Olympic Peninsula Wineries

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to travel to the Olympic Peninsula, the perfect opportunity awaits during Memorial Day Weekend. This is your chance to attend a fantastic festival and visit several Olympic Peninsula wineries.

The Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts is an annual occurrence in Port Angeles, WA. Each Memorial Day Weekend, it brings dozens of outstanding musicians, dancers and artists to the Olympic Peninsula. They come from around the world; local favorites share the stage with folks from Ghana and British Columbia. The results are electric. Read the rest of this entry »

In honor of mothers everywhere, the Washington State Wineries of the Olympic Peninsula are waiving all tasting fees for mothers during Mother’s Day Weekend. So come visit our wineries and raise glasses of Washington Wines to your mom, and to yourself if you’re a mom.

Walk the Dungeness Spit in the morning. Taste wine in the afternoon.

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And our winemaker Benoit Murat has it. Benoit is a native of Toulouse, in the southwest of France. The area between the Bordeaux region and the Pyrénées mountains is home to a great variety of wines, and some of the oldest. We are so pleased to have Benoit here with us, bringing his knowledge and experience to Olympic Cellars, one of six Washington State wineries on the Olympic Peninsula.

Benoit is pictured below, hard at work. Read the rest of this entry »

Stop by Port Townsend for the Rhody Festival and a glass of wine.

There are lots of good reasons to head to the Olympic Peninsula these days. For starters, try sunshine, glorious scenery, and many opportunities for outdoor recreation. Then there are six Washington State Wineries, open for visitation and ready to pour the wine.

There are also a number of upcoming events worth noting. Read on for just a few:

May 1, 2010, marks the start of the 115th Irrigation Festival in Sequim, WA. The longest running festival in the state of Washington, the Irrigation Festival celebrates the irrigation ditches that traverse Sequim and allowed the land to be cultivated in the 19th century. Look forward to parades, an arts and crafts festival, lawnmower races and a carnival. The town of Sequim steps out for this event for the weekends of May 1 and May 7, and it is well worth attending. Also on May 1, 2010, is the Victorian Spring Ball in Port Angeles. Read the rest of this entry »

Let the music begin.

Jazz lovers will soon be descending upon Port Angeles, WA, for Jazz in the Olympics. This festival runs April 23, 24, and 25, 2010, at several venues around Port Angeles. Traditional Jazz, Dixieland, and Gospel will be performed by ten different bands from all around the United States and Canada. The  music starts Friday afternoon at 2pm and ends Sunday night. Shuttle buses make traveling between venues a cinch.

Even the most diehard fans of jazz will need a break eventually. When that time comes, head to a nearby Washington State Winery; four Washington Wineries are located in and around Port Angeles, and the only problem will be deciding which one to visit first. Read the rest of this entry »

Wine and cheese - the best combination there is.

Wine and cheese were meant to go together. They are the perfect union. Well paired wine and cheese bring out the best in each other. The right combination compliments and enhances each flavor. It can be an extraordinary gustatory experience.

Cheese has a multitude of flavors and textures, from sumptuously creamy to sharp and crumbly. It is delicious when melted on noodles, crumbled over salads, and sliced next to fruit. And of course, cheese with bread and crackers is heavenly. But sometimes it is hard to know which cheese to choose for your dinner party or luncheon. Read the rest of this entry »

The Black Diamond Winery of Port Angeles is a delightfully homespun Washington State Winery. Most of the fruits and grapes in their wines are grown on their estate, carefully tended by the winemakers themselves. You can taste the freshness of their ingredients in their refreshing fruit and grape wines.

If you are heading to Sequim April 9 -11, 2010, for the Olympic Peninsula Bird Festival, be sure to leave room in your schedule for tasting Washington State wines.

Don't miss the Olympic Peninsula Birdfest, April 9 - 11, 2010

The Olympic Peninsula Bird Festival is chock full of interesting events. Participants may chose from several morning and afternoon field trips, photography workshops, or Northwest Raptor Center tours. Rise at dawn to listen to the Chorus of bird calls by the Dungeness River, and take the Owl Prowl once darkness falls. Cruise to Protection Island, and bid for unique items at the Silent Auction.

All this sounds like great fun for birding enthusiasts, but also exhausting.

When you feel ready for a bit of a rest, consider a trip to one of the Washington State Wineries near Sequim. A visit to a tasting room will restore your spirits and prepare you for the next activity at the Bird Festival. In addition, you are likely to find a Washington State wine that you would like to enjoy at home. Olympic Peninsula Wineries produce a limited number of cases each year, enabling us to focus on quality. The best chance you have of sampling our wines is in our delightful tasting rooms from Port Angeles to Port Townsend.

Bring your binoculars to the Olympic Peninsula Bird Festival, and leave with Olympic Peninsula wine.

Mark your calendars, for the Northwest Wine and Cheese Tour will be at the Washington State Wineries of the Olympic Peninsula on April 17 and 18, 2010. We’ll pair handcrafted local wines with locally made artisan cheeses, and the results will be out of this world.

Enjoy local, hand-crafted Washington wines and cheeses.

Six Washington State Wineries located in Port Townsend and Port Angeles will participate in the NW Wine and Cheese Tour. Our wineries will be open from 11 am to 6 pm both Saturday and Sunday. This allows ample time for you to leisurely visit all the wineries and sample a good selection of Washington State wines and cheese.

Cheesemakers from Mt. Townsend Creamery of Port Townsend and Mystery Bay Farm of Marrowstone Island will be at Olympic Cellars Winery, on Saturday. Sample these cheeses with the peninsula’s own Pane D’Amore bread and a selection of Olympic Cellars wines. Suzanne Tyler will present cheeses from Wild Harvest Creamery at Sorensen Cellars in Port Townsend.

Keep an eye out and a fork ready for amazing cheeses from Mount Townsend Creamery in Port Townsend, Golden Glen Creamery in Bow, and Montesano Estrella and Beechers in Seattle. We look forward to seeing which cheeses will be paired with the fantastic fruit wines of Black Diamond Winery. And we always love to see what is being poured in the lovely tasting rooms at Harbinger Winery and Camaraderie Cellars of Port Angeles. In Port Townsend, look for excellent cheese and wine parings at FairWinds Winery.

An added perk to any wine tasting event on the Olympic Peninsula is the Rain Shadow that protects most of this area from the rains that often fall in spring. We can’t absolutely guarantee sunshine, but you are more likely to find sunshine between Port Townsend and Port Angeles than anywhere else in Western Washington. Now that is worth toasting!

Tickets are now available online or by calling 800-785-5495. We encourage you to have a designated driver if you plan to thoroughly taste our Washington wines.

Today is International Women’s Day, and March is National Women’s History Month. Take a moment to consider the many achievements of women throughout history. Think about the women in your families and communities. Learn about women who need help today.

This is a great excuse to gather together a group of girlfriends and head to the Washington State Wineries of the Olympic Peninsula. Let the dads and grandpas watch the kids while you reconnect with good friends. Visit the six Washington Wineries located in Port Townsend and Port Angeles in one glorious trip, or plan to return again and again until you have tried them all.

There is at least one woman behind every winery on the Washington Olympic Peninsula. It took vision and commitment for these women (and their male partners) to establish their businesses, and it is worth visiting these Washington State Wineries to see what they have collectively created.

Washington State Winemakers of the Olympic Peninsula

Olympic Cellars, Womanfest, and MADRE are hosting an event on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, at 6 pm. All are invited to enjoy homemade soup and bread and drink wine by the glass during this local celebration of International Women’s Day; it will highlight the efforts of MADRE to help the victims of the Haitian earthquake.

The suggested donation of $10.00 will go towards MADRE’s relief efforts in Haiti. Olympic Cellars will donate 30% of revenues from wines sold by the glass as well.