A few weeks ago, I asked /r/wine for tasting recommendations in Woodinville, WA during an anniversary trip to Seattle, so I figured I should share some highlights.
First of all, we had an amazing time. Woodinville is an awesome town with friendly people and great wine. We started off the day taking an Uber from our hotel in Downtown Seattle to brunch at The Barking Frog in the Hollywood District. The eggs benedict was delicious, but the accompanying potatoes came out ice cold… Fortunately, this minor disappointment was the last of the day.
After brunch, we walked over to the picturesque Chateau Ste. Michelle. There was a slight drizzle, but the 4 block walk was helpful to walk off a filling brunch. We were greeted in the main tasting room with a glass of Chenin Blanc, which, at just after 11am was a good primer for the day ahead. We didn’t do the CSM tasting/tour – we’re not huge fans of the big producers, but we were interested in the Col Solare tasting. At $20, it was the most expensive tasting of the day, but the pours were very generous and quite good. This was our first introduction of the day to Red Mountain-grown wines.
From CSM, it’s about another 4 block walk to the main tasting corridor in the Hollywood District. Before lunch, we stopped at Pepper Bridge (7/10) and Amavi (7/10), J Bookwalter (5/10), and Gorman (7.5/10). Gorman was the early favorite with Pepper Bridge a close second. J Bookwalter was WAY too oaky for our taste. We did pick up their “Chapter 5” Cabernet for its age-worthiness and personal significance (it was our 5th wedding anniversary trip). They also had a concrete egg-fermented Chenin Blanc that was incredible. We had only read about concrete eggs before, and we were very impressed with its smooth, wet stone fruitiness and complexity.
We lunched at Purple Café, which was delicious. We worked up quite the appetite from the five pre-lunch tastings, and definitely needed a break. After lunch, we hit up Sparkman (8/10), Mark Ryan (9/10), Market (8/10), Long Shadows (8/10), and Fidelitas (10/10). We were so impressed with Mark Ryan, Market, and Fidelitas that we joined their wine clubs and we will probably join Sparkman as well. Overall, once we got used to the oak, we enjoyed most of what we tasted as evidenced by the 24 bottles we jammed into our suitcases!
We were a little concerned that taking an Uber would be a mistake and we would be severely limited, but it turned out to be well worth it and we certainly did not run out of options.
TL;DR 10/10 would recommend Woodinville.
Special thanks to /u/fishsupreme for the in-depth and spot on recommendations!
EDIT: TL;DR
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from Worlds Great Wines http://ift.tt/1FSsij5
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