The Wine Knows

The skies above Washington's Columbia Valley have been clear and blue for the past several days. We wake up each day with frost on the ground, but the temperatures often reach 50 by early afternoon.

With Snoqualmie Pass relatively clear of snow these days, it would seem to be a perfect time to get in a little winter wine touring.

I love going wine touring in winter. Not only are there zero crowds, but there's also something fun about stopping at a tiny tasting room along some back road while it's cold and/or rainy.

Through the years, I've had great adventures kicking around the wineries in the dead of winter in the northern Willamette Valley in Oregon, the various regions of the Columbia Valley in Washington or the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Winter wine touring tends to be more leisurely because you aren't fighting crowds or traffic. You get a lot more one-on-one attention. You might even end up back in the barrel room tasting through not-yet-completed wines. Lodging is cheaper, too.

Oddly, most of my winter wine touring in recent years has been in California. For the past several years, I've judged the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Before the judging begins (or if we finish early), I'll head to the Anderson Valley in Mendocino County or the Dry Creek or Russian River valleys in Sonoma County. Just like in the Northwest, many of the wineries in these areas are smaller producers, and you're likely to have the owner or winemaker behind the tasting bar.

By my estimation, "winter" wine touring lasts through the end of March, which is when some of the spring wine festivals start up and crowds start to thicken just slightly.

If you live in the Puget Sound region, you have a ton of options for winter wine touring. In addition to heading over the Cascades, you also can drive south to the Willamette Valley or even just cross Lake Washington to the burgeoning Woodinville wine area.

Across the sound are a dozen wineries on the Olympic Peninsula, starting in Shelton and stretching up to Port Angeles and Port Townsend. Wineries on Vashon, Bainbridge, Whidbey and Lopez islands are fairly easy to get to via the Washington State Ferries. A number of wineries have opened north of Everett, making a day trip to Skagit and Whatcom counties a distinct possibility.

And don't forget that there are a number of wineries in and near Seattle proper.

So look at your calendar and see if you can't find a free weekend in the next five weeks. You'll be glad you did.