Sensory Nirvana in Wine Country

Slack-jawed. I’m sure that’s how I looked standing on the lawn at Dineen Vineyards on Sunday. I know this because my face and sentiment mirrored Shelley’s, and she was looking pretty slack-jawed herself. On the grass just below the tasting room and pizza oven area, we stood marveling at the view. It wasn’t just that the hills were contoured expertly in the sunshine or that Mount Adams’ sentinel rise to the west seemed scripted, it was the valley itself. Spread out on this clear, warm day like a breath before us, the electric new-growth-green of the grapes was turned on in the fore, the wide valley haze curling into the horizon in the back. It was frigging magical. And all we had done was arrive.

As it was Pre-Spring Barrel weekend we decided to hit the Zillah back roads for a trip to Dineen Vineyards to try this amazing pizza we’ve been hearing about. But this place had us at hello (see first paragraph). There we were—chatting excitedly, kids running around in the grass, husbands affably parked in lawn chairs under a tree, and the all of us feeling blessed for just showing up. Jenny from the tasting room was delightful and offered to do a tasting for us right there on the lawn. It was the best kind of tasting: slow and long in the shade of a tree on a warm afternoon.

Before the tasting got into full swing, we ordered the pizza. Or I should say pizzas. Underneath an open air patio area is a small outdoor kitchen and wood fired oven facing the vineyard. What a spectacular workspace, and talking to the pizza man, Chris Guerra from Guerra’s Gourmet Catering, he knows it.

It’s absolutely clear that he loves what he does, and on this day, where he’s doing it. We had a long discussion about crust as he puts a pie together. Getting the right kind of crust, he says, is nine-tenths of the pizza. He uses a specific flour from Italy, as it’s the only thing he’s found that gets the texture just right. Once the foundation is perfect, then the toppings are simply a good time.

And a good time he has too. He loves to mix it up. Being a party of eight, we try (and eat) one of everything—local asparagus, local mushrooms, local salami, pickled onions, Thai basil, just to name a few of the toppings going into our mouths. Chris tells us that he tries different combos every week.

As we’re eating, Jenny pops down periodically with the next taste, offering terrific descriptions of the wine as we chew our pizzas. We settle on a bottle of the Rose as it pairs with the warm day perfectly.

The afternoon was pure sensory nirvana. Friends, food, wine, weather, view, all swirling around our bodies in such a way that allowed us to get out of our heads and just relish the feeling of the moment—no easy feat these days.

We recommend getting lost on the back roads of Zillah wine country, whether it be for Spring Barrel Tasting this weekend, or any spare moment you can muster. If you find yourself at Dineen on a weekend, try the pizza, get out of your head and take some time to be rooted right here in the Yakima Valley.