The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Last year I had fun writing about the surprisingly good Pasek Cellars Cranberry wine, which brought about some awesome and somewhat funny responses from some of you. I know it was a big leap of faith but wasn't it great to surprise your family and friends with an interesting Washington state oddity? This year's recommendation is on the mainstream side and it's local.

Being it's Thanksgiving, I'll talk turkey and turkey needs wine! Since I rarely prepare turkey any other time of the year (much to the chagrin of the National Turkey Federation) I go all-out with brining and full side-dish fun. As a primary protein, turkey has the ability to showcase a wide range of perfectly great wine pairings. It has a wonderful texture and just the right amount of poultry fattiness to handle a wide array of wines thus it is hard to mess this one up. This year I wanted to look at "other" wines from our area that would do the trick and I found a gem while out tasting with some old friends recently.

We stopped into a few of the wineries by the Walla Walla airport, and after trying some newer wineries wares I dis- covered that one of my favorites - Dave and Matt Huse's Five Star Cellars, a small but important winery that began operations in 2000 had something unexpected - an outstand- ing Sémillon which took me by complete surprise. Not that it was outstanding wine but because they have a white wine at all! The Huse family started working with Sémillon in back in 2010 as the only white wine they do. I asked Dave why the white grape - considering everything else they make (except for an outstanding Sangiovese rose) is about as opaque red as they come. He responded that just about everyone else in Walla Walla who makes white wine these days works with either chardonnay or riesling, or both, and that since Five Star is a Bordeaux-grape focused producer Sémillon made more sense as it is a Bordeaux-region grape. Five Star Cellars pulls their fruit from the outstanding XL Vineyards above Seven Hills - who also supplies grapes to other valley luminaries like Dunham Cellars, Rasa Vineyards, Matthews Cellars, El Corazon and more.

This beautiful white immediately felt, in every way, just right for the upcoming holidays. Touches of key lime and Meyer lemon with a nicely rounded mineral nose are presented via a true star-bright, almost sparkling straw hue. Pineapple, honeydew, sweet apples and a dash of nutmeg come across the palate while the mouthfeel is lush but not heavy. Surprisingly, this wine has a rich, long finish with a slight dash of pecan lingering in the background. This is one complex wine! And considering the clear bottle with clear label and price tag just around $20/per this wine says Thanks- giving celebration all over the place!

So remember to support local this holiday. Five Star Cel- lars is at 840 C Street. Happy Thanksgiving!