PROSSER, Wash. — Mercer Estates Winery in Prosser staged its Summer BBQ Bash on Saturday, an annual wine country hootenanny in Washington’s Yakima Valley for members of its wine club and paying guests.
Brothers Rob and Will Mercer and winemaker Jessica Munnell led the festivities, which featured lamb burgers and side salads prepared by chef Roger Hazzard of Bon Vino’s Bistro and Bakery in Sunnyside.
Tasting room staff poured award-winning recent releases as well as the Mercer 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2009 Spice Cabinet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Mercer’s 2010 Spice Cabinet Vineyard Malbec topped Great Northwest Wine’s top 100 wines from 2013.
Sales director Jeannene Landby dealt hands of poker at one of two card tables. As dusk fell, the guitar-strumming Knutzen Brothers performed a mix of country, folk and rock music while diners fixed their own dessert — assembling ingredients from the s’mores bar then roasting their own marshmallows over the barbecue pit’s white-hot coals.
Beyond the native plant garden, a few guests relaxed with a glass of wine while sitting on hay bales in the middle of a vineyard, enjoying a sunset over Washington’s oldest wine growing region.
Here are a few photos from the event.
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