Pining for Wine in the Pines

Jacky Lo, Executive Chef at Wild Ginger, spent the weekend nestled between the Evergreen tress at Swiftwater Cellars for the fourth annual Wine in the Pines, a wine and food festival that takes place over the mountains in Cle Elum.

New this year was the Wine Celebrity Seminar, a food and wine experience hosted by celebrity Master Sommelier and prolific author of food and wine pairing cooks Evan Gold Smith, M.S. Joining him was wine personality Leslie Sbrocco, host of "Check Please" on PBS network, the regular wine expert for The Today Show, contributing writer for publications including Good Housekeeping, O Magazine and Glamour. For the food pairing portion of the seminar, Chef Jacky prepared pine needle smoked lamb sauté with pine nut sauce.

Over 50 different wineries from Washington, Oregon and California poured a selection of wines while Chef Jacky presented the succulent Lamb Rendang with wine pairing in mind.

What a weekend. We had so much fun, one could say we're pining for next year!