Red Mountain Archives - A Side of Sweet

Borscht – Healthy Beet Soup

Borscht is a healthy beet soup recipe with Ukrainian origins. This version is bright in taste & color. Vegetarian and gluten-free, it’s great hot or cold.

This story is long overdue. It’s the final chapter from the amazing trip Holly and I had to eastern Washington wine country last fall. I already shared with you our time at Hedges Family Estate, the Prosser Hot Air Balloon Festival, and our Manger-style kitchen photoshoot.

The piece that is missing is our day trip to Walla Walla. I didn’t think I could tell the story unless I had the soup to share with you. More on that later.

We had heard great things about Walla Walla, a small town just a couple of hours away from Red Mountain. In addition to being super peaceful and charming, it was also supposed to have great food, lots of antique stores and lots of wine tasting rooms. How could we not check it out?… Read More »

Hedges Rosemary Ice Cream

Vegetarian

There were so many memorable things about our girl’s weekend in Red Mountain, Washington, it’s hard to even begin to share them all. Obviously, the wine at Hedges Family Estate was incredible. The people were fantastic. We had a chance to spend time with Tom and Anne-Marie’s children, Sarah and Christophe, as well as Boo, the sales manager. I don’t think I stopped laughing the entire time I was there. They were the perfect hosts and we truly left as friends.

So that brings me to the food. Lucky for us, Hedges recently hired two full-time chefs, Heather & Ryan, to live on the estate and help to feed their many visitors. This meant that Holly and I feasted! Everything that we ate was beautifully-prepared and left us thinking, “well that was the best (insert food) I have ever tasted.”… Read More »

Prosser Hot Air Balloon Festival

Prosser, Washington is a tiny town (population less than 6,000) but it has a lot of pride. According to our hosts, Boo and Mikella, they have a multitude of festivals as well as some great wine tasting rooms. Somehow the stars aligned and Holly and I managed to catch the best festival of them all on our recent Red Mountain wine country trip.

The Prosser Hot Air Ballon was amazing. Magical. Pretty much a photography wonderland. I want to blow up all of the photos and put them on every wall in our house.
… Read More »

Hedges Estate Red Mountain, Washington

A lesser-known destination for wine travel is Red Mountain in Eastern Washington. Hedges Red Mountain is family-run and is located on a gorgeous estate. They feature high quality biodynamic wines.

I first heard about Hedges Family Estate in Red Mountain, Washington when I attended a wine dinner they hosted in San Francisco. I was immediately intrigued by the story of this family-run vineyard. The Hedges were some of the first to recognize the potential of the Red Mountain region in Eastern Washington for growing grapes. They purchased a small parcel of land almost 30 years ago back when no one had heard of Red Mountain. Now, the region is filled with grapes and Hedges is flourishing.

Now, Tom and Anne-Marie Hedges have passed the torch on to the next generation of winemakers. Their son, Christophe, is the general manager and head of sales and their daughter, Sarah, is the winemaker.

Drinking wine and chatting with the Hedges in San Francisco was fun, but I wanted to take things to the next level. Luckily, Holly was also up for an adventure. We had such an amazing time checking out the Willamette Valley in Oregon last year, we’ve been talking about doing another trip. Red Mountain was the perfect destination for a long weekend reunion…. Read More »