Cabernet Cupcakes & Winter Wine Tasting in Yakima Valley, WA

In the summer and fall, Washington State is the kind of place that makes you hunger to be outdoors -- and then take a well-deserved tasting-room break when you're done rafting, biking, or hiking.

In the winter, this state brings out the skiers and snowboarders. Yakima Valley's White Pass Ski Resort recently completed a massive $9 million expansion of the ski-centric Northern Cascade Range spot. The expansion added 767 acres of ski and snowboard-able land, two new quad lifts to access it, plus a revamp of the lodge. 

Assuming you're camped out in the area for a few days to enjoy the snowy terrain, it's absolutely worth it to carve out some time to take full advantage of the natural beauty around you and detour onto Highway 12 to check out the Oak Creek Feeding Station, where you can pull over and see the majestry of 1,200 Washington elk and big-horn sheep. But after that? I say it's time for some apres ski bubbly.

Yakima Valley is overflowing with fantastic wine spots. Home to about 70 wineries spread across five AVAs, its most recent offering is about an hour or so from White Pass in Yakima proper at the just-opened Treveri Cellars tasting room, the aptly named Sparkle.

Treveri Cellars (www.trevericellars.com) follows a straight-up traditional method in their wine-making, meaning the same laborious process that makes Champagne so lovely is what Treveri uses for making their sparkling wine. Right now, they have four offerings -- a brut Chardonnay, an Extra-Sec (off-dry) Pinot Gris, a Demi-Sec (gettin' sweeter!) Riesling, as well as a Demi-Sec Gewurztraminer -- and so far, it's Yakima's only all-sparkling spot.

You might also consider setting aside the dates of Feb. 19 and 20 when around 50 wineries showcase some of Washington State's best reds during Yakima's annual Red Wine and Chocolate pairing event (www.visityakima.com). For a full listing of the participating wineries , hotel packages, and maps, visit www.wineyakimavalley.org.

 

For a little preview, try out the recipe below for Cabernet Cupcakes from the lovely White House B&B in Yakima (3602 Kern Road, tel. 509/910-0961;  www.whitehouseinyakima.com). Yum!

White House B&B Chocolate Wine Cupcakes

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
5 oz chocolate chips
1/2 cup boiling water
2 sticks butter, softened
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup cabernet sauvignon wine (preferably from the Yakima Valley, of course!)
1/3 cup milk

Mix together in mixing bowl. Pour into cupcake liners and bake at 350 for approximately 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz cream cheese
1/2 c soft butter
pinch of salt
approx 2 c powdered sugar
1/8 cabernet sauvignon wine

Using an electric mixer, whisk together the cream cheese, butter, salt, powdered sugar, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Spread on cupcakes after they have cooled.

 

Ski Photo Courtesy of Jason Hummel/Alpinestateofmind.com

Source: http://www.frommers.com/community/blogs/between-bites.cfm?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a130beee0-89b1-4de1-90ee-74de88a6b321Post%3a226890b6-9a18-49ea-850e-70b83c32f3d4

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