The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

The 2012 Fall Wine Release held throughout the region this weekend was a huge success. Thousands of people converged in Walla Walla and Columbia counties for this yearly wine event. Wine sales were brisk.

One thing remains the same each year: wine enthusiasts standing elbow to elbow, swirling and listening to tasting room managers explaining just why our regional wines are so deli- cious. Saturday's tasting room talks surrounded the recent years' mild winters and wet springs influencing the 2009 to 2012 wines with unusual velocity, deeply hued juicy fruits, pinky nosed roses and white wines riddled in grassy blonde ambition.

Family owned and operated, Gifford Hirlinger Winery of Walla Walla must be mentioned. This local winery showed its 2009 Estate Grown Stateline Red, blended with five distinct red grapes: cab sav, tempranillo, melbec, petit verdot and tinta cao; a Portuguese grape also grown on the estate. The 2009 was the best blended red of the weekend at just $16 dollars a bottle at the winery. With its long legs and food friendliness, the '09 pairs well with red sauces, red meats, pork and roast fowl. The wine's versatility lives in its fruitiness, also pairing with soft farm cheese and crackers. Barreled 18 months in French- Hungarian oak lends to a mellow pour. The '09 Stateline Red gives a juicy fruited nose, swooshing the mouth in smoky, toasty, just perked coffee nuances ending in a supple stylish residual sugared tongue.

Gifford Hirlinger winemaker Mike Berghan is a gifted winemaker who pushes the wine envelope with each press and punch. Mike, while "Wine Enthusiast" gave you 91 points for your 2008 Stateline Red vintage, food and wine specialist Ju- dith Henderson, of Wine & Country Living gives you 98 points of wine perfection for the Gifford Hirlinger 2009 Stateline Red. Congratulations Mike! 1450 Stateline Road, Walla Walla.

Readers, until next week, "Eat Art, Drink Imagination!"

Chunky Cranberry Red Wine Syrup

2 cups red wine

1 package raw cranberries

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon each: allspice, ginger, cinnamon, bay leaf

In a pot over medium high heat, add all ingredients andsimmer until reduced by half. Allow syrup to cool and servesmeared over or under sliced beef steak and roast fowl pairedwith a bottle of 2009 Gifford Hirlinger Stateline Red.

Hear Judith's Food & Wine Commentary at: chefjudith- henderson.com