Visiting Washington Wine Country

[bilrus]

My wife and I are going to be visiting both Seattle and Vancouver in August and were hoping to spend a day or two exploring wineries in the area. I'm usually a very good Googler, but I haven't been able to find a very good source for information about wineries or the various wine regions in the state.

This is where you come in. I figure that the PNW eG'ers would be able to point me in the right direction. So my questions are:

What wineries do you suggest visiting?

Are the wineries clustered in certain areas or are they pretty spread out?

Is it possible to stay in Seattle and go to decent places in the area or is it best to get out of town for a few days (which I'd probably prefer)?

Any suggestions on places to stay?

Thanks in advance for your help. My restaurant questions are to come later.

[kiliki]

This page might give you a general overview of Washington's wine producing areas, which are located in the southeastern part of the state (too far for a day trip):

WA tourism

April's Sunset Magazine (NW edition) had a nice, fairly lengthy article on touring Walla Walla Valley's wine country, including info on restaurants and inns-perhaps you could get your hands on a copy?

There are wineries near Seattle in the suburb of Woodinville that are easily done as day trips, the most well known of which is Chateau St. Michelle:

Woodinville wineries

I'll let others tell you if these are worthwhile. I grew up in the Woodinville area and started taking field trips to St. Michelle in 4th grade, so they really don't excite me anymore.

Sorry I don't have more specific recommendations but I thought that might be helpful.

[fido dido]

Go to the Tri-Cities area...in Richland they have a whole bunch of fantastic wineries close together. My absolute favorite is Kiona...they have a great cab-merlot blend and award-winning ice wines. Their best wine though, and by far the most interesting, is their Lemberger. It's inexpensive and truly memorable. It's a rare grape outside of its native Austria, but Kiona is known for its Lems. It's fun to visit, too. The tasting room is in the 1970s-decorated walk-out basement of a family house. The decor is not on purpose. I don't think they ever bothered to really remodel. You park in their driveway next to the basketball hoop.

[vengroff]

The Yakima Valley and the Red Mountain Appelation are easily reachable from Seattle in two to three hours. I know people who have done it as a long day trip, but I think it's worth an overnight stay. Some of the places I've liked are Apex, Portteus, and Terra Blanca, but there are several dozen more along about a 50 mile stretch.

See http://www.winesnw.com/yak.html for some additional details.

Walla Walla also has a good cluster of wineries worth visiting, but it's quite a bit further drive.

[little ms foodie]

You definately want to get out of Seattle for a few days into wine country if you can.

http://www.washingtonwine.org/

but if you just want to stay in Seattle and do a day or 2 in woodinville you might want to contact a few of the ones not open to the public and see if you can get a tasting set up.

http://www.woodinvillewinecountry.com/wwc.php

[chuck]

Getting over to the good parts of the wine country can take 4 hours and you should plan to go and stay instead of trying a day trip. My only advice is about the drive. You can take I-90 then head south at Ellensburg, but my god will you be sorry. That part of Washington reminds me of Nevada or something. You absolutely cannot go wrong by heading south from Seattle, either down I-5 to Tacoma or down SR-167, then turning east to go around Mt. Rainier on the north and east. Over some spectacular passes (White Pass? Blewett? I think you have a choice) and into some lovely dry eastern Washington mountains. There's a good place to stop and have breakfast near Sumner, just to keep this post relevant, called Charlie's, I think.

[dandelion]

Chuck's route is good, or...

If you head east on I-90 past Ellensburg and skip the turn-off to Yakima, you can go straight on to Vantage, where there's a really pretty crossing of the Columbia River. Head south from there, and you'll pass through this tiny town called Schwana, with a gas station that has GREAT popsicles.

Past that, you'll start driving through miles of vineyards and apple orchards, and little towns with names like Desert Aire... The air smells <em>great</em> out there. Keep going and you'll end up in the Tri-Cities, where, as fido dido mentioned, there are a lot of wineries around.

<em>No one</em> goes this way... it's just a 2-lane, 70 mph highway. You can hit a lot of traffic during certain parts of the year if you go a different route, but past Vantage it's always clear.

The landscape of eastern Washington is VERY different from the western part of the state. It may look like Nevada (I've never been there), but that's not necessary a bad thing. There's these rocky hills, and sand dunes, and loads of sagebrush. Pretty, but in a completely different way than the forests we have out here.

If you drive through Ellensburg, do stop at <a href="http://www.dmcoffee.com/Locations/drivethru.htm" target="_blank">D & M Coffee</a>, which is EXCELLENT.

[bilrus]

I'm definetly willing to make a drive and spend a day or two out of the cities. We're planning on renting a nice, comfy car for the drive to Vancouver and around the area.

My favorite vacations have always been a mix of urban and rural.

I'll take a look at the info you've posted so far.

If anyone else has suggestions, they're appreciated.

[jbonne]

go to Red Mountain. go to Walla Walla. make appointments, if possible.

i find Woodinville largely optional, unless you're pressed for time or come on an open-house weekend. most of the small W'ville wineries are appointment-only. Tri-Cities can be folded into a Red Mountain trip. you can also do a two-day swing: go all the way to WW, spend the night there, then hit RM and TC on your way back.

i find the Yakima Valley stretch along I-82 far less compulsory than i used to.

[Really Nice!]

What wineries do you suggest visiting? 

If you are staying in Seattle proper and don't have the time to go over to the eastern side of the state, visit Woodinville. It's about a 30 minute drive from Pike Place Market (downtown) depending on traffic. My favorites are:

DeLille Cellars, which is by appointment on Fridays only. Make an appointment on their Web site.

Matthews Cellars is open on Saturdays from 12 - 4pm.

DiStefano Winery is open weekends 12 - 5.

Columbia Winery is open daily 10 - 7

Chateau Ste. Michelle is open daily 10 - 4:30

These two are across the street from each other and are closest to the look and feel of a Napa wine tasting room.

kiliki pointed you to the Woodinville Winery Web site. Here's a map of the Woodinville region and the wineries mentioned.

Are the wineries clustered in certain areas or are they pretty spread out?

The ones mentioned above are located within four miles of each other. The ones on the eastern part of the state are spead across about 100 miles along highway 82.

Is it possible to stay in Seattle and go to decent places in the area or is it best to get out of town for a few days (which I'd probably prefer)? 

The others have metioned that getting out of town for a few days is doable. And if that's what you prefer take I90 to 82 (Yakima) and enjoy the country side.

Any suggestions on places to stay?

In Seattle if you want to stay downtown, there's the Red Lion on Pike and 5th, or for a bit more there's Inn at the Market. In eastern Washington we stayed at The Cozy Rose Inn Bed and Breakfast in Grandview. FYI, I cannot stand B&Bs, having breakfast with strangers is not my thing, but this place was great. You get your own little cottage and the hosts bring your breakfast out to you where you can dine alone. It was a lot of fun and we plan on returning, which is something I've never said about a B&B.

Grandview is west of Prosser and Benton City (Red Mountain AVA) and will give you a central base to access many high quality wineries.