Messa Table

Matt & Missy | Food, wine & more
Woodinville wine country & beyond
Reviews, pairings, tastings & what we love
Learning as we go, come along 🍷

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day from Matt and Missy!

Cheers! 🥂

09/06/2026

For Matt’s official birthday day, we spent it with friends, going to the 4 Dreams Escape Room in Crossroads in Bellevue, and then to dinner at La Mar in downtown Bellevue. Dinner was absolutely fantastic and had something for everyone at our table. Delicious cocktails (zero proof cocktails, even), plenty of gluten-free shareable dishes, and even vegetarian and non-fish protein dishes. The cebiche and criollo felt like beautiful sashimi dishes; the caprese was fresh; both the beef and mushroom saltados were so delicious; and somehow we had room for dessert that was light and also decadent. We can’t wait to go back and try their chef’s menu!

09/04/2026

When we dined at in February for our anniversary, I noticed they had “DF” notes on some items, denoting “dairy free”, so when we were scheduling our (much belated) Christmas gift to Matt’s sister and fiancé, I was excited for her to experience fine dining that she could eat.

We started out with a refreshing sangria on the porch, enjoying Seattle in the summer before we were seated in the dining room. Dinner started with a watermelon tomato bisque, a savory herb funnel cake, custard with dungeness crab and peaches, and a savory porcini mushroom macaron. It continued with Surrell’s iconic caviar in a nori cone, salmon and seabeans in a scallop shell, and tomato and roe on toast. The seasonal dishes that followed were grilled spot prawns in a sabayon with corn, and a smoked miso sablefish in broth, and finally, squab with cherries. The meal ended with a Jackson Pollock-esque plate of raspberries and goat cheese. Overall, a wonderful seasonal menu highlighting local ingredients and Washington wines!

Talking with Chef Aaron after dinner, we appreciated how he and his team were able to make dairy free dishes that were still delicious, and he remarked that accommodating folks’ dietary restrictions were all a part of hospitality, and I definitely appreciated that view point.

09/03/2026

We celebrate International Cabernet Sauvignon Day with a bottle of 2022 Fidélitas Wines Clone 169 Cabernet Sauvignon out of the Red Mountain AVA. I got a whiff of a hyacinth note on the nose along with red cherry and other red fruits. The palate was definitely more black plum, not overwhelming with tannin, and a smooth finish.

Fun fact: the Cabernet Sauvignon grape is the child of the Sauvignon Blanc grape and the Cabernet Franc grape!

09/02/2026

“I wish there were more places like this,” is what I said a couple times during our visit to Elsom Cellars Wine + Kitchen | Woodinville Winery Social Club. Tucked away in Perrinville Village in Edmonds, the Elsom Social Club has a cozy, relaxed vibe for enjoying wine, some nosh, and hanging out. Their wines feature Rhone varietals, a Bordeaux blend (Isabella), a Malbec/Syrah blend (Logan), and some fun projects, like a collaboration with Sounders goal keeper, Stefan Frei, and an amazing vermouth made from viognier. Every sip was well-balanced, and paired delightfully with our lunch: a panini-pressed grilled cheese with tomato butter and onion jam, and lamb kofta with a refreshing yogurt sauce and crunchy pistachio crumbles.

They have a collection of events, from book clubs and live music, all open to the public. I remarked to Jody, the owner, that this space had a real feel of a third space, and she said that’s exactly what she was going for. If we lived any closer, I could definitely see myself hanging out here every weekend.

08/30/2026

Côtes de Provence Sainte-Victoire & Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence

Two neighboring Provençal regions, shaped by the same limestone mountain that inspired Cézanne to paint it nearly 90 times: Montagne Sainte-Victoire.

Vines have grown here since antiquity: first the Greeks, then the Romans, planted the seeds (literally) of what would become Provence's wine culture. In the 15th century, King René "the Vintner King" gave the region's wines their first real reputation, sending them to courts across Europe. Like most of France, phylloxera devastated the vineyards in the late 1800s, and it took the post-WWII generation of winemakers to rebuild.

Côtes de Provence Sainte-Victoire became one of the first "cru" terroir designations within the larger Côtes de Provence AOC back in 2005 (elevated to official "Cru" status just last year). Only reds and rosés are permitted here, made mostly from Grenache, Syrah, and Cinsault. Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence, just to the west, got its own AOC status in 1985. It's a larger, more flexible appellation, producing reds, whites, and rosés, and one of the only regions in Provence where Cabernet Sauvignon plays a real role.

The terroir in both regions leans heavily on limestone and clay soils, shaped by the same Mistral winds that sweep through the Rhône Valley by drying out the vines, warding off disease, and slowing ripening just enough to keep acidity fresh even under that relentless Provençal sun.

While on our French honeymoon, we had the opportunity to visit Domaine Terre de Mistral in Côtes de Provence Sainte-Victoire and DOMAINE BARGEMONE in Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence.

Big thanks to Coco and A la Française for another unforgettable leg of our trip. We can't wait to visit more wine regions in France in the future!

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Woodinville, WA
98072

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