Woodinville, Washington – A day of tasting…
We left Troon to drive north to stay the night in the Willamette Valley and headed to Woodinville in the morning.
Woodinville is a Seattle suburb home to a slew of urban tasting rooms from wineries in Washington and Oregon. These wineries are bringing the wine to the people. It’s perfect for gaining customers and perhaps club members, who can easily spend part or all of their weekend in the area tasting wines, avoiding the multiple-hour drive to the wineries.
This was our first time in Woodinville, and we would spend it with a wine-writing couple that we have known for a while but never had the opportunity to meet in person! Chris and Allison Wallace of Advinetures are somewhat frequent visitors to the Woodinville area and suggested we meet at the DeLille restaurant for lunch! We enjoyed beautiful wines from this well-known Washington Winery that sources from some fantastic sites primarily in Red Mountain but also in the Yakima Valley (from DuBrul and Red Willow, 2 of our favorites) as well as Snipes Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, and the Columbia Valley.
The restaurant was in the Hollywood District (so named for the Hollywood School nearby), the southernmost tasting district in the area.
Our tastings then took us north to the Downtown district, where we tasted at the Montinore/Landlines tasting room. We would visit Montinore in a few days to see the harvest, vineyards, and winery. This day would allow us to taste their wines with Allison and Chris.
The new tasting room for Montinore and Landlines Estates is in the Schoolhouse District. I know it’s a bit confusing with the Hollywood District named for a Schoolhouse, but this district sits next to the YMCA Schoolyard Park. Soccer matches were happening when we arrived.
This stunning tasting room sits on Wine Walk Row and pours the wines of Montinore and Landlines, now operated by Ackley Brands. The company currently owns both Montinore and Landlines Estates. The Tidalstar Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA provides the fruit for the Landlines Lost Corner Chardonnay is from a one-acre block on this beautiful site, and the Shy Horizon Pinot Noir is the block that the sunrise first touches. (We walked this vineyard with Rudy when we visited, so you can look forward to photos soon).
The tasting room is elegant and warm, with clean, modern lines and rich colors. Alana took great care of us, and we went through a tasting of the wines, enjoying pairings that she prepared for us.
Then, it was time to head north again to the Warehouse District to the Pie Wine Bar by Wilridge. This is indeed a warehouse district, with small wineries housed in warehouses and other buildings. We would meet Paul Beverage, the owner, the following day at the vineyard, but today, we would taste the wines.
Paul Beverage started Wilridge Winery in Seattle when Garagiste winemakers were barely known. Having worked as an Environmental Lawyer, he spent lots of time working with the legislature to update wine laws in Washington.
In 2007, Wilridge Vineyard in what is now the Naches Heights AVA just west of the Yakima Valley AVA became Washington State’s first Biodynamic vineyard. Why? Paul said whenever he tasted or heard about the best wines from around the world, they were all grown using this method.
We sipped through a tasting at the Pie Wine Bar, and Michael and I sadly didn’t have time for Pie. We had a few hours of driving to get to the Yakima Valley to get up and catch the sunrise at the Wilridge Vineyard.
Our day with Allison and Chris ended too soon, but we will speak again soon. They will be part of the team joining us to tell the stories of biodynamic and regenerative vineyards around the world.
Can Wine Save the Planet?
This trip was part of our filming for our upcoming Documentary Project, “Can Wine Save the Planet? This trip allowed us to get harvest b-roll and to speak to the Vintners about their journey through biodynamics and Regenerative agriculture.
Watch for more of our Harvest Diaries as we continue our journey through Washington and back to Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
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