Rivaling the famed bistros of Napa, Wine O’Clock Wine Bar serves up fresh seasonal dishes paired with Bunnell Family Cellar wines
Tucked away and around the corner on Cabernet Court in the heart of Prosser’s Vintner’s Village, Wine O’Clock Wine Bar combines the charm of old-world cafes of Provence with the amenities of contemporary bistros found in Napa.
The décor exudes wine country ambiance and warmth with glass art light fixtures, chandeliers, and stained glass accents. All these pieces add a glow to the firelight of the brick pizza oven, creating visual and physical warmth in the dining room.
The open kitchen behind the long countertop gives the cozy feeling you’re hanging out in the home of good friends who happen to be super serious about preparing and serving gourmet meals.
Cupboards are stocked with collections of cookbooks from the great culinary regions of the world. Family photos are interspersed among the gleaming china and Luigi Bormioli crystal. A party size collection of wine bottles line one end of the counter bar, and jars of fresh herbs and lavender gather at the other end.
Wine O’Clock is the wine bar brainchild of Ron and Susan Bunnell, the passionate proprietors and winemaking team of The Bunnell Family Cellar and RiverAerie.
“It took awhile before we were ready for The Bunnell Family Cellar to have a public face,” says Susan. “But once we made the decision we knew food had to be a part of it. We want our guests to feel the camaraderie of sharing food and wine in our kitchen.”
Ron’s winemaking pedigree is impressive. Previously he made wine for Chateau Ste. Michelle, and before that, for well known California wineries such as Kendall-Jackson, Chateau Souverain and Beringer. Also remarkable is Susan’s background in culinary arts, which includes seven years with Domaine Chandon’s highly acclaimed restaurant in the Napa Valley.
Asked why they chose to open their winery and restaurant in the middle of the Yakima Valley, Susan explains, “We came to Prosser from Napa and Sonoma when Ron was offered the job of head red winemaker for Chateau St. Michelle and Col Solare. It didn’t take long for us to realize what a wonderful spot this is.”
With their love for food and wine, and desire to focus on making Rhône varietals under their own label, Ron and Susan finally married their talents and passion into the happy union that is Bunnell Family Cellars and Wine O’Clock.
Ron and Susan’s family home, the RiverAerie Farm, overlooks the Yakima River and is also the location of their winery where they specialize in small handmade lots of wine from Rhône Valley grape varietals including Syrah, Petite Sirah (Durif), Mourvedre, Grenache, Cinsault, Counoise and Viognier. They offer these wines under their premier label The Bunnell Family Cellar, and in 2005 launched the more moderately priced RiverAerie label.
Setting them apart from other restaurants is the fact that Wine O’Clock offers a large assortment of wine flights. The family makes over two dozen handcrafted wines, each one a limited production of 200 cases or fewer.
The wine menu features a winemaker’s flight of the month. On our afternoon this was a mystery vertical: a flight of four vintages of Syrah crafted of fruit harvested from the Boushey McPherson Vineyard, one of the premier vineyards of the Yakima Valley. If you solved the mystery by guessing the order of the vintages, you received a twenty percent discount off the regular bottle price.
Susan points out, “If three people order three flights you have nine wines on the table; each one identified so you can share and keep track. Add to that a fresh menu that is constantly changing and designed for sharing, and you have a wonderful opportunity to find your personal favorite pairing.”
Ninety percent of the menu changes on a weekly basis, a collaboration between Chef Laurie Kennedy and Susan Bunnell. “Chef Laurie is an incredible asset for Wine O’Clock. Laurie and I have similar palates—simpatico tastes—which makes the synergy necessary to develop new plates as easy as it is fun,” says Susan.
Each week the Fresh Sheet brings “a new soup, tapas trio, meat special, seafood special, salad entrée, pizza specials, and yummy desserts, plus whatever else we decide to toss in!”
“Creating these new combinations also forces us to take a fresh look at our wines on a regular basis. Wine is a living, breathing creation—it evolves in the glass, changing as your meal progresses. You never sit down to the same glass twice, and you shouldn’t have to sit down to the same plate again, either.”
Relying heavily on Prosser’s Farmers Market for locally-grown seasonal ingredients, the restaurant also grows much of their own specialty produce and herbs in the raised garden boxes on the grounds.
Wine O’Clock devotes an entire menu page to their hand tossed, wood-fire oven baked artisan pizzas. A favorite is the pear and bacon pizza with green onions, olive oil and aged white cheddar. Try pairing it with the 2009 Viognier from the Clifton Hill Vineyard, which is bright with pear, honeysuckle and hints of lemon.
Although pizzas are clearly a specialty, this is much more than a gourmet pizza and wine bar. Friday to Sunday you can order from the full restaurant menu of tantalizing entrees and specials, and from Monday to Thursday wine flights and small plates are served.
The meat entrée the evening we dined was a specialty of Chef Laurie Kennedy, a distinctive meatloaf made of beef, veal and pork in a smoked tomato gravy, served with beer batter fried Vidalia onion rings and crushed gold potatoes. The white pepper flavors of this entree are a pleasant contrast to the jammy characteristics of the 2007 Boushey Syrah.
Even the desserts are made daily from scratch. On the day of our visit, Key Lime Cheesecake was featured on the fresh sheet. Light as whipped air, the crust was more savory then sweet. The combination flavors and textures were due mainly to Chef Kennedy’s cracker crust. Instead of the traditional graham crackers, she made hers from wheat and gold fish crackers.
“If we get a mental chef’s block and can’t think of just the right touch to finish a dish, we wander through the garden to get our creative juices flowing,” says Susan Bunnell.
Such unrelenting creativity will keep hungry diners coming back to this food and drink sanctuary in the Yakima Valley for a very long time.
By Carigg Fitch