Charles Koh
BELLEVUE, WA – Cypress Lounge & Wine Bar located inside the Westin Hotel in downtown Bellevue hosted their first winemakers dinner featuring the Masquerade Wine Company.
Fact: Cypress Lounge & Wine Bar carries Eastside’s largest collection of local wines.
Inside Kimmerly: Kimmerly’s scientific dabbling began long before he started making wine. He obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1988. He found himself Assistant Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Human Genome Center for a while, until he found his true passion: fermenting grapes.A favorite of Kimmerly’s wines is the “Effervescing Elephant” sparkling. This wine has won slews of awards, including a 2012 Gold Medal win from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition last month. Made méthode champenoise, with all three traditional Champagne grapes – pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay – this isn’t just one of the best sparkling wines available from the USA, but a fascinating story as well. The label depicts a beautiful painting by Boon Rod, an eleven-year-old male elephant from Thailand, who is a part of the Asian Elephant Art & Conservation Project, a non-profit group from New York, NY. AEACP raises money for elephant conservation in Southeast Asia by selling artwork painted by elephants. Ten percent of sales of this wine benefit AERACP.
Rounding off Washington Wine Month, we celebrated a memorable winemaker dinner with rising star Bill Kimmerly of Masquerade Wine Co. Kimmerly. We featured four wines, including a San Francisco Chronicle 2012 Gold Medal winning sparkling, paired with five indulgent courses from Westin Bellevue Executive Chef, Renatto Medranda.
Don’t get fooled with this restaurant being in a hotel, you can find some of eastside’s tastiest dishes along with the best selection of local wines in the area, offering over 50 Northwest premium wines all available by the glass. Enjoy live music every Friday night at 8:00 p.m. and an excellent happy hour at 5:00-7:00 p.m. daily.
Hot Iron Seared Diver Scallop with Tuscan Kale, Baby Turnips, & Truffle
2009 Red Mountain Barbera
2007 “Effervescing Elephant”Columbia Valley Sparkling Wine
Lemon Rosemary Sorbet & Dragon Fruit Slaw
Grilled Venison Loin with Pistachio Muffin & Pomegranate Jus
2007 Columbia Valley “Burgess Vineyard” Syrah
2011 Columbia Valley GewurztraminerDirections:Cypress Lounge and Wine Bar600 Bellevue Way Northeast, Bellevue, Washington 98004(425) 638-1000
One Comment
Leave a Reply