This year, Jen and I wanted to celebrate National Rose Day (and the second anniversary of Woodinville Wine blog) in a big way. We thought it would be fun to host a large party for our wine-loving local friends in my Woodinville back yard. After such a hard winter and dreary Spring, we were looking forward to celebrating with sunshine and pink wine.
It made sense, we thought, to host our party Open House style. Drop in when you can, leave when you need to, etc! That way our friends, most of them busy taking advantage of good summer Seattle weather, could work a visit to our party into their weekend schedules.
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I used the “we’re having a party!” excuse to treat myself to an investment for other upcoming summer parties: This pink outdoor gazebo, via Amazon. I love it so, so much! (Even though it’s a lot of work moving it around the yard so the grass under it can get water, sun and be mowed!)
The gazebo is difficult to put together, so I hired Angie from Angie’s Organizing Solutions in Redmond to put it together for me.
We ended up offering 61 bottles of Washington State Rose wines for our guests to choose from. Of course, with such an overwhelming amount, many bottles didn’t end up getting opened. We’ll have to have a follow-up party in July – and perhaps another one in August! We’re likely to host one party for other Woodinville wine industry folks – stay tuned for your invite!
Imagine how thrilled our guests would be to arrive and see this amazing lineup of multiple bottles of Washington Rose wine!
However, we of course ran into difficulties getting and keeping all these bottles chilled – my house has two refrigerators, but one was full of food and fruit for the party. Imagine how many ice buckets it takes to keep all these wine bottles cool on a sunny summer day! So we must confess to setting these bottles up for a lovely photo op and then stashing them in large ice buckets below the table immediately after.
We always keep our party prep super stress-free by picking up frozen appetizers from Metropolitan Market, Costco and Trader Joe’s. These mini quiches were a hit! The cookies are Trader Joe’s “Neapolitan Joe-Joes.”
Isenhower Cellars’ 2018 Rose is a Cabernet Franc from Walla Walla.
We find it so easy to find a pretty, festive, inexpensive cake at QFC, Safeway or Metropolitan Market bakery sections. Metropolitan Market does have fancier and more expensive cakes which we sometimes splurge on. We rarely have the time (or in my case, the skill) to bake and decorate lovely cakes from scratch.
If you know for sure the cake has a pretty color inside (rather than plain vanilla), remove a carefully-cut slice before displaying. The cake will look even more tempting that way! (And you can greedily eat the first piece yourself!)
We found these rainbow polka dot acrylic wine glasses at HomeGoods in Woodinville, but next time might use some of these cute confetti wine glasses too.
Avennia’s 2018 Rose is called “L’Egerie.” It’s a blend of Grenache and Mourvedre.
The yogurt-covered dried fruits were from Trader Joe’s; and the whole wheat shortbread “Flower Power” cookies are by “Bite Me Cookies” here in Seattle. We always set out fresh fruit for people to nibble on as an alternative to sugary treats.
Truthteller’s “Quip” 2018 Rose is a 100% Mourvedre (quite unusual!)
Chateau Ste. Michelle’s 2018 Rose is widely available in stores, both locally and nationally. But it’s way more fun to go buy a bottle in person at the beautiful winery here in Woodinville!
Patterson Cellars’ 2018 “Forbidden Rose” is an off-dry blend of Washington grapes.
The 2018 Rose from Milbrandt Vineyards is a Syrah-dominant blend with 27% Tempranillo.
We thought it would be nice to offer our guests a nice shady place to lie down and relax after imbibing rose and enjoying so many appetizers and desserts.
The chaise lounge is “Chatham” from Pottery Barn, and the pink and white chaise cushion is a Sunbrella “Hibiscus Stripe” custom order, also from Pottery Barn.
After the party, I plan to keep the gazebo and chaise lounge set up and use it as my summertime outdoor office and nap space! You can imagine that I’ll keep a little bottle cooler on hand and a wine glass at the ready on long hot summer afternoons.
Icon Cellars has such an elegant label for their 2018 Rose!
“Tickle Me Pink” is by Page Cellars, and I unfortunately can’t find any information on the varietals on the bottle or on their website.
Darby Winery made two Roses last year. The 2017 Darby Rose is a Grenache/Mourvedre Rose from Stillwater Creek Vineyard in the Wahluke Slope AVA.
Have you been eyeing our pretty domed cloche we used to protect the fruit tart from bugs? It’s the Wood Marble Covered Server from Crate & Barrel. We love the unusual shape!
Ancestry Cellars’ 2018 “Grandma Lila’s Rose” is a Sangiovese Rose. This one was hard to share with guests, I must admit – I love Sangiovese Roses.
Isenhower Cellars’ 2018 Vin Gris is a Pinot Noir “Pinot Gris” Rose. I found this very intriguing, and it was one of the first bottles we opened.
Darby Winery’s second Rose from 2017 is the “Native Rose,” a GSM blend from Columbia Valley.
The 2018 Three of Cups Rose is a 100% Cinsaut, one of only three Cinsaut Roses in Woodinville tasting rooms.
Columbia Winery’s 2018 Rose has such a stunning label, don’t you think? It’s a Grenache Rose.
Chandler Reach’s 2018 Rose is “Monte Dolce.” Unfortunately there’s no information about it on their website. Chandler Reach also came out with a Yakima Valley 2018 Rose as well under their premium “Parris” estate reserve label.
One thing you don’t see here is the giant pitchers of icewater and iced tea we set out to keep our guests hydrated – and awake!
Besides sweets and appetizers, we set out platters and boards with cheeses, meats, crackers, olives and nuts.
Lauren Ashton’s 2018 Rose wine is an interesting blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsaut and Counoise.
If you had a day to lounge in the shade with a book and a bottle, what book would it be and which bottle would you open? Let us know in the comments below.
massive lineup
Kennedy Shah’s 2018 Rose is available at The Woodhouse Wine Estates in the West Valley district.
The macaroons shown here were from Costco. So darling!
Cougar Crest Winery’s 2018 Rose encourages us to “Sip through Rose-colored glasses.”
The meringues are cherry flavored, from Metropolitan Market. The cookies are from QFC on Redmond Ridge, the Cottage Lake Safeway and Metropolitan Market in Sammamish.
Alexandria Nicole Cellars’ 2018 a2 Rose is a Merlot-dominant blend from Horse Heaven Hills. It’s another of the rare Rose wines in our area that uses some Counoise to blend. (15% in this case!)
Lobo Hills 2018 Rose is a Cabernet Franc Rose.
Rocky Pond’s 2017 Rose of Grenache is from the Lake Chelan Ava.
Tertulia Cellars always makes a fabulous Tempranillo Rose.
Matthews Winery’s 2018 bottle is also a Cabernet Franc Rose.
Basel Cellars has one of our favorite wine bottle labels, on their “2901 Rose” for 2018. It’s a 100% Syrah Rose.
Skylite Cellars Vera Rose is named after the winemaker’s daughter. It’s a Grenache Rose.
Patterson Cellars’ 2018 Rose is a blend of 54% Sangiovese and 46% Tempranillo – fabulous!
Love That Rose 2018 is from Love That Red Winery (you probably guessed that!) It’s a GSM blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre).
Covington Cellars/Two Vintners each made the same Rose wine, bottling it with a different label for each of the two neighboring tasting rooms.
Cave B Estate Winery makes a dry rose from 50% Malbec, 50% Tempranillo. My Malbec-loving friends made a beeline for this one!
We feel incredibly fortunate to live within such an easy distance of Woodinville’s wineries. It was quite fun dashing around the Hollywood District, Artisan Hill and the Warehouse District “collecting” Rose wines from each tasting room. Our guests would have such a difficult time deciding which ones to sample. (We definitely urged them to arrive in Ubers or Lyfts, so they weren’t driving after sampling so many!)
This National Rose Day party and massive photo shoot would not have been possible without the generous industry discounts afforded to our blog, and we’re grateful. (If you are disappointed not to see your Rose wine pictured here, our apologies. We couldn’t make it to every tasting room, especially limited-hours ones like in the Warehouse District, to complete our collection). Some 2018 Rose wines had not yet been released, such as Gard Vintners; or were club-member only, like Sol Stone, so we were unable to include them in our party, either.
We’d love to hear about your own Rose wine adventures this summer. What’s been your favorite local Woodinville rose so far? Have you thrown any Rose exploration parties? (Check out our friends’ episode on their fabulous Rose party, over at Decanted Podcast!)
Happy Rose-all-daying!
-Carrie
