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Celebrating the New Year with Washington Wine

We celebrated the new year with good friends and good wine. Washington wine of course. The evening began with a bottle of Pacific Rim White Flower Sparkling Riesling (reviewed here).
The next wine we enjoyed, was the Heaven's Cave Cellars 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. Heaven's Cave Cellars is a for-benefit winery that chooses to donate a portion of its profits from wine sales to cover 100% of the operating expenses of the Make the DASH Count Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit dedicated to both developing the next generation of community leaders and benefiting at-risk youth. 
The Foundation uses hands-on grantmaking to introduce high-school students to the joys and challenges of philanthropy.  By serving on community-based  youth boards, students learn about the fiscal literacy, community awareness and thoughtful decision-making necessary to act as stewards of the foundation's grantmaking process, annually awarding grant monies to programs serving at-risk youth in their communities.

In 2003, Hope Moore established the founding youth board as a way to educate young people, including her own son, in the responsibilities of community leadership and charitable giving.  The foundation has grown to include 90 youth serving on six youth boards from coast to coast.  To date, the foundation has gifted over $235,000 to community programs benefiting at-risk youth. For more information on the Make the DASH Count Foundation, go to http://www.makethedashcount.org/

Heaven's Cave Cellars
Tasting Room & Mailing Address: 
2880 Lee Road, Suite A
Prosser, WA 99350
Phone: 509.788.0008
Tasting Room  Hours: Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Friday evenings until 7 p.m. during the summer)
http://www.heavenscave.com/ 

We wrapped up the evening with the Garrison Creek Cellars 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (reviewed here) and the Hedges 2004 Red Mountain Fortified Wine. The Hedges at 21.5% alcohol, was surprisingly not overly sweet. We paired the Hedges with a traditional English pudding, both disappeared quickly - recommended.

It was a true pleasure to enjoy these wines with good friends - thank you to the dedicated winemakers of Washington State who contributed to our New Year celebration.

Cheers!
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