Olympic Peninsula Wineries

November – that time of year characterized by beautiful fall color, friends, family and traditional Thanksgiving feasts. It’s also the time that many of us are wrestling to decide which wines best complement the array of tastes, textures, aromas associated with our American holiday, as well as our guests’ varying palates.

While there are no hard and fast rules about the “right” wines to serve at Thanksgiving, the Olympic Peninsula Wineries suggest the following food for thought.

First, abundance and variety are key. You’ll never go wrong opening a few different wines and letting your guests serve themselves. There are plenty of good, affordable wines available today so offering variety doesn’t have to break the bank even in these tough economic times. Visit a local winery’s tasting room and sample a few in advance.

Wines with lower tannin levels and less complexity are better suited to the mélange of flavors they are intended to complement.

Think refreshing. With a big meal, lighter-bodied wines that continuously refresh the palate are a good choice, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris. Stay away from big, buttery Chardonnays. Lighter-bodied reds include Sangiovese and Pinot Noir.

If you prefer to serve one wine to carry through the meal, consider a Riesling or a dry to off-dry rosé. Both of these wines are nice complements to turkey with all the fixings.

For dessert, Port pairs nicely with pumpkin and pecan pies.

Last, as Eric Asimov says in his International Herald Tribune article, How to Choose a Wine for Thanksgiving, “The most important thing you can do is choose wines that you really like. That way, if nobody else is happy, at least you will have pleased yourself!” http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/14/arts/trwine.php?page=1

Many travelers took advantage of the opportunity to purchase their “Passports” on line before departing on the Olympic Peninsula Wineries’ first International Passport Wine Tour this past weekend.  A quick click via the winery association’s website enables an easy, secure Pay Pal transaction in advance of all wine tours.

Visitors paired wines crafted locally from old world origin grapes with a selection of foods from some of Europe’s most famous wine growing regions. New taste sensations were discovered, including Sorensen Cellars’ Viognier and goat cheese canapes with apricots and almonds, and Olympic Cellars’ Dungeness Red Lemberger Wine and Alsatian Tarte Flambee.A good time was had by all.

The Olympic Peninsula Winerie’s next event will be the Red Wine & Chocolate Tour. This two-weekend event will take place on February 7-8, 2009 and February 14-15-16 (Presidents’ Day Weekend). More information is available at www.olympicpeninsulawineries.org. Get your advance tickets on line now!

If the current economy is putting your dreams of a trip to Europe on hold for a while, head to the scenic Olympic Peninsula and taste your way through France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and even a bit of Early America during the Olympic Peninsula Wineries’ annual Passport Weekend.

Each winery will feature a specially selected wine that has been handcrafted locally from grapes grown in Washington State. Most of  these varieties have their historical roots in some of the world’s finest growing regions. And for a terrific taste sensation each winery’s highlighted selection will be paired with a small bite of internationally inspired cuisine from the representative country.
Food and wine are an important part of travel and local cultures, and they can provide a strong sense of place while they delight the taste buds. Try some of our delicious combinations and experience some International flavors without venturing too far from home!

So come join us for this special Passport Weekend and be our guest for our International Wine Tour. Sample our own local style of food and wines from around the world. No airline tickets required, and your Passports can be obtained instantly in advance on line or at any of the points of entry!

Passports are limited to just 400 visitors. Advance reservations are available on line until midnight on Thurs, Nov 6th. Any remaining Passports will be available at the door of the wineries on a first come basis. Tasting fees for visitors without Passports will be $5.00 per person per winery

The first annual self guided Tour of Wineries and Poker Run will take place Saturday & Sunday,  Oct 11 & 12, starting at 11 am. The best five card poker hand at the end of the weekend wins a gorgeous gift basket and a trio of gift certificates from Seven Cedars Casino. Anyone age 21 and over is welcome to join the fun.
Here is how it works. Begin the run at any of the North Olympic Peninsula Wineries, the Crab and Seafood Festival’s Wine Bar located on the Port Angeles City Pier, or the Seven Cedars Casino near Sequim. Enjoy some award winning wine and pick up your Poker Run Card, complete with instructions and a map.

Each winery you visit, in addition to the Crab Festival and the Casino, offers the opportunity to draw a card and have your personal Poker Run Card stamped with the value of the card you drew. Visit all nine locations and you’ve got nine opportunities to draw for the best potential poker hand, but the number of stops is up to you. A minimum of five stops is required for validation.

Each venue will have a depository for completed cards and will accept cards until closing. The wineries will be open from 11am-5pm on Sat & Sun, the Crab Festival from 10am-7:30pm on Sat, and 10am-5:30pm on Sunday. Seven Cedars Casino opens at 10am each day and will offer the last chance to drop off completed Poker Run Cards at 7pm on Sunday.

The Poker Run is free of charge. Wine tasting will be available at all seven wineries throughout the day, and customary tasting fees will apply. At the end of the weekend all Poker Run Cards will be gathered and transferred to the casino where the winning hand will be determined. The winner will be notified by mail and email.

Lately as we travel it seems that almost every town a person visits looks the same.  Drive down the main shopping area and you’re likely to see the same restaurant chains, the same clothing stores, and the same home improvement stores.  Nothing seems unique anymore!

Uniqueness is being lost.  And many large commercial wineries are contributing to its demise by providing remarkably similar experiences for their customers.  Wine visitors can have a difficult time identifying what makes one large winery unique from another. Wine making is steeped with amazing traditions and values that many times customers can experience only when they visit the small distinctive family owned wineries.

Nearly all wineries will state that it is their wines that make them unique.  While this is true to some extent, in visiting the wineries of the Olympic Peninsula you have the opportunity to meet the people behind the wines and experience the passion that the winemakers have for their creations. Experience first hand what it is about wines that fascinates and intrigues people. So come visit us this time of year as the wineries prepare to swing into the harvest season and immerse your self in the joy of experiencing the differences that makes wine tasting so enjoyable.

Summer covers the North Olympic Peninsula in numerous shades of purple as the designated Lavender Capital of North America comes abloom. Celebrating this seasonal heritage, the Olympic Peninsula Wineries invite the public to enjoy a special Lavender Wine Tour, from Saturday, July 12 to Sunday July 20. the seven artisan wineries will pour their new and current releases from 11- 5 daily. Drive the self-guided Lavender Wine Tour and experience the warm hospitality for which the wineries are known.

The wine tour kicks-off Sequim’s annual Lavender Festival, set to take place July 18-20. The festival is the largest lavender event in North America, attracting visitors from around the world each year.  The Olympic Peninsula Wineries will be featured in the Wine & Beer Garden during the Festival Street Fair, with wines available for tasting or for purchase by the glass or by the bottle.

The life of wine is a long traveled road before it arrives at your table.  This post will take about two legs of the journed: Vineyard selection and Primary Fermentation.

Vineyard selection: The final taste of a wine starts in the vineyard, where the soil delivers nutrients and minerals to the vines, giving each vineyard a unique and distinguishable flavor from year to year.  During the spring to early fall growing season, the sun’s warmth and light allows grapes to go from a sour green state of high acid, low sugar to a very ripe state of lower acid and higher sugar.  Drier, sunnier climates (like Eastern Washington) and vineyard locations (ie: the South side of a hill) tend to produce sweeter fruit than fruit planted in cooler, more humid climates (ie: grapes planted on the North side of a hill).  The grape’s sugar and acid content is critical to both how much alcohol the wine will have after fermentation, and how dry the wine will be after fermentation.  Winemakers look for a subjective balance bertween sugar and acid when deciding when to pick.

Primary Fermentation:  Wine grapes are run through a machine that removes the stem and lightly crushes them.  The remaining juicy flesh, seeds and skins is call the “must”.  If a white wine or a rose’ is being made, the must is then pressed within the first 24 hours (depending on the winemaker’s style) to separate the juice from the skins and seeds.  The juice is then moved to tanks, vats, barrels, etc (again, winemaker’s style).  Yeast is added to begin fermentation, converting the sugar into alcohol.  Sulfites can be added (or not) to protect from any oxidation prior to fermentation…or after, but not during.  Red wine is made like white wine, except the jujice remains in contact with the skins and seeds during the fermentation process, thus picking up color, aromas, flavor and tannins.

((Next time Malolactic fermentation, racking, maturation, filtering (or not) and bottling

Most winery tasting rooms can accomodate looked after children.  Wineries in other areas have chosen to handle the situation by posting signs saying “must be 21″.   The seven wineries of the Olympic Peninsula Wineries are open to you bringing your children and here are a few things you can do to make it a more enjoyable experience them:

1.   Some wineries will provide some sort of beverage for underage folks and some will not.  For the wineries that do not,  they may be reluctant to let your toddler handle an expensive glass so she can be a “big girl”. 

2.  Keep them close to you while you are tasting-little people are out of the line of sight of adults whose attention is elsewhere and they can be bumped into and become overwhelmed in a sea of adult legs in a crowded tasting room. 

3. Be sure it’s okay to leave them outside to run and play– there may be machinery, traffic, etc that could be dangerous to them.

4.  If they have toys to keep them occupied, watch that they don’t set up a GI Joe camp in the middle of the floor where someone may trip on their toys or step on the children.

Children are almost always welcome and a little attention from their parents will make the experience more enjoyable for everyone.

Gorgeous scenery, warm temperatures and a jovial crowd made for a great Spring Barrel Tasting Weekend. The three day event brought out the best in everyone as they toured the scenic back roads, gazed at the snow covered Olympic Mountains, and tasted both wines in progress direct from the oak barrels and some spectacular current releases.

For more great fun in Olympic Wine Country you might want to put the Sequim Lavender Festival on your calendar. All the wineries will be open for the “Celebrate Lavender Wine Tour” July 12-20, 2008. Reserve your ticket and glass combination in advance on line or purchase at the door of any participating winery.

Most of the wineries are now on their summer schedules with expanded tasting room days and hours. Come for a visit … we are looking forward to seeing you!

Spring Barrel Tasting in North Olympic Wine Country

Public Invited to Experience Oak’s Significant Role in the Aging of Wine

May 12, 2008 – The Olympic Peninsula Wineries Association will offer a sneak peek at a number of upcoming releases during its annual Spring Barrel Tasting Tour, to take place Memorial Day Weekend, Saturday, May 24 through Monday, May 26. Seven member wineries located in Port Townsend, Sequim and Port Angeles will welcome visitors from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

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