Woodinville Wine Country: Exploring the Best Of Washington State Wine - Part 1

Seattle is a travel highlight for any lover of wine, food and culture. But there is so much more just a few miles away from the Emerald City. Woodinville, located in a peaceful valley 30 minutes northeast of Seattle, is a crossroads where the fruit of Eastern Washington meet the vintners, chefs and flavors of the Pacific Northwest.

The Woodinville Wine Experience

When I first visited (and fell in love with) Washington State wine country, I spent most of my time in the Walla Walla Valley. Eastern Washington is where most of the grapes are grown in the state. The high desert climate and less-than-fertile soil is ideal for vineyards. It’s also across the Cascade Mountains and a couple hundred miles away from Seattle.

During a recent visit to Seattle we tagged on a few extra days but didn’t have the time to trek all the way to Walla Walla – however, we were in luck. A mere half hour away Woodinville offers 108 wineries and tasting rooms. Our plan was to reduce our mileage and invest that extra time into tasting wine.

If you are a wine tourist, Woodinville will most likely be a different type of experience. Unlike the Silverado Wine Trail in Napa Valley, you won’t be trekking from one destination winery to another. Instead, this is more like the Lompoc Wine Ghetto – storefronts where there is a tasting room and sometimes a production room in the back. With a few exceptions, you won’t be strolling garden paths to granite and glass edifices.

The Warehouse District

There are two main wine areas in Woodinville, the northerly Warehouse District and the southerly Hollywood District. Each has 45 to 50 tasting rooms or wineries with a few distilleries and microbreweries thrown in.

A common site is a three-foot tall sandwich board sign with the name of a winery and an arrow pointing the way. At one stop in the Warehouse District we saw 20 such signs lined up on the road.

The outsides are typically what you might expect of a strip mall business, except for the signs advertising wine inside. It’s not uncommon for wineries to share space as was the case with our first stop where three tasting rooms were co-located, each with a small bar set up.

Our first taste was Convergence Zone Cellars, for us it was the convergence of luck and our location. CZ was on my long list of places to visit and after blundering around with directions we spotted a sign and stopped in.

Convergence Zone Cellars

Convergence Zone is a small family owned winery with production facilities in Woodinville and North Bend. They source grapes from Red Mountain, Snipes Mountain and Columbia Valley.

We sampled the 2013 Dewpoint, a Riesling with 1.6% residual sugar, and Drizzle, a Pinot Gris with 2.2% residual sugar. While they were okay, our favorite was the 2013 Mistral, a Grenache-based blend with Syrah and Mourvedre. This offered great flavors of fresh macerated berries.

Kaella Winery

Taking about two steps to our right, we entered the Kaella Winery zone manned by owner and winemaker Dave Butner. The winery name combines the names of Dave’s two youngest daughters. Kaella focuses on small-log premium red wines. Their production is about 500 cases annually.

Dave has recently sold the winery and has been using his time in the tasting room to pour some special bottles. Great timing on our part! We tasted the 2010 Ciel du Cheval Sangiovese (full of tannins and spice) and well as the 2012 Cabernet Franc and 2012 Meritage. Each of these was outstanding, but the best of all was the 2008 Merlot. Only one barrel was produced and the tannins have integrated nicely into the smooth, ripe cherry flavors.

Avennia

Avennia was a recommendation from a waiter in Seattle. It turns out that its tasting room was on the backside of the parking lot from Convergence Zone and so we decided to pop in. We were the only visitors present and that led to a great tasting with winemaker Chris Peterson. Chris is a native of the Pacific Northwest and helped make some of the top-rated wines in the state at DeLille Cellars.

We started with the refreshing 2014 Oliane Sauvignon Blanc. It is wild fermented and partly aged in the winemaker’s newest toy – a concrete egg. It offers a nice dose of minerality. Our well-needed refreshment continued with the L’Egerie Rosé made from Grenache and Mourvedre using the direct press and saignée method.

Chris is enchanted with Bordeaux wines – and so are we. The 2013 Gravuva blend, is an almost even blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with a dollop of Cabernet Franc.

The highlight of the tasting was the 2013 Sestina, which is a Left Bank Bordeaux blend driven by 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot and 9% Cab Franc. Chris calls this a 15-year wine – but we don’t think we can wait that long for the bottle we purchased.

Chris calls his wine style vineyard driven. “I want to show off the terroir,” he said. “I want to let the wine express itself.”
Woodinville is a kaleidoscope of wine. We’ll take another look through the lens later this week in our second installment.

Northwest Passage: The Sights And Bites of Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington, is one of America’s great cities, brimming with exceptional scenery, attractions and upper echelon eateries.

Visiting The Emerald City

Traveling for business can be an exciting adventure, especially when it brings you to Seattle, Washington. Not only did my recent trip afford me the chance to explore the city, but by extending our trip, we were able to trek to nearby Woodinville to get our fill of Washington State wine.

While waiting for our room at the Westin Seattle, we strolled a half-dozen blocks toward the waterfront. There we were able to explore Pike Place Market, one of the oldest continuously operating farmers markets in the country. This is a hurly-burly of activity with shops, cafes, and craftsmen swimming with shoulder-to-shoulder tourists. The multi-level market is under a roof, so it is a perfect place to shop during Seattle’s occasional rain showers.

The smell of delicious baked goods wafting through the air drew me to Daily Dozen Doughnuts. They specialize in mini-doughnuts. My hot doughnuts were baked as I watched, then placed in a paper bag with cinnamon and shaken (not stirred!) ‘til ready. Within a few blocks of the market we strolled passed crowds waiting at Piroshky-Piroshky Russian bakery and Starbuck’s original café, which serves only coffee and espresso. Look for its sign with the original Starbucks's logo. 

Taking A Bite Out of Seattle

Even before there was grunge rock, Seattle was known for amazing cuisine using fresh Pacific Northwest ingredients, especially seafood. Dungeness crab and salmon top the list of savory seafood.

One of the city’s top seafood restaurants is Aqua. Nestled at the tip of Pier 70, walls of glass windows allow scintillating views of Elliott Bay. There is an outdoor deck for dining or strolling afterward.
Aqua’s sister restaurant is El Gaucho steakhouse, so they prepare a mean steak as well as succulent seafood.

We enjoyed a seafood platter appetizer followed by a steak and salad entrée. One of the joys of Seattle dining is a superb Washington State wine to accompany your meal. Our seafood was paired with 2014 Lumiere Chardonnay from Sparkman – one of the premier Chardonnay makers in Washington. For our beef we enjoyed Amavi Cabernet Sauvignon, another favorite.

If you walk downtown Seattle for five minutes in any direction, you’ll come across unlimited possibilities for dining. Cuisines range from Bavarian to Thai to Vietnamese to vegan to Italian. For our final evening we ventured to the eclectic Westward on the north shores of Lake Union.

Westward Ho!

Our trip there was complicated by a fundraising visit from President Barrack Obama, who happened to be staying at the same hotel as ours. This triggered a police lockdown with wife inside the Westin and the rest of our group outside the perimeter. On a good day, traffic in Seattle can be thick – throw in a presidential visit and you have virtual gridlock.

The wait was worth it. Westward is a funky restaurant with an emphasis on “water inspired Northwestern fare.”

One of the restaurant’s best features is the dozen or so Adirondack chairs on its deck with a view of downtown Seattle. This is perfect for pre- or post-dinner cocktails. On the night we visited, the weather was cool, so we opted for an inside table with a warmer view. Our dinner included grilled octopus with taramasalata (a dip made from fish roe), chili and fennel bark and parsley oil. We also enjoyed wood-oven roasted Rainbow Trout, which was carved table-side and served with rhubarb, pistachios, basil and brown butter. 

What a unforgettable way to end the first leg of our Washington journey. For our next phase, the compass points to Woodinville and the wines of Washington…

Magnum Force: Taste Washington Red & White Party A Very Large Format Success

It’s impossible not to love the idea: a classy party featuring 90+ rated Washington State wines all from large format bottles. No doubt it was worth winging my way thousands of miles west to Seattle for this kickoff event for the annual Taste of Washington affair.
I was in town visiting Seattle as a guest of Visit Seattle, the city’s convention and visitors bureau. Knowing my love of wine, they invited me to tour their facilities while epic wine events were taking place in town.
Back in 2010 I visited Seattle as part of a VIP bus tour that started in the Emerald City and wound its way through a number of wine hotspots before reaching Walla Walla for the Wine Bloggers Conference. One of my favorite memories of that trip was a five-course wine dinner at the Waterfront Seafood Grill.

As we drove up to Aqua by El Gaucho, the site of the Red & White Party, things looked awfully familiar – including the fountain where one of our wine bloggers took a dip after our wine dinner in 2010. As it turns out, Aqua and Waterfront Seafood Grill are one in the same, just rebranded.
The restaurant has a spectacular view of Elliott Bay and the view inside was superb as well. Guests neatly attired in red and white were queuing up for sips of wine as large format bottles stretched as far as the eye could see.

If you attend only one event at the four-day Taste of Washington event, I’d suggest this is the one. You have a chance to meet winemakers who are pouring exclusive wines from magnum (or larger) bottles. The list of wineries is off the charts, including: Col Solare, DeLille Cellars, Dunham Cellars, EFESTE, FIGGINS, Januik, Leonetti, Long Shadows Vintners, Northstar, Sparkman and Woodward Canyon. The wine was paired with an eclectic mix of appetizers.
While I didn’t sample all 29 wineries, I found each wine to be a standout. Indeed, to be part of the program, the wine had to attain at least a 90 point rating. Here are some of my favorites:

• Leonetti 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Valley
• Chateau St. Michelle 2011 Artist Series Meritage
• Januik 2012 Weinbau Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
• Figgins 2011 Estate Red Wine
• Long Shadows 2011 Sequel Syrah
• Northstar 2007 Merlot, Walla Walla Valley
• Sleight of Hand 2012 Illusionist Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley

Washington State is the second largest premium wine producer in the US with more than 850 wineries. The growth has been explosive. In 1981 there were only 19 wineries.
There are more than 40 varieties produced, but most prevalent are Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Merlot and Chardonnay. The wine explodes with fruit flavors and in the hands of the region’s experienced winemakers, they are second to none in terms of quality and refinement.
Whether your hobnobbing at a ritzy gala, or uncorking a bottle at the kitchen table, Washington wine offers a wide array of superb wines.