A slew of ladies in my family, encompassing three generations, got together for our almost-annual girls’ weekend recently, gathering to acknowledge an upcoming wedding, birth and the simple joy of time spent together. We choose different venues for these events, sometimes finding a large house to rent on the Oregon or Washington coast, sometimes at a mountain lodge, sometimes in the big city. This time around we gathered in the Central Washington town of Prosser, set amid the rolling, dry hills just north of the Columbia River in what has become home to more and more wineries and vineyards.

Our accommodation was a charming old farmhouse perched on a bank of the Yakima River, boasting an updated kitchen, expansive deck and plenty of bathrooms and bedrooms to suit our troop. The Quilted Country Inn, as it’s known, often hosts quilters’ retreats; its generously proportioned public rooms and location right next door to a fabric shop make it a natural for such a purpose. However, we came primarily to catch up on family news, do a little wine tasting and throw two showers, one for the prospective bride and one for the mama-to-be.

One highlight was our first dinner on Friday night, a wonderful repast at the modern, elegant Desert Wind Winery. Its Mojave restaurant shares a large, open space with the winery’s tasting room, flexible enough to also host special events and receptions. Chef Kristin Johnson presents a “Southwest cuisine with a uniquely Northwest twist,” one which features corn fritters and a variety of chilies alongside wild salmon and locally grown salad greens and asparagus, all paired with a generous wine list of regional wines. Our table of twelve shared appetizers of truffle fries; fire-roasted poblana and artichoke dip with house-made tortilla chips; and bruschetta smothered in tomatoes, avocados and fire-roasted chilies. The dip and bruschetta offered just the right amount of zing and a pleasing contrast of textures. Entrées ranged from a grilled salmon salad with polenta and asparagus to beef medallions, house-smoked ribs to tequila-lime chicken fettuccine. The beef was perfectly cooked, the salmon moist and nicely seasoned, everyone finding their dish satisfying and delicious.

The next few days saw many of us visiting some of the wineries and tasting rooms nearby. Perhaps the most nationally recognized Washington state label, Chateau Ste. Michelle, has a huge presence in the area, with two immense production facilities and a handful of other labels under its umbrella represented here. We enjoyed the wines at Columbia Crest and also at the brand-new tasting room of 14 Hands. The latter references the stature of the small, wild mustangs which long roamed the region’s Horse Heaven Hills (an AVA — American Viticultural Area — since 2005 and home to 25 percent of Washington’s vineyard acreage). The lean, spare building, featuring polished concrete, steel and reclaimed barn wood, perfectly fits its location and evokes the time when this area fostered dry land wheat farms and cattle ranches.

All in all, we enjoyed our sisterly time together in this unique landscape, so different from our previous coastal or mountain locations yet offering its own beauty in the softly rounded dry hills, river bottoms and wide-open sky.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor