Visit Yakima Valley Wineries and Help Fight Hunger During Thanksgiving

Is there any holiday more food-centered than Thanksgiving? Even if you’re not into spending all day watching football and parades, most everyone gets together with family and friends to share a good meal. And where there’s good food there should always be good wine.

With the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner, why not get a jump on planning what you’re going to do and serve on this annual gastronomic binge? I’ll give you some wine-related suggestions both today and over the next two weeks that should help keep your turkey day relatively stress free.

Let me start by proposing a firsthand experience in Eastern Washington’s wine country that may give you some ideas while at the same time contributing to a good cause.

Wine Yakima Valley and Northwest Harvest have partnered together to help feed the hungry this Thanksgiving season by offering a “Taste to Fight Hunger” ticket.

The $30 pass gets you waived tasting fees, reserve and specialty tastings, and special discounts at over 40 Yakima Valley wineries. All ticket sale profits will be donated to Northwest Harvest.

Tickets are on sale now at participating wineries and on line at wineyakimavalley.org. You can use them prior to the holiday to select the perfect wine for your Thanksgiving feast, and they’ll also be honored during the post-holiday weekend from November 29 through December 1.

If you decide to go, here’s my take on a few Yakima Valley wineries you may want to visit:

Airfield Estates – Winemaker Marcus Miller offers a ton of choices, particularly full-bodied reds and whites.

AntoLin Cellars and Gilbert Cellars – Two excellent wineries located close to accommodations in the heart of downtown Yakima.

Chinook Wine – One of the Valley’s originals with solid, consistently good semillon, sauvignon blanc, and cabernet franc.

Cultura Wine – Husband and wife winemakers Tad and Sarah Fewel make it a pleasure to visit this red wine lover’s dream winery.

Severino Cellars – Located just off the freeway in Zillah, I’m a big fan of their nicely priced red wine blend.

Southard Winery – A must-try winery in the town of Selah that I’ll feature in depth in early December.

Two Mountain Winery – Another Zillah winery that just keeps getting better and better. Try the 2010 Reserve Cabernet Franc with lip-smacking red cherry flavors, crushed herbs and a hint of dark chocolate. In a word: delicious.

Treveri Cellars – The best and most reasonably priced sparkling wines produced in Washington…period.

Next week: white wine selections for Thanksgiving.