and tasted. And few days to let the body recover from all that great Walla Walla wine.

If you were there, what was your experience? Post photos and links.

As a few hundred wine bloggers descend on Walla Walla, you can keep track of what’s going on from the comfort of your home or work or wherever you are.

We’re tracking the Twitter conversations using #WBC10 hashtag. Even if you don’t have a Twitter account you can visit this page frequently to see what happens when you mix 300 or so wine bloggers with small town Walla Walla.

The centuries old adage, “A flask of wine, a book of verse and thou …,” had to be rewritten to something more like a taste of wine, a wooly bugger and us and the kids, as Waterbrook Winery hosted its second annual Fly Fishing Fair on Saturday.

Last year the event brought in about 100 people, and by noon on Saturday it looked like there would be more than 100 adults and children this year.

“It’s a winery, it’s not about kids,” Waterbrook tasting room manager Ron Williams said, making it clear that the winery’s primary goal is to cater to adults.

But sometimes adults have kids in tow. And when that is the case, it helps if the winery has a nice pond with a walking path, a bocce court, a large patio with fireplace and a wide-screen TV where they will gladly put on Sponge Bob. It’s what Williams likes to describe as a “family friendly” winery.

“The goal is to keep the children entertained while the adults taste wine,” he added.

Not only were kids entertained, but they got to learn about fly fishing, as members of the Walla² Fly Fishers club answered questions, taught fly tying techniques and held casting lessons. Though there were more adults taking casting lessons than kids.

“If you look around there are a lot of kids here … The folks at Waterbrook have done a really good job of being kid friendly,” Walla² Fly Fishers President Scott Peters said.

Travis Urlacher, 13, was glad to see his mom, Brenda, enjoying herself.

“I did a lot of fly fishing and learned how to tie a lot of flies, how to spin deer hair and elk hair … to have kids being able to do something they like to do, it’s a win, win situation,” Travis Urlacher said.

Brenda Urlacher agreed. “This is nice. It is something I like to do and it’s something they like to do. It’s nice.”

The event also include a dutch-oven cooking demonstration with various dishes, some made with copious amounts of Waterbrook wines, as well as a peach cobbler desert for the kids. But it was the fishing that seemed to hook the interests of many young and old.

“We were on our way to check out Walla Walla (wineries) and my husband said ‘They are fishing over there,’” said JoLynda Chronister of Bellingham, Wash. So the small party pulled in to enjoy the unexpected pairing of reds, rods and reels.

The aptly named Wines of Substance received a fine accolade this winter when Wine Business Monthly named it one of the year’s top 10 “Hot Small Brands.” Substance is a Walla Walla wine project, laudable on many levels, conceived by Jason Huntley and Jamie Brown (Waters Winery), and Greg Harrington (Gramercy Cellars).

The packaging is simple, clever, eye-catching and superbly executed. Substance wines take their graphic look from the periodic table of elements, transmuting individual grape varietals into chemical symbols, just as the wine in the bottle stands for the signature of each particular grape.

The lineup strays far afield from the usual suspects. You will find riesling and chardonnay, but also viognier and pinot gris. Cabernet sauvignon and merlot are included, but so are cabernet franc, syrah, malbec and even counoise. The website (www.winesofsubstance.com) lays out the products in a “Periodic Table of Wines” that includes helpful background information on all these grapes and many more. (Two quibbles: The constant floating of the symbols gets annoying, and roussanne is misspelled.)

As Harrington explained when the wines were introduced a couple years ago, “the inspiration for Substance wines is to educate, as well as please, the palates of budding oenophiles, and to appeal to consumers beyond the bounds of Washington.” There is a practical purpose as well, notes Brown. “The goal is to make wines that are distinctly Washington state and varietally correct. These wines are handcrafted and quality-driven at a price point that is affordable for aspiring wine aficionados.”

Affordability is a dominant force behind almost all winemaking and wine retailing these days, and Substance wines now have a fair amount of competition, even locally, in their just-under-$20 price range. Saviah’s The Jack, Tamarack’s Firehouse Red, Dunham’s Three Legged Red, Kestrel’s Lady in Red and Platinum White and a host of other Washington wineries are putting out very good wines at competitive prices.

But Substance remains unique. Apart from offering single varietals, Substance wines reflect their exceptional vineyard sources and the specific tastes and styles of the winemakers. The focus is on more European flavors, avoiding excessively ripe grapes, and allowing for natural flavors of herb, forest and stone to take the forefront rather than the perhaps more seductive flavors of new oak barrels.

The current releases (priced $15 to $20):

Substance 2008 Cf Cabernet Franc

Made in the somewhat austere style of a Loire Valley Chinon, “rare in the New World,” the winemakers confess on the Web site, “as any hint of green, or herbs, in cab-based wines makes most winemakers apoplectic.” Those flavors are entirely appropriate here and do not translate to anything harsh, bitter or unpleasant. What is more surprising is the soft plum and cherry fruit that round out the mid-palate.

Substance 2008 Mb Malbec

Stone Tree (Wahluke Slope) vineyard provided much of the fruit, and there is a small (10 percent) amount of new oak in the mix. This captures the steely core of cassis, matches it to sharp, defining acids, and hones the accents of herb and cinnamon spice to a perfect pitch.

Substance 2008 Me Merlot

This shows the ample muscle of Washington merlot, with vineyard sources ranging from Canoe Ridge to Sagemoor to Seven Hills and beyond. Juicy, tangy, forward yet deep. This is not your ordinary merlot; it’s got flavors of cured meat, almond pastry and black tea sifting through, ephemeral but fascinating. At the heart is good black-cherry fruit.

Substance 2008 Sy Syrah

This is a fine introduction to Washington syrah, as it shows not only the fruit (raspberry and boysenberry) but also the fragrances (earth, herb) and the nuances (rock, compost) that make these wines so complex and interesting.

Paul Gregutt is the author of “Washington Wines & Wineries.” Find him at www.paulgregutt.com or write to paulgwine@me.com.

Viticulturist and winemaker Chris Figgins stands at the edge of a panoramic overlook taking in the neatly planted rows of his newest vineyard like a painter scrutinizing his masterpiece.

“I see a piece of ground as an artist sees a blank canvas,” he explains. “To me that land is telling me how it’s going to get planted.”

For six years Figgins, the CEO and director of winemaking for his family’s Leonetti Cellar, has painstakingly worked this northeastern Walla Walla County land in preparation for a new food and winemaking venture that showcases his passion for sustainability and quality.

The launch of his single-vineyard estate wine, FIGGINS, and a grass-fed cattle operation, Lostine Cattle Co., mark an expansion for the owners of Leonetti, one of Washington’s oldest wineries established in 1977 by Figgins’ parents, Gary and Nancy Figgins, and heralded for setting the gold standard for Walla Walla wine country.

Photo by Matthew B. Zimmerman

Leonetti and the two newest additions to the operation will be managed by Figgins under a single umbrella company announced Friday and called Figgins Family Wine Estates.

“My dad has always had a saying: ‘Push those ahead of you, pull those behind you,’” Figgins said as he meandered through the rows of vines.

The wisdom has helped spur his son to follow in the footsteps of a wine industry pioneer. It has resulted not only in a transformation for Leonetti to 100 percent estate-grown wines in recent years, but now to a company capable of providing a “whole table” experience with the beef. It’s also helped inspire a habit of looking ahead, which is how in 2004 Figgins began laying the groundwork near Leonetti’s Mill Creek Upland Vineyard for the new brand.

“I started from scratch with this,” he said. “I put two years just into the soil work.”

The first vintage of FIGGINS will be available for direct sale online in fall 2011. The wine will be a red blend of the cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot and merlot planted on 32 of the 60 acres at the site. Production that first year is about 900 cases before building up to 3,000 – half the annual production of Leonetti. A winemaking facility has not yet been constructed at the site. A tasting room is not in the works.

Figgins, who cut his teeth in farming picking strawberries at Klickers, cherries in Milton-Freewater, driving a wheat truck and packing onions before he planted his first vineyard as a high school student, is eager to distinguish his new ventures from anything he’s done in the past.

Most visibly, the FIGGINS Estate vineyard is home to eight Scottish Highland cows. The cattle are part of a “lucky” selection from the more than 200 at the Lostine Cattle Co. in Wallowa County and will live at the estate to “mow the lawn,” Figgins quipped.

Beef will be available for sale this fall direct from the Internet at Lostinecattlecompany.com. Though the beef operation is new – and fulfills a lifelong interest for Figgins – the approach to that side of the business parallels the estate-grown wine model, Figgins said.

“You’re harvesting the sun using soil as a medium for a quality product, with biological diversity and no harm,” he said. “The big difference is that a grapevine doesn’t move.”

The sensibilities he’s learned at Leonetti are also helping with his FIGGINS Estate.

“Everything my dad has built has been with generational thinking,” Figgins said. He emulated that at the FIGGINS Estate with sustainability and heritage in mind. A well house on the property was built from an old root cellar in Milton-Freewater. More than century-old limestone was brought in from Kansas to serve as end posts to trellis the vines.

Figgins even removed rows of grapes in the vineyard to plant wild roses, lavender and lupine to attract beneficial insects.

“Those are our friends,” he explained. “It’s a lot of wine down the drain, but in 40 years it will be good for the vineyard.”

When his two daughters are older, he hopes he will have created an operation that will inspire them to join in the family business, too. For him it’s become a work of art – right down to creating the curves in the road that lead that scenic overlook.

“Who knows?” he wondered. “Maybe I’ll plant a vineyard that trumps it someday.”

Cupcakes and beer made their debut among the fine foods and wines at this year’s Feast Walla Walla.

But unknown to many local oenophiles, beer has already debuted in many local wineries, sometimes through the back door, said brew master Court Ruppenthal.

As the owner of Laht Neppur Brewing Co. in Waitsburg, Ruppenthal said he does a number of regular deliveries to Walla Walla wineries, which usually buy his 21/2-gallon “pigs” for their own personal consumption.

“It’s kind of a route. When someone is getting one (a pig), I will call and see if other guys need one,” and usually they do, he added.

Apparently Feast Walla Walla needed a couple pigs as well, and Ruppenthal noted coordinators approached him about selling his beer at this year’s event. But instead of pigs, he brought two dozen 64-ounce growlers of his peach hefeweizen or his India pale ale.

Photo by Matthew B. Zimmerman

“We actually have wanted to have beer here because we have so many good micro breweries in the area,” event coordinator Jennifer Northam said, adding that Feast Walla Walla is a reflection of the best food and drink the Valley has to offer, including beer.

It turns out other wineries at Feast Walla Walla are also tapping into local beer products.

Recently, Sapolil Cellars in Downtown Walla Walla started selling beer to its customers, including Ruppenthal’s beers.

And while Ruppenthal was being interviewed, the owner of Walla Walla Village Winery came over and had his wine goblet filled with the peach hefeweizen.

“We get a pig every once in a while from him,” Walla Walla Village Winery Owner Irish Clark said.

If all goes as planned, they’ll be getting and selling a lot more than a few pigs.

Clark explained he is currently obtaining the permits to allow beer sales at his winery, and added it is obvious to him a good number of his customers prefer beer.

“Some of the guys want a beer. They have been tasting wine all day long … The look on their faces. A lot of the guys are beer drinkers and they want to sit and watch a game and drink a beer,” Clark said.

“It’s one more niche, one more thing to bring in people,” he added.

As for the culinary delicacies most appreciated by kids – cupcakes – the Walla Walla Bread Company is now offering a gourmet line of them, alongside the scones, muffins and pecan rolls.

At Feast Walla Walla on Saturday, cupcake baker Marisa Wachter brought 200 cupcakes in two flavors: dark chocolate and red wine ganache, and maple cream cheese and bacon.

Photo by Matthew B. Zimmerman

“I just started at home playing around with these things,” Wachter said, adding that the official name of her cupcake line is daVine Delights.

Bread Company co-owner Rachel Kline noted cupcakes are the craze in big cities, where they are ornately decorated and come in more adult-oriented flavors like piña colada.

“Cupcakes are now the in thing. They even have cupcake carts in New York,” Kline added.

For a couple of weeks, Wachter has been working the evening shift at the Walla Walla Bread Company to bake a couple of dozen each night.

And whenever possible, she tries to keep them seasonal.

“On St. Patrick’s Day we had Guinness cupcakes with Baileys Irish Cream frosting. That was really good,” she added.

The most ambitious idea for a tasting room yet brews inside the dust-riddled warehouse of a building at 207 E. Main St.

Inside the 23,000-square-foot space, once home to the Blue Mountain Humane Society Thrift Store, businessman Craig Keister envisions rows of satellite wine-tasting rooms interspersed roughly every third space with non-wine entities — a chocolatier, a cheese maker, a coffee roaster, a brewer, a deli, you name it.

He sees a first-class restaurant on the second floor — after, of course, refinishing the floors, sandblasting the brick, replacing the glass blocks with windows looking over Main Street and building a kitchen.

On the main floor, integrated with the tasting rooms and other businesses, he sees a haven for art-lovers. He wants to move the staircase from the middle of the entryway to the eastern side of the building. He wants to create a lobby, anchored by a sculpture, maybe with a water feature. Art would be displayed on the walls of the individual tasting rooms and the walls that separate them.

He wants to refurbish the back end of the building, once an automotive dealership in the early 1900s, so the view from Rose Street is as pleasant as it is on Main. In an even larger vision, he’d love to partner with the railroad so the tracks that run along the edge of the property could be beautified and incorporated as part of the attraction.

Walking distance from a cluster of hotels and inns, the site he calls “The Village” would be one-stop shopping for local residents and visitors, bringing wineries and the businesses that compliment them under one roof.

Monthly rent for wineries is $700, plus one bottle of wine for promotional tastings. Utilities are paid. Keister, owner of neighboring antique shop Mandrakes, believes the affordable rent could attract newcomers who don’t have the money to open their own tasting room, as well as established wineries looking to branch out.

But will they come?

In the 10 years that Walla Walla’s wine industry has exploded, similar plans have been proposed on a smaller scale without getting off the ground. One was the proposed Garden City Plaza on Alder Street, equipped for about a dozen wineries that would share tasting space.

Elio Agostini, executive director of the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation, said The Village would be a welcome addition to Main Street.

“There’s no question the wine industry has helped retail and tourism. It would be wonderful to get it out of the dream stage and into reality,” Agostini said.

“For uptown Main Street if that was there it would be a huge plus for us. Can it work? I don’t know. But is it a positive? Absolutely.”

He acknowledges one roadblock could be that winery owners work hard to create an individualized identity that could become more homogenized in a village atmosphere. Some may fear consumers would bypass the wineries they’ve established in rural pockets, old airplane hangars, refurbished barns and destination structures.

But Keister, a former professional baseball player and retired police officer, has seen it done before. He also sees it as a way to offer a centralized location for folks who might not otherwise visit the other tasting rooms.

Keister approached Kurt Fisher of Seattle-based Gibraltar Investment Property Solutions, which owns the building, after he was inspired by a similar concept he saw in the Napa Valley.

Yountville‘s “V Marketplace,” once called “Vintage 1870,” features upscale specialty shops, galleries, restaurants, a wine-tasting cellar and a hot air balloon company under the roof of the historic, 139-year-old Groezinger Winery complex, according to a description on the operation’s Web site.

Keister believes a similar approach could work in the Walla Walla Valley. The under-one-roof concept has been a success for local food and wine-tasting events, such as Feast Walla Walla and the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance‘s Vintage Walla Walla.

He said having tens of wineries together could help bring more attention to individual wineries.

“One of the things that’s been a problem for every small business since the beginning of time is how do I get people through my door,” Keister said.

The cooperative-style operation would be a destination in and of itself, he believes. Under his management, The Village would offer initial yearlong leases. The operation would provide glass busing, washing and supplying to the winery tenants, as well as secure storage for wine. A wine compliance specialist would also staff the operation. A shipping room would be supplied, as would a shared office space for faxing, Internet and general business needs.

Keister has reached out to potential tenants through e-mails and telephone calls. Several have shown enthusiastic interest, he said. But many ask the same question: “Who else is coming?”

The biggest challenge Keister sees to the project is timidity, which he had hoped would subside in time for a May opening. He knows the target date is ambitious, especially at such an early point in the project. But he is determined to help convert the property into a destination that will turn the Main Street spot into a new hub for some of the community’s hottest commodities.

“It’s a great project. It’s a local project, and it’s going to get done,” Keister said.

“This is one of those times when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”

Feast Walla Walla is taking place in downtown Walla Walla next week on Saturday, April 10. It is organized by the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation and features some of the best wine and food in our lovely valley. You can also expect art and music as you roam around the tent with your complimentary wine glass and and small tray full of  food samples. And when we say food, we also mean delicious desserts. And when we say wine, we also mean delicious beer.

They are expecting 34 wineries and over 15 restaurants this year. The cost is $45 per person which gets you 10 tokens that can be used to sample Walla Walla Valley wine or sample food prepared by some of the best chefs in town. Wine and Dine Walla Walla will be covering the event so stop by our table to say hello.

We’ll be walking around the tent with a camera and interviewing local winemakers, chefs and random people enjoying the festivities. If you can’t attend, we’ll be shooting short video profiles with all the participating wineries and restaurants. We’ll try to post those throughout the day. We will also be setting up an event page on our site where you’ll be able to follow the festivities via Twitter (if you’ll be Tweeting, make sure you use #feastwallawalla) and see photos and videos posted live from Feast Walla Walla.

Ticket giveaway

We’ll be giving away 2 tickets. All you need to do to qualify is create your Wine and Dine profile. You’ll see a few links under “Join the Wine and Dine community” on the right. You can join with your Facebook profile by clicking on the Facebook Connect link or click “Register.” You can also create a profile using your Google, Yahoo, and WindowsLive accounts. Or you can create one from scratch.

We’ll randomly pick two winners from all the profiles. To be eligible, we are asking that you complete your profile a much as possible and that at the very least you have an avatar or picture for your profile. Simple enough. We’ll be picking the winners on Monday, April 5 at 12 p.m.

We’ll be offering other prizes and discounts to our community members throughout the year. And of course, it is absolutely free.

*Employees of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Wine and Dine Walla Walla and the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation are not eligible.