The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Now that this part of the country has been deemed Washington State's wine country, you might try your hand at growing a wine grape vine or two in your own back yard.

One place you can purchase wine grape root stock is at the historical Waitsburg Hardware store in downtown Waitsburg. The proprietors of this classic old-time hardware store carry just a few varieties of stock; ask to be put on the waiting list if they are out of the particular grape you wish to experiment with. A clue however, is that the white grape does better than a red vine in the cold climate of the Touchet Valley. In the meantime you might take out a book on growing grapes from your local library and really learn the true north, south, east and west of the Touchet Valley and pay special attention to the chapter on frost; a vine's worst enemy.

Speaking of growing grapes, I found planting mint, clover and lavender fourteen inches from the base of the root stock helps keep bugs away, encourages bees to pollinate and, after a few seasons of turning the earth around the stock, the herbs can enhance the grapes flavor profile at crush. We are what we eat and this goes for plants as well.

One sassy white wine excellent to pair with approaching fall foods is winemaker Doug Simmons' 2007 Elegante Cel- lars Gewurztraminer. Doug's idea of presenting this fine Ger- man styled wine is to pelt the vat with citrus of pomegranate, firm juicy sliced green apple and a swirl of warm vanilla that melts on the tongue. The wine is delightful with roast fowl, even steaks of blacked tofu over a stir-fry of leafy greens and buttery nutty three-grained rice pilaf. Elegante Cellars: 839 C Street, Walla Walla 509-525-9129.

Buttery Three Grain Pilaf

Serves 4

½-cup each: short grain organic brown rice, barley, wheatbulgur1/4-cube butter

½-cup chopped green onions

1-teaspoons chopped marjoram

In a sauce pan with lid, add rice, barley and bulgur; cover with vegetable broth just two inches above mixture, stir and steam covered on low for 30 minutes. Add butter, chopped green onion, black cracked pepper; fluff with a fork and serve accompanied with roasted meats or fried dusted tofu, stir-fry of leafy greens. Pass a plate of sliced Gouda cheese and a bottle of Elegante Cellars 2007 Gewurztraminer, a white wine of "scrummy" proportions!

Readers, until next week, "Eat Art, Drink Imagination!" For more recipe ideas, color photos and Moveable Feasts Catering ideas: www.chefjudithhenderson.com.