Were going to start you off with a Riesling from Barnard Griffin. Light refreshing and off-dry, with pretty peach, pineapple and floral aromas and flavors, echoing enticingl. Drink now through 2011. "90Points Wine Spectator. $10.99

Next were off to show you some great values for the summer weather from Spain. Starting with Sange de Toro White. This wine comes from the northeastern region of Spain, made with the Parellada grape. The wine has a lovely citrusy spritz and plenty of green apple tartness. $9.99

Marques de Caceres Rioja is crisp and expresses the fruitand dry white from Rioja Alta. Served chilled goes great with seafood or hors d' oeuvres. $10.99

Marques de Caceres Rose. Full of fruit yet light on the palate. Great with paella, seafood and chicken. $10.99

And we will finish off with sangre de Toro Tempranillo. Goes great with meat and creamy cheeses and it is only $9.99. Be sure and check out the additional white wine section that we put in for the hot weather and more whites are in the cooler, great for after work or play. We look forward to seeing everyone this weekend. Thank You for your support.

We will be doing two Roussannes from the same winery this week. This is to show how the different growing conditions and fermentation process can create two totally different wines.

The wines are from MAISON BLEUE WINERY in Prosser.

The first is the 2008 LA VALLEE du SOLEIL ROUSSANNE - $25.99 - from the Olsen Vineyard in the Yakima Valley. Fermented in 100% new French oak puncheons. The barrels were custom made for the winery and are twice the size of normal, holding almost 120 gallons.

Then to compare - 2008 LA VIE DOUCE ROUSSANNE - $20.99 - from both Alder Ridge and Six Prong Vineyards in Horse Heaven Hills. Fermented in 100% stainless steel and halted early to help retain the residual sugar for this style of wine.

Hope you can join us and enjoy these two great Roussanes.

The ninth CorkyCrush is in the books and here is an update of the fun!

We had 14 teams compete this year. Team names were: Fine Whines, Heritage Hash, Grapes Toe Ya, Mr. & Mrs. Smoothie Smashers, Chardonnay Divas, Grapecrush Grapplers, Happy Feet, Masquerading Merlots, Edwina's Crushers, Suckers! (learn to say no), Grapeful Dead, Grape Nuts, Grapezilla and the winning team name Got Wine?

The teams managed to get about 91 pounds of juice out of the 266 pounds of grapes that we tossed in the barrels. There was a real close race for the highest weight. The Grapeful Dead guys got 8 pounds 2 1/4 ounces and the Got Wine? girls got 8 pounds 2 1/2 ounces. Even our younges crushers, 3 and 6 years old got 3 pounds 13 1/4 ounces so you can tell that everyone was in there giving it their all.

And since this was also a fund raiser for the Des Moines Food Bank we are happy to report that we brought in right around $1000. The team that brought in the most pledged money was Heritage Hash (Karen Anderson and Eddy Duggar). After they get all there pledges turned in they raised $280!!!!!

A big THANK YOU to our helpers for the day. Jason Hardt, Steve Swank and grandson Noah, Bob Birgenheier & Chris Jacobson (Barrel Boys with Ric the Barrel King), Michelle Reynolds (Pictures & Barrels) Russ Lent (Timer), Candice Hardt (Weigher/Recorder), Susan Goegebuer (Sound System), Ashely & Shawna Jacobson (Trophy Girls). Hopefully I didn't forget anyone! We had a great time and really appreciated the help.