?? Wineries in Seattle WA area??

Hey all!!! Bether and I are going to visit daughter Karn in the Seattle area - actually Bainbridge Island - and are looking to visit a winery or two that makes serious wine. I am hoping that we can get some suggestions from the knowledgeable people here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

OW! Good to see you back here!

I suggest you and Beth come to the Oregon offline in August (see the offline forum), and then travel up to Seattle. You will have had great winery experiences that way. See how easy that was?



JB

Hi OW - There are some nice ones in Woodinville that I visited when I went there a few years ago. If you go there, you have to do lunch at the Rd Hook Brewery - great Porter.

[Jenise]

Woodinville indeed is the center for wineries anchored west of the mountains. DiStefano, Woodinville Wine Cellars and Januik/Novelty Hill are the three I'd reccomend of those I know are there. DeLille is HQ'd on this side, and if they have a tasting room then by all means put De Lille on your list--the wines are exemplary. I've been meaning to look into a tasting room for them myself. I understand there are also some downtown Seattle tasting bars that pour wines for those who don't have a cellar door presence, though I haven't been to any myself.

Julia, when is the Oregon offline? If I can combine it with a trip to visit relatives in Salem and a RedSox game against the Mariners, it is a possibility......
Jenise and Howie, thanks for the tips. I've printed them out and tucked them in my suitcase.

[Jenise]

Oliver,

I googled DeLille and discovered that indeed they have a tasting room now. Strongly reccomended for high quality old world style wines, among Washington's very best. It's here:

The Carriage House
Tasting Room
14421 Woodinville-Redmond Rd NE
Woodinville, WA 98072
Open Daily 12:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Thanks, Jenise. I am definitely putting Woodinville on the agenda.

[Jenise]

Julia, when is the Oregon offline? If I can combine it with a trip to visit relatives in Salem and a RedSox game against the Mariners, it is a possibility......
Jenise and Howie, thanks for the tips. I've printed them out and tucked them in my suitcase.

Not Julia, but...it's August. Check out the Offline Planning section below.

We made our trip to Woodinville yesterday. Beautiful weather in the Seattle area. Thanks for the advice.
We discovered that many - maybe most - of the small wineries opened their tasting rooms only on the weekend. Thankfully, there were a few that bucked the trend - DeLille included. The DeLille tasting room was being tended yesterday by Thea Upchurch, a lovely lady from the Netherlands who is married to part owner and full time wine maker Chris Upchurch. We sampled six wines, four of them with the Doyenne label, and two with the DeLille label. I did not take tasting notes, so all I can really say is a) thanks Jenise, for the tip, and b) these wines are all old world, impeccably made, and with great structure and balance. I ended up with a mixed case of the Signature Syrah, the Aix (a cabernet and syrah blend that is NOTHING like the blends of those two coming from Australia), and the Delille Chaleur Estate, a bordeaux blend. These will be shipped to Michigan, at exhorbatant expense no doubt, and I hope there is an opportunity to share them with some of you in the future. Maybe at MoCOOL.
I was greatly impressed with these wines, and did some research on DeLille after placing the order. I discovered that Parker calls DeLille the Chateau Lafite of Washington. I usually don't agree with him. But he got that one absolutely right.

[Jenise]

We made our trip to Woodinville yesterday. Beautiful weather in the Seattle area. Thanks for the advice.
We discovered that many - maybe most - of the small wineries opened their tasting rooms only on the weekend. Thankfully, there were a few that bucked the trend - DeLille included. The DeLille tasting room was being tended yesterday by Thea Upchurch, a lovely lady from the Netherlands who is married to part owner and full time wine maker Chris Upchurch. We sampled six wines, four of them with the Doyenne label, and two with the DeLille label. I did not take tasting notes, so all I can really say is a) thanks Jenise, for the tip, and b) these wines are all old world, impeccably made, and with great structure and balance. I ended up with a mixed case of the Signature Syrah, the Aix (a cabernet and syrah blend that is NOTHING like the blends of those two coming from Australia), and the Delille Chaleur Estate, a bordeaux blend. These will be shipped to Michigan, at exhorbatant expense no doubt, and I hope there is an opportunity to share them with some of you in the future. Maybe at MoCOOL.
I was greatly impressed with these wines, and did some research on DeLille after placing the order. I discovered that Parker calls DeLille the Chateau Lafite of Washington. I usually don't agree with him. But he got that one absolutely right.

Oliver, you couldn't have made me happier. DeLille is IMO *the* winery that proves what's possible in Washington state. At least to my palate. What I don't get is why as far as I know no one else here thinks so--I mean, the winery's held in high esteem and all, but I never hear it singled out in the way Quilceda Creek and Leonetti are despite the fact that the Chaleur nails that Lafite-ness thing year after year (I've owned, and drunk, 94, 95 and 96 in the past five years). And it's especially mystifying after hearing that Parker made such a comment--where are the lemmings? Why haven't their prices gone through the roof? I had to stumble over them all by myself, and of course it was a hauntingly complex Chaleur that did the trick. Oh, and here I am not at all a domestic syrah fan but the 03 Doyenne we drank about six months ago is the best WA syrah I've had by some margin--I'm so sorry I didn't buy but the one bottle.

Anyway, I'm so glad that De Lille, of all the wineries I reccomended, worked out for you.

I agree, I love their wines, they tend to be better structured and better balanced than a lot of other wineries which get 'better' press. Their two new estate releases, from the 2007 vintage - are both extremely impressive, but not cheap at $75. But their whole lineup is strong.

[Jenise]

John, glad to hear it. And yes, the prices are up there, but I'll confess I've never bought from the winery, and instead have purchased them second hand at a considerable savings, typically $30-40. Upon moving here, that was the best way of getting acquainted through some aged bottles with what was around.