Wine o’Clock

Wine o'Clock is the restaurant at Bunnell Family Cellar on Cabernet Court in Prosser. Ron and Susan Bunnell own the winery, and Steve and Marla Newhouse share ownership of the restaurant building with them. Ron came to his own label after years making wine in California at Beringer, Charles Krug and Kendall Jackson, then a run as red winemaker at Chateau Ste. Michelle from 1999 to 2005. Work on Wine o'Clock began in the summer of 2008, and it opened in January 2009.

The kitchen is built around a wood fired oven in an open display kitchen, and the menu changes every week, with pizza from that oven as the constant. Wine comes as flights of three half glasses drawn from the family's small lot bottlings, which lean toward Rhône varieties: Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Petite Sirah, from vineyards such as Boushey McPherson, Clifton and Snipes Mountain.

The room is small, somewhere between two dozen and thirty seats with the largest table set for six, so a reservation is the smart move. It is open Thursday through Monday from noon, until 8 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and until 6 on Sunday and Monday, with a winter break and holiday closures, so check the season before you drive out. It makes an easy lunch stop in the middle of a Prosser tasting day.