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Feeling peachy?

End of summer approaches. Yakima beckons, especially given Seattle forecast for a damp Sunday. Perfect time to go, too: Yakima Valley peaches in peak ripeness. Once you're across the mountains, take I-82 as far as exit 44, then head for Donald Fruit & Mercantile and the state's best peach sundaes.

Charming story behind this place. Four years ago, two local farmers and businessmen, Bryan Eglet and Jim Russi, restored the historic building as a gift shop and tourist attraction. Grape grower Dave Minnick, who'd started his own winery, Willow Crest, in 1995, joined them a year later to launch Piety Flats. (The label features the hop kiln across the road from the visitor center.) Bring a picnic; there's a shady orchard out back. As for dessert, you can't get a better deal: one scoop of Tillamook vanilla with those heavenly peaches is $3.25, two scoops for $4.25. Paradise!

Donald Fruit & Mercantile, 2560 Donald-Wapato Rd., Wapato, 509-877-3115

Garden of Eden

Drink is called Adam & Eve. Barman is Alberto Meza, formerly of Alexandria's, now on duty just around the corner at Buenos Aires Grill. Bar has dark wood, dark lighting, nubile patrons, scent of wood smoke.

The way Alberto mixes it: roughly equal parts Belevedere vodka and sour-apple Pucker, splashes of pineapple and lime juice, served in glass rimmed with cinnamon. Tastes like a sour-apple martini to me, with a distracting spicy note; I prefer my vodka less puckered. But Alberto claims it has the same effect on women as Eden's original apple. (Gotta trust your bartender, friends.)

Seductive dancers Patricio and Eva return after Labor Day from a gig in Reno where they're headlining the smash musical review Forever Tango. Meantime, Buenos Aires kitchen continues to turn out sizzling steaks. And Alberto works Friday through Tuesday.

Buenos Aires Grill, 2028 Virginia St., Seattle 206-441-7076

Sipping Supper at Rover's

Wine-tasting dinner with visitors from Michigan and California. Warm summer night at Rover's begins with Gosset Grand Rosé in the garden.

Then Thierry Rautureau starts sending out delectable tastes, starting with a caviar-filled eggshell as sommelier Cyril Fréchier uncorks a stunning 1999 Puligny-Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive.

Next, Chapoutier's 2001 Chante-Alouette accompanies a crab-and-fennel dish.

Then we switch to a much older white, Kalin Cellars 1993 Semillon. A huge diver scallop and a slice of seared foie gras is served to the gents; the ladies get beets with a couscous truffle. We taste from each other's plates, of course.

Now come two magnificent Burgundies: from Jean Grivot, a 1997 Nuits-St-Georges "Les Boudots" and from Louis Jadot a 1999 Vosne-Romanée "Les Suchots." They're textbook illustrations of differing styles: Grivot's rustic and earthy, Jadot's subtle and ethereal.

With the contrasting wines, two great pieces of fish: Copper River salmon and Alaska halibut. Eight people at the table, eight views of which combination was "ideal." Wonderful thing, great wines with perfectly prepared food: one's senses are heightened, concentration deepened, descriptive powers enhanced.

After a pause for cucumber sorbet, a great Bordeaux, the 1985 Chateau Pichon-Lalande. First tried this vintage during a visit to the property in 1989; it's never tasted as good as this: rich, ripe, its youthful fruit giving way slowly to mature aromas of tobacco and leather.

Again, two dishes: lamb medallions for the ladies, venison "burgers" for the guys. Then a trio desserts, which I photographed but don't remember eating. Maybe I didn't?

Rover's, 2808 E. Madison St., Seattle 206-325-7442