Gewurtzha-what?

One of my favorite parts of this job is learning about wine. At our quarterly staff meeting last week, we did a blind tasting. The challenge? To identify the varietal. (As a bonus, one of the wines was flawed and two were different vintages from the same winery. But I am not that good - yet!)

It was an incredibly interesting tasting for several reasons. The varietal was Gewurtzaminer, a type of wine that I haven't had a lot of before. Every time we do this, I am surprised by how much range of flavor a single varietal can produce. In this case, we had everything from acidic fruits to melons to honey to caramel.

We also learned about bottle shock. Unbelievable to think that two bottles of the same wine could taste so different just because one had just been traumatized by the bottling process! It had no flavor and tasted almost like water.

Very educational and also fun. If you don't get to drink at work like I do, I would definitely recommend trying this with friends at a party!

Something that drew me to Randall PR was my love for fine foods and dining out. So after only being on the job one week, I was excited to be able to attend Taste Washington on April 6, 2008. Being very new to Randall PR and the wine community, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to sample wines from all over Washington state. It was also great to meet so many of clients I had been hearing so much about.

But Taste Washington wasn't just about the wine. Some of my favorite encounters included admiring the skillful and intricate artwork of Fresh Northwest Design and indulging in the Raw Sashimi Scallops from 0/8 Seafood Grill. Needless to say, it was not a bad first week on the job.

-Callie, PR Coordinator

Taste Washington 2008

When Olsen Estates asked me to help pour wine at this years Taste Washington, I jumped at the chance. It was my very first Taste Washington, and it didn't disappoint. The event was a great opportunity to sample some of our states best food and wine.

Olsen Estates poured its acclaimed 2006 Olsen Estates Chardonnay and its very first vintage of red wine, the Olsen Estates Rouge des Coteaux.

For more information about Olsen Estates wines click here.

Zephyr Grill & Bar, sister restaurant to Seattle's iconic icon Grill located in Kent Station, received some well-deserved recognition in the latest issue of South Sound Magazine.

To read about Chef Musser, his "Aroused Americana" cuisine and his newest restaurant, click here.

rian handbags

We would like to welcome rian handbags to RPR. This is especially exciting for us because it represents our desire to offer a more comprehensive cross-section in our specialty niche of “lifestyle” clients. Not to mention we are beyond thrilled about their product.

The quality and thought behind their bag designs is stellar. The men’s messenger bag may be the coolest computer friendly bag we’ve ever seen. Local Bellevue store MARQSMEN and Portland's Michael Allen carry them.

The women’s line is due out later this year! We’ll send out a sneak peak as soon as we can!

Legendary Swirl at El Gaucho

On Tuesday night, El Gaucho Seattle held its third annual wine tasting to celebrate Washington Wine Month. Eighteen wineries offered tastings in the Pampas Room, the live jazz club downstairs from the restaurant. It being the Gaucho, of course, they had the best of the best wineries there, including John Abbott from Abeja; Jay Soloff from DeLille; Trey Busch from Sleight of Hand; Ben Smith from Cadence; and Jarrod Boyle from Alexandria Nicole. We were especially excited to see Jarrod there because we have been working together on Mackay's new proprietary wines. The first one, Mackay Duck Press Red, was blended by the 14 American Court certified sommeliers at Waterfront (www.waterfrontseafoodgrill.com). We learned on Tuesday that El Gaucho's staff is studying for certification as well, and are scheduled to take the exam in July.

As it does every year, the event completely sold out! But don't worry if you didn't make it; El Gaucho is a magnum sponsor at this year's Taste Washington, so you can have another chance to taste great Washington wines and sample food from El Gaucho and a whole host of other great restaurants at the Grand Tasting next Sunday!

2008 Tini Bigs Media Martini Tasting

As always, Tini Bigs really knocked our socks off at this year's media martini tasting. All six of the brand new martini recipes were fantastic- cutting edge, innovative and with unexpected and sometimes unusual ingredients (quinine powder anyone?). It was difficult to pick out my favorite, but I am really liking the Best Damn Gin and Tonic Tini- cool, refreshing and delicious!

Click http://www.randallpr.com/photoGallery/TiniBigsTiniTasting.html to see some great pictures from the event and click www.tinibigs.com to visit Tini Bigs website.

Cheers!

Andrea