BENTON CITY, Wash. - 'Tis the season to eat, drink and be merry. And what better place to be than wine country. A number of local wineries are opening their doors this weekend and celebrating Thanksgiving: Wine style.
One winery is celebrating the holiday by cooking a turducken, some are selling cases on the cheap and still another is having an outdoor fire and a wreath making event.
Friday, Kiona Winery in Benton City capitalized on the 'give' in the Thanksgiving and had a charity art sale. Metal wall art, ceramics, art glass and photography were for sale.
Photographer John Clement is one of the artists' whose work is being sold with a portion of the proceeds going to local charities.
"The Tri Cities has really supported me over the years and so this is the kind of thing that I can give back to them and support them and it's a great thing to do," Clement said.
JJ Williams' family owns the winery. He said this time of year more people are drinking red wine but that doesn't mean more people are coming in to buy it.
"Winery visits tend to slow down a little bit so we have a good event like this and we have good local artists. It's good to get people through the door and it's much easier to buy and find a wine you like if you can try it first," Williams said.
"I've been thankful I live in wine country for about 8 or 10 years. I do a lot of vineyard photographs and do a lot of grape photography," Clement said.
A lot of the local wineries take this time to help people figure out what wines go best with holiday foods.
"It's always a good opportunity to go out and visit all the local wineries. There's a lot of them around and have a good time. Bring the in-laws, show them a good time, whatever you want to do," Williams said.
For more Thanksgiving winery fun: http://wineyakimavalley.org/thanksgiving-in-wine-country_385.html
