After a delicious dinner cooked with one of my sous chefs, my first son, of crispy skinned salmon, creme fraiche mashed potatoes and a ratatouille of fennel, yellow squash, walla walla sweet onions, mushrooms, capers and a dash of yesterday’s rose, my husband and I decided that listening to the blues from a live band at the beautiful Tranche Estate winery was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Finishing the huge dinner meant we didn’t need to indulge in any of the cheese plates or snacks they offer, nor did we need any of the great smelling pizza pies coming from the Fiasco food truck. If we were hungry, we wouldn’t have hesitated to try one of their menu items because this truck was outfitted with a real wood fired brick oven. Amazing!
With room only for wine, we missed the boat and got there after they had completely sold out of their lovely Rose, which we were familiar with as we had finished a magnum bottle during a previous picnic with friends. They had a Pape Blanc that would pair well with the salmon dinner we were still burping up (excuse me!), so we settled on a bottle, grabbed our two glasses, and headed out to the expansive and idealic grass area to listen and imbibe.
As luck had it the band was fantastic on this beautiful summer evening. Coyote Kings featuring Tiphony Dames were a real treat. They played a number of their own songs and they were really good! So good, we had to take a CD home for remembrance. They noted not everyone even has a CD player in their home anymore, but I do. I have one sitting in my laundry room that I play a little everyday while taking care of the chores. Now I get to be whisked away to the hot summer concert night even whilst shoving in dirty towels and folding the clean ones when they come out. In addition to the great material they’ve created we got to enjoy several covers as well, introducing us to the sounds of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Coyote Kings did a cover of their song Medicine. Ohh la la their cover was slamming! We also learned we like Delbert McClinton because their cover of Every Time I Roll the Dice was absolutely raucous.
Overall, we left the event feeling so blessed to live in a place where a beautiful and welcoming winery with stellar free family friendly entertainment is just around the corner. Tiphony mentioned she was from New York, I’m from San Francisco and my husband is from Paris. I’m so glad we could all gather together with blankets, bare feet and open minds to enjoy the gentle breezes, lovely sounds and a terrific performance as we Cin Cin’d to our new Walla Walla standard. Cheers!