NEW TASTING ROOM INCHES TOWARD COMPLETION Our new tasting room is moving slowly toward completion. The focus is to get as much completed outside before the weather turns bad. Ramps and sidewalks should be in before the snow flies, leaving the inside work for cold weather. WINERY NEWS Upstairs, the new tasting room features a 48 foot long tasting bar for those busy VOLUME XXI, NUMBER 1 Saturdays in September when everyone comes over to stock up for the long Puget FALL 2006 Sound winter. There will also be a VIP tasting/dining room, a kitchen, an office, and restrooms. On festival weekends, you will enter through the barrel cellar where barrels can be set up for tasting. The cellar will also feature an alcove for tastings or dinners. The barrel cave and the tasting room are all handicap accessible. We hope to have the facility open for Red Wine and Chocolate February 17, 18, and 19. Next summer, health department willing, we will have a tapas bar Saturday and Sunday. We plan to stock picnic supplies year-round.

Bung 1994-2006 Bung, aka the Wonder Dog, passed away in his sleep August 25 after a brave battle with a brain tumor that first claimed his hearing and then his coordination. Many winery visitors still ask about him and are saddened by his passing. We miss the old shepherd who used to greet visitors as they arrived, and later in life greeted them by just lying in front of the door. Chateau Bonair will be open to greet visitors in 2007 On the brighter side, we are pleased to announce the BELLEVUE DELIVERY arrival of Bung II, an eight- It’s that traditional weekend of the year, when you customers in the Puget Sound area week-old Australian can take advantage of our BELLEVUE DELIVERY WEEKEND, always the first Shepherd puppy. weekend in December (December 2-3). Just fill out the enclosed order form and fax, He is from Bright Eyes email or mail it to us. We spend the weekend with our friends Lynn & Judy, eating and Aussies in White City, drinking and handing out to you your pre-ordered wines. This is your last chance to Oregon. Their dogs are bred stock up on those great Bonair wines with no shipping charges before the holidays for agility and obedience. and before those long grey rainy winter days when Snoqualmie Pass makes Nightmare The original Bung was from on Elm Street look like a parade. For a downloadable self-calculating order form a line known for herding. go to www.bonairwine.com. Bung II has a little more copper on his face and more HARVEST 2006 white around the collar. Wow, what a fun year this was. We had a great picking crew and the weather Otherwise, he is the ‘spitting’ cooperated. Bill’s assistant Joe Dirt helped immensely on those long days when the image of the original Bung. grapes came in late and the equipment had to be cleaned at night. We did a lot of custom crushing for other wineries, so there was never a lack of funny conversation, cold beer, and excited winemakers tasting grapes and comparing stories. The grapes were all picked by the end of October and now the wine is resting in fermenters and barrels, just getting better all the time. 90% of our grapes came from our own vineyards this year. Next year, it will be 100% estate grown grapes. The year was almost textbook perfect here in the Rattlesnake Hills. Rains that damaged crops to the east of here were welcome showers that helped settle the dust a little. The first freeze came several days after the harvest was completed. We suffered some sunburn during the 100+ degree weather in August, but we were able to get a crew to cut off the damaged clusters, which led to a perfect crop in and . We are excited about Pinot Noir; yes you read correctly, Pinot Noir. It had great color this year with incredible fruit flavors. Also, watch for Bonair and our Port made from Touriga, the Portuguese grape used to make Oportos.

Bung II www.bonairwine.com email: [email protected] phone 800.882.8939 fax 509.829.6027 BONAIR WINERY STAFF INCREASES ICE WINE We are very lucky to have some awesome employees Last year we left a small block of that we here at Bonair. Alfonso, our vineyard manager, has been didn’t need, hoping that if the birds, and weather all with us for seven years. He is the reason the vineyards worked out we would make an ice wine. Our luck held. and grounds look so good. Bill, our cute single assistant December 14 was a beautiful clear night with full moon winemaker, has been cranking out excellent wines for and snow on the ground. At 9:30 PM the temperature almost two years now. dropped to 14o, the highest temperature that true ice wine We added a tasting room manager this year, to Shirley’s can be picked. We finished at 2:30 AM as the delight. Lynda handles the tasting room operations, temperature approached 8o, the lowest temperature for ice always with a sense of humor and a lot of knowledge wine. about wines (she used to own a wine shop). We went to bed, but Bill had to press the grapes before You will often see Amanda or Gerry on the weekends. the morning sun warmed them above 14o. The resulting That means owners Gail and Shirley will be around on juice from the press was 40o brix with flavors and aromas most weekends to visit with you, enjoy a glass of wine, concentrated by the freezing of the water in the grapes. and share their continuing passion of the wine business. The resulting wine is a nectar of concentrated ripe fruit Life is pretty darn good out here in the vineyards. flavors and aromas. It really doesn’t need a sweet accompaniment. It is better with a plain cheesecake. A TALE OF TWO Sipping the wine serves as the topping! It is beautifully Most of you are familiar with our off-dry style Riesling. packaged in a tall 375 ml bottle which serves four for To make things confusing, we have released two dessert. This is a very special wine for really special Rieslings with the same Yakima Valley label. The 2004 occasions. $35 Riesling is quite dry at 0.8% residual sugar. It is a great food wine that can be enjoyed with seafood and shellfish THANKSGIVING IN THE WINE dishes. COUNTRY The 2005 Riesling is 6.6% residual sugar. It is more of This is the big fall event here in Rattlesnake Hills. The a sipping Riesling that can be served with fruit, cheese wineries will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but be and lighter desserts. prepared for a lot of fun and food sampling for the next When ordering, please be sure to specify the year. They three days. All wineries will be open from 10-5, are the same price. $10.99 November 24, 25, and 26. BONAIR WINE CLUBS Bonair will be featuring a white chocolate topped pumpkin dessert to pair with our Gewurtztraminer Port. Our Elite Wine Club has proven to be very popular for This is the time to stock up on holiday favorite wines at those of you who purchase several cases of wine for you special prices. You can do your Christmas shopping here: and your friends throughout the year. $75.00 for the first Lynda has added a line of beautiful filled gift baskets. We year and $50.00 to renew. All your wine is purchased by have a great selection of long and short sleeve t shirts and you for wholesale prices (a savings of at least 30%). We a lot of fun wine related gifts. also have a free winemaker’s dinner in the summer to Returning customers always comment about how much celebrate. This would be a good time to sign up or renew- nicer it is to sip wine and shop here, rather than at the and your membership will last through the end of 2007. crazy malls and big stores with filled parking lots. For the Bellevue Elite order form go to www.bonairwine.com. WINTER GETAWAY Our second club, the Red Wine Club, will ship out to you every two months two bottles of our best reds. These As most of you know, we do manage to get away and will be limited releases, pre-releases, library wines, or travel in the long winter months. This year’s feature “best of the barrel” selected wines. If you are interested in vacation was three weeks in Ecuador in January. We had a becoming a Charter Member, please email us and we will wonderful time, wandering through the back roads of this send you the details and a membership form. There is no fantastic Andean country. We enjoyed our jungle camp 10 membership fee and you may quit at any time. miles from a breaking war between Colombia and Ecuador. We swam in pirana-infested waters, paddled thru RATTLESNAKE HILLS AVA torrential rainstorms, and encountered face to face a cool poisonous snake. We survived a train wreck. We relaxed It’s official, folks. Washington State’s newest AVA in a village, which a few months later was devastated by (American Vitacultural Area) was approved on March 20, an erupting volcano. We came back home refreshed. 2006. Gail spent two years of his life working on the petition to distinguish the Rattlesnake Hills as a unique growing area within the Yakima AVA. The distinctive UPS SHIPPING wines from grapes grown in this area can now be labeled Due to the Supreme Court rulings this year, it has Rattlesnake Hills on the front of the bottles. Check out become legal to ship most everywhere, but prohibitively our website for more information on what makes this expensive to ship anywhere due to license fees and such a special wine growing area. paperwork. We still ship to Washington, Minnesota, and Ohio. If you live in another state and want our wines EMAIL NEWSLETTERS shipped to you, please contact our shipping partner Now that we have a tasting room manager, we are vinsentio.com. Instate shipping directly from us is still finding the time to put out a monthly newsletter. If you $20 per case. would like to receive this, please send us your email Copyright Bonair Winery, Inc. address (and update us when you change servers). Your 500 S Bonair Rd. Zillah, WA 98953 email must be configured to receive multiple bcc’s. All Rights Reserved