Roosevelt winery pouring new releases starting Memorial Day weekend (update)

UPDATE for June 4-5 (via the Eight Bells Winery facebook page): “Bill the oysterman won’t be there but Frank [Michiels, one of the owner/operators] will be shucking…” and “There might be more mystery music appearances such as Chris and Colleen or Guitarman Geoff.”

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After a week of community meeting after community meeting, you deserve a break.

How about some wine, with a side of art? And perhaps an oyster or two?

Eight Bells Winery (6213-B Roosevelt Way NE) is pouring their new releases this weekend (May 28 and 29) and the next (June 4 and 5) from 11AM-5PM. They include (via mailing list email):

2010 Eight Bells Pinot Gris Oregon – grapes from the Methven Family Vineyard, Dayton, Oregon. A fruity dry wine perfect for summer drinking.

2009 Eight Bells Chardonnay Yakima Valley – grapes from the French Creek Vineyard, Prosser, Washington. This un-oaked, French-style Chardonnay has gained texture and length with a bit of bottle age.2009 Eight Bells Roosevelt Red Yakima Valley – a blend of Yakima Valley Merlot. Available only at the winery.

2009 Eight Bells Shellback Red Yakima Valley – a blend of select barrels from Yakima Valley fruit. Shellback has the structure of Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon (40%) balanced with with some softer Merlot (40%) and some richer Syrah (20%).

2009 Eight Bells Syrah Yakima Valley – a blend of Syrah (85%) from “Les Vignes de Marcoux” in Western Yakima Valley, and Grenache (15%) from Red Mountain in Eastern Yakima Valley.

2009 Eight Bells Syrah Red Willow Vineyard Yakima Valley – minimally oaked to emphasize the Syrah fruit with 5% Grenache from Red Willow Vineyard.

Prices per bottle range from $18 to $32.

A few works by Randi Starup on the walls at Eight Bells Winery (used with permission; photo links to more)

Works by local artist, Randi Starup, will be on display and available for purchase both weekends.

Bill the Oyster Man will be on hand to celebrate the new releases on the May dates only. (Aw shucks.)

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Previously, on Ravenna Blog: Eight Bells Winery donated their bottles and their time to last year’s first ever Picardo P-Patch dinner fundraiser.

Picardo P-Patch Fundraiser Dinner – Eatin’ in the Rain

It was the evening of Friday, September 17th.  The sky was grey, the clouds were ominous, and the rain was ABUNDANT.  I think I saw Noah himself at one point, wandering through the garden, muttering about lumber and cubits.  But the 40 or so diners (and dozen or so volunteers) who came to the first ever Picardo P-Patch Fundraiser Dinner that night had a great time, regardless of the evening’s weather.

[Click on any of the following photos to view a larger version.]

No jacket and tie necessary, but savvy diners arrived clad in functional beauties like THESE.

The original plan for the event was that the wine tasting portion would be held over by the Garden Goddess statue (yeah, THAT Garden Goddess statue), but of course the Weather God had other plans.

Instead, a canopy tent was set up in between the tool barn and the permanent shelter area. Appetizers (tapas) were in the tool barn, wines for tasting were under the canopy tent, and the “dining room” was the shelter area. Diners didn’t get wet unless they strayed out from under cover, or happened to be standing in the small gap between the shelter and the tent. It made for a very cozy and intimate, if still damp, arrangement.

Gosh, I wonder where exactly the table bouquet flowers came from. I have a good guess.

Music and tapas in the tool shed. Kind of made me wish there were guitars in here all the time, along with the shovels and rakes and the like.

Here we have 3/4 of the evening’s vintners: From left to right – Milton Tam (Picardo gardener and winemaker), and Andy Shepherd and Tim Bates, 2/3 of Roosevelt’s Eight Bells Winery.  All three graciously donated some of their respective wines to the event.

Andy and Tim were pouring their 2008 syrah and 2009 chardonnay. Milton was pouring AT LEAST 6 different wines of his own making (2009 pinot gris, 2007 viognier, 2004 cabernet franc, 2001 cabernet, 2006 syrah and 2007 cabernet sauvignon).  There were also a few other wines from another Picardo winemaker available for tasting, including a blackberry wine and a plum wine.

The fund raising possibilities didn’t stop at the dinner ticket price: Bottles of Spanish wines were available to go back to the table with your plate of paella.

Quality control: That’s what separates the professionals from the amateurs.

Happy customers raise their glasses.

Sangria in the making!

Here we see (l-r) Composting Toilet Committee member David Atcheson, Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods P-Patch Supervisor Rich Macdonald, and gardener/bon vivant Milton Tam enjoying the wine and weather canopy.

This was the salad.  How anyone could devour such a beautiful thing, I cannot say.  But there were no leftovers whatsoever.

This is Jim Kuhn, the Paella King and Picardo gardener, at work on the main course. He’s very fast.

King Jim with wife, Queen Claudia, building Paella the Second.

I was not yet at the garden to witness the beginning of the paella (nor would I want to divulge any of Jim’s paella secrets, if there are any), but I did take a series of pictures as the final ingredients were layered in.

Hey, where’s the rice?

[time passes]

Ahh, there’s the rice!

His Royal Highness, adding tomatoes.

The final product, in Technicolor.

Time to dine.

Dinner, served.

It was at this point that the photographer (moi) tried a few bites of the paella (delicious!) before she had to tromp back through the now BLACK p-patch and head home.  A dessert buffet provided by Picardo gardeners closed out the meal.

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From the Ravenna Blog post of September 14th that advertised this first ever fundraiser dinner for the Picardo P-Patch:

Why a fundraiser dinner for the garden?  Well, mostly because of this beauty:

interior, wide

Have a seat!

It’s the Picaloo, Seattle’s first composting toilet (read about its grand opening back on Saturday, April 3rd here). This fundraiser dinner is designed to help retire the last of the composting toilet debt, as well as provide funds for other Picardo projects (among them: new hose holders and more blueberry plants).

Picardo P-Patch’s First Fundraiser Dinner – You’re Invited

You’ve heard about it, you’ve walked through it, perhaps you’ve even gardened in it. But until now, you’ve never had the chance to DINE in it.

The Picardo P-Patch (NE 80th St and 25th Ave NE) is holding their first fundraiser dinner this Saturday, September 17. The meal starts at 6pm and ends at dusk.

The menu includes appetizers, wine tastings (supplied by a Picardo gardener and Roosevelt’s own Eight Bells Winery), followed by a grand Paella dinner (also provided by a Picardo gardener), and finished with a dessert buffet (ALSO provided by Picardo gardeners).

Why a fundraiser dinner for the garden? Well, mostly because of this beauty:

interior, wide

Have a seat!

It’s the Picaloo, Seattle’s first composting toilet (read about its grand opening back on Saturday, April 3rd here). This fundraiser dinner is designed to help retire the last of the composting toilet debt, as well as provide funds for other Picardo projects (among them: new hose holders and more blueberry plants).

Tickets for the dinner are $30/individual or $50/couple, and there aren’t many left.  Contact Sandra Schaffer (sandras [at] nwlink.com, or 524-1320) to reserve your tickets and/or get additional information.

If tickets for the event are sold out or cost more than you like to contribute, I’m sure Sandra could give you information about other ways to help the garden out.

Your Busy Weekend for August 28-29

You could clean your garage this weekend, like you’ve been meaning to do for MONTHS. But here are some other options for your weekend that you might enjoy a little more than that:

SATURDAY

  • Make an oven powered by the sun.
    • Solar Cooker class, University Heights Center, 5031 University Way NE; 10am-2pm; $10, register by calling 527-4278
  • Go to a winery open house in Roosevelt.
    • Eight Bells Winery open house, 6213B Roosevelt Way NE; 11am-5pm; please RVSP to rsvp [at] 8bellswindery.com
  • And/Or stay in Ravenna and taste wine.
  • Go play, eat, run, dance, paddle, bounce and more, all at the same place.

SUNDAY

  • Go to story time, no matter how old you are.
    • Adult Storytime, Ravenna Third Place Books, 6504 20th Ave. NE; bring a short work from your favorite author or poet to read aloud

BOTH

Anything else to add? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll edit the post!

Free Wine Tastings and a New Neighborhood Winery OPEN HOUSE

The Ravenna McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants (6500 Ravenna Ave NE) usually has free tastings on Saturdays, and this weekend is no exception.  From 11am-5pm they are sampling seven different varieties of 2008 Oregon Pinot Noirs. See the full selection here, at their weekly news page.

Now, a local free tasting of seven different Pinot Noirs is pretty great news. But the other wine event today promoted on the McC&S site is pretty darn fantastic, too.

There’s a WINERY opening in the Roosevelt/Ravenna neighborhood! And they have an open house today AND next Saturday, also from 11am-5pm.

Eight Bells Winery, in the heart of the audio/visual area of Roosevelt

Eight Bells Winery (6213B Roosevelt Way NE; 8bellswinery.com) is jointly owned and operated by three guys (Tim Bates, Andy Shepherd and Frank Michiels), one of whom (Tim) has been making wine on his own since 1980. Andy joined him in 1996, and Frank completed the trio in 2006 (came to watch, ended up fermenting 100 pounds of grapes in his own kitchen for the cause).  Read more about them on the Eight Bells Winery About Us page.

They do ask that you RSVP if you plan on attending either open house (rsvp [at] 8bellswinery.com).

Eight Bells will have samples of their Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Tempranillo (all 2009) for tasting and sales (read more about these wines here).

Also on display and for sale during the Eight Bells Winery open houses are paintings by Seattle artists Patty Ryan, Rita Marlowe, and Susan Hamilton. Read about these artists and see samples of their work on Eight Bells’ art page.

If those links aren’t enough, Eight Bells also has a facebook page, where you can see some pictures of the new winery’s interior.