My summer project is to taste my way through the best wines our region has to offer.

With so many new wineries popping up - like the Mercer and Hogue families' collaboration of Mercer Wine (tasting room in Prosser) - like prairie dogs...it's hard to keep up. I need a cheat-sheet!

For starters, I thought I would let the consummate professionals who judged this year's Seattle Wine Awards give me a road map.

For those of you who missed this year's swank affair at the Rainier Club, do mark your calendars for 2010. Christopher Chan and his wine crew and Bill Morris and his kitchen crew sure know how to host a party!