Judith Henderson’s Wine & Country Living

The Wine: 2010 Dowsett Semi-dry Gewürztraminer. Nose buried deep in the glass, ripe cloven pears wrapped in muddled lemon leaves opens the senses. With first sip, great swooshes of chamomile and dampened needles brushes the cheek, dripping cloven honey naps the tongue with an unexpected spattering of valley minerality. The pale palomino hue tells the story of a semi- dry Gewürztraminer, a first of its style in Columbia Valley.

The Winemaker: Chris Dowsett is also Buty Winery's co-wine- maker and has much moxie when it comes to finishing his Dowset line of wines. Chris only makes wines he likes to drink and has accomplished another fantastic wine in this semi-dry Gewurz' the perfect summer pairing for spicy barbecue, fiery Thai or Mexican tofu enchiladas smothered in roast tomatillo sauce. When guests arrived today, I paired a bottle of room temperature Dowsett Gewürztraminer with a tall wedge of Lemon Stilton cheese, the kind of Stilton with flecks of actual lemon running through its veins, with a big basket of homemade black peppercorn crack- ershellip;yum!

Wine Honors: Chris, because you've been gifted with that rare quiet place deep inside that tells a winemaker when to pull back and allow the wine to tell its own story, yours truly, Judith Hen- derson of Wine & Country Living, gives you 98 points of wine perfection for the incomparable, 2010 Dowsett Gewürztraminer. Congratulations Chris and Team Dowsett!

Readers, until next week, "Eat Art, Drink Imagination!"

Roast Tomatillo Sauce

1 ½ pounds tomatillos husked and wedged

2 jalapeno peppers sliced in half, seeded

½ cup white onion chopped

½ cup chopped cilantro

1 tablespoons fresh lime juice

¼ teaspoon each: sugar, cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl add olive oil and toss tomatillo and jalapeno pies to coat. Pour tomato and peppers out on oiled sheet pan and roast in oven 25-minutes until slightly shriveled. Remove pan from oven and scrape all including fond, bites and pieces into food processor. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve with warm corn chips a wedge of Lemon Stilton and a bottle of 2010 Dowsett Gewürztraminer.

Hear Judith's Food and Wine Commentary at: www.chefju- dithhenderson.com click "Hear Judith Speak!"