Wineries To Visit In Woodinville Area (Washington)

I am going through Washington on my way to Montana late this week (Fri-Sun?) and was wondering what wineries/tasting rooms I should visit in the Woodinville area? I have never been to WA wine country before and I would like to take a close look and try some wines/high-end Cabs over a couple of days. Anyone I should reach out to in order to see things a little more up close than a typical walk-in tasting? Thanks!
flirtysmile

DeLille!!

Cadence

We liked Mark Ryan and Sparkman.

Savage Grace. They’re making some really interesting Cab Francs and Malbecs (which they call côt).

Cadence is in the South Park district in Seattle. I suggest Januik instead for a winery near DeLille, somewhat in the same style as Cadence.

Avennia. They have a separate tasting room, but if you reach out to Chris peterson or Marty Taucher, you should be able to get to the winery. I would also consider a side trip to Cadence in south seattle–reach out to Ben Smith. (I would say you could use my name, but–hey–you will do better using your own!)

Are you set on Woodinville?

If not, there’s also an area just south of downtown called Sodo that also has a number of spots.

Sodo:

Sleight of Hand
Latta
Kerloo
Rotie
Waters
and a little further south, K Vintners (Charles Smith)

Woodinville:

Delille
Long Shadows
Kevin White
WT

In Woodinville I like Kevin White, Savage Grace, Two Vintners, Lobo Hills, and Januik.

I would second Kevin White. It’s a small place, and he still works for microsoft as his day job I believe, so if you want to visit and meet with him, send feelers out ahead of time.

If Roy is looking for Cab, I would not suggest most of these listed below, and would not suggest going to SoDo. I love the SoDo wineries (and Kevin White), just not for Cab. I’d go to Woodinville and hit Mark Ryan, DeLille, and Long Shadows. I’ve heard good things about Savage Grace and Avennia, but have not tried them personally.

For high end Cabs, my first choice by far would be DeLille. Really lovely restrained wines.

The other to try is Adams Bench – I have only been once, but really liked what they were doing with Cab and Cab blends.

I love Savage Grace, but they are not known for Cabs – more Cab Franc. And some lovely whites. So if you are interested in those I highly recommend them.

I also associate the better Mark Ryan wines with Syrah/rhone blends.

And like John P., while I also like the Sodo winery scene, I would not recommend that for Cabs.

+1 re Long Shadows…I may be an outlier but, on a recent visit, I was underwhelmed at Novelty Hill/Januik…Seemed as tho they were catering to a party crowd, ie loud boisterous drinkers having a great time…not that there is anything wrong with having fun…but the wines were served at temperatures that were much too cold.

Only a handful of WA wines hit at what I think Roy might be after. Avennia and Longshadows are In woodinville. Force Majeure, Leonetti, Corliss and Rasa are in walla walla and Quilceda Creek is in snohomish. We can probably pull a group together at my house in Seattle to taste them all if you have a free evening (maybe sat?) PM me.

I think it would be necessary to make an appointment with Mike Januik to make the visit worthwhile. He really knows his stuff.

Avennia definitly should be on the visit list. I don’t know about Long Shadows, since all the wines are made/directed by
consulting wine makers.

Betz in Woodinville for sure - need an appointment, but that would be the only must imo.

And then Travis’ as well :smiley:

Roy, as I am sure you know, ‘wine country’ in WA means Eastern WA, but many of the wineries and tasting rooms are in the Puget Sound region. Since it sounds like you may be driving, you might consider going to the actual wine country on your way to Montana. There are a lot of wineries and vineyards in the Columbia Valley and Walla Walla appellations, and if you go to Walla Walla, there is a beautiful (but slow and curvy) drive from there to Missoula. Via US12 thru Idaho.

Thanks, everyone!

John, if you’ve not tried Kevin White’s cab/merlot blend from DuBrul Vineyard, I’d recommend it.

I’d say that the cab isn’t especially great at very many of the wineries in the area, with the exception of Delille, Long Shadows, and Cadence. Of which the first two were mentioned in the list I left.

Agree, it’s a gorgeous drive. We took that route out to Darby, MT, after a stay at Abeja in Walla Walla.