One of the advantages of living in the Willamette Valley is that beside the great wine we get to taste, we get to enjoy amazing scenery on the way to each winery. Will I see Adams, Hood and Jefferson from this one? Or will I get a glimpse of St Helen’s and add an amazing fourth peak to the mix? Four peaks while I taste great wine? Why, this is God’s country!

But a great view does not a great tasting make. Case in point is our recent trip to Woodinville. Granted it was a nice wooded area surrounding the tasting cornucopia we found ourselves northeast of Seattle. But the area itself reminded me of an outlet mall, if every store in an outlet mall poured wine. Very good wine too.

Woodinville is for those who know wine, who want wine and don’t care about views. What was great for us was that we parked the car in a lot, went to six tasting rooms and the car was in sight the entire time. Yet the varieties we tasted were from one end of the spectrum to the other. The Winerabble crew is partial to the grapes of the Walla Walla region, having spent a memorable weekend there last year. While we live in a great wine region, we dig the wine alchemy that is being done in Eastern Washington.

We scratched the surface of the fingernail of the being that is Woodinville. It was a great day- we bought a lot and met so many great people. Big shout out to Philip at Sparkman and all the folks at Airfileld, as well as the great staff at Brian Carter. Hell, everyone we met and talked to was cool.

Winerabble will make another trip back to Woodinville- we know, we only hit the Hollywood area; there is sooooo much more to do!