The Seattle Wine and Food Experience hosted by Jamie Peha of TableTalk Northwest just wrapped its seventh year of the event at Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. Thousands of hungry Seattleites gathered last Sunday to experience innumerable amounts of wine, specialty spirits, bites from Seattle’s preeminent restaurants and let’s not forget about the beer.
The “tasting” event started at 12PM for VIP’ers (1PM for GA), an hour that is highly encouraged if you want to avoid rubbing elbows, plus the oysters from Chelsea Farms and lamb shank tortellini’s from Restaurant Zoe itself is worth the upgrade. We spent several hours walking up and down the aisles eating, drinking and stretching all at once.
This year, Seattle Wine and Food Experience (SWFE) announce the results of its second annual Wine Awards. More than 65 wineries submitted 190 wines for the awards in a variety of styles from red and white to sparkling and dessert. The wines were tasted and awarded medals by Great Northwest Wine’s tasting panel, led by longtime Northwest wine journalists Andy Perdue and Eric Degerman. The panel judged the wines under blind conditions, not knowing the producers, region of origin or prices. Wineswere awarded gold, silver and bronze medal and 10 were given top honors:
Best in Show: Michael David Winery 2012 Cabernet Franc, Lodi Best Red: Michael David Winery 2012 Cabernet Franc, Lodi Best White: Franciscan Estate 2013 Equilibrium, Napa Valley Best Sparkling: Gloria Ferrer NV Sonoma Brut, Sonoma County Best of Class: 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards 2012 Reserve Merlot, Snake River Valley Best of Class: Alexandria Nicole Cellars 2013 Destiny Ridge Vineyard Jet Black Syrah, Horse Heaven Hills Best of Class: Darighe 2010 Proprietor’s Blend, Columbia Valley Best of Class: Dussek Family Cellars 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley Best of Class: Michael David Winery 2013 Chardonnay, Lodi Best of Class: Serra Vineyards 2011 Pinot Noir, Rogue Valley
Some of our favorite dishes include:
Some of our favorite dishes from the event include:
Caramelized Pork Belly with Sour Beer Braised Cabbage and Pickled Mustard Seeds from Bell + Whete
Uli’s Famous Sausage
Russet potato gnocchi with creamy mushrooms from Chef Lisa Nakamura’s Gnocchi Bar
Tom Douglas’ Hot Stove Society. They were serving a clay pot chicken with pickled jicama and carrots over a shrimp chip.
Sliced tenderloin over garlic horseradish mash potatoes with bourbon peppercorn sauce from Sullivan’s Steakhouse
Maine lobster with celery, frisee, shallots, fresh herbs, lemon-cayenne aioli from Purple Cafe and Wine Bar
Fresh oysters from Chelsea Farms
Seeded flat bread with salmon mousse, pickled slaw and seasame seeds from Macrina Bakery & Cafe
The Seattle Wine and Food Experience is highly recommended and one of our favorite events of the year. Great variety of wineries, restaurants, distilleries, and breweries. It’s a great event to kick off 2015. Upcoming food events to keep an eye out for are: Voracious Tasting by Seattle Weekly and Taste Washington.
Founded EatSeattle, and has continued to use his expertise as editor-in-chief to guide the website’s growth over the last five years. Koh’s experience focuses on digital marketing and social media, and has been a part of several companies, some of which he created, specializing in both areas over the course of his career. Koh was previously with Google and Zagat where he helped expand and grow communities worldwide.
Charles Koh
