MikeL's Guide to WA Wineries

In general, I'd suggest looping from Seattle to the North, across the Sound, then back down the Penninsula. Due to the distances and number of wineries, you'll need several nights away.

There are plenty of wineries in the Puget Sound area that produce wines from Eastern WA grapes -- are you planning on visiting them as well? The PS Appell. wineries are (in no particular order) Mt. Baker, Bainbridge Island, Whidbey Island, Lopez Island, San Juan (Vineyards, not Cellars), Black Diamond, Hoodsport, Salishan. (Am I missing somebody?) I will mark the PS Appell. wineries with boldface.

Following is a compressed schedule getting you to the PS Appell. wineries. Each day you'll be driving from 140 to 240 miles -- you'll spend at least 4 hours driving. Visit my Directions page for each of the specific winery pages for detailed driving directions including ferry schedule links.

Day 1:
Start by going North to Mount Baker Vineyards. (You may be able to squeeze in a stop at Pasek Cellars in Mt. Vernon.) If you can get a morning appt. at Mt. Baker, you ought to be able to make it back down to Anacortes, then catch a Anacortes ferry to San Juan Island Vineyards, then Lopez Island Vineyards. (I'm jealous -- never had the time to make it to either of these myself -- maybe this year...) Especially during the summer (ferry waits), that's all you can make that day.

Day 2:
Back to the mainland on the ferry. From Anacortes, go South across Deception Pass to Whidbey Island Vineyard. (There's also Greenbank Farm and Greenbank Cellars). From there, double back up the island a little ways to the Port Townsend ferry. Once on the Penninsula, you have to drive all the way out to Black Diamond Winery. On your way back to civilization, you can stop at Camaraderie, Olympic Cellars, Lost Mountain, Fairwinds, Sorensen, but you probably can't make them all in a day due to the drive.

Day 3:
Hoodsport Winery is next, simply come straight down the Penninsula. Including the time to get back to Seattle, this is the entire day. Continue south then East towards Belfair. North past Bremerton, back South through Poulsbo to BainBridge Island Vineyards. Home to Seattle that night.

Day 3 (alternate A):
Skip the Hoodsport Winery winery itself, and instead visit their Tacoma tasting room at a later date. Go South from Port Townsend to Bainbridge Island Vineyards

Day 3 (alternate B):
Go straight home from Hoodsport Winery, and make Bainbridge Island Vineyards a trip all by itself. It makes for a nice ferry trip from downtown Seattle and is much more enjoyable that way. Be sure to make Gerard's Sunday afternoon vineyard tour.

Day 4:
Due south on I5 to Salishan Vineyards. This trip can be entirely seperate as it's just the other way entirely. You go by McCrea, Ambrosia by Kristy, Andrake, Widgeon Hill, Birchfield, Rainey Valley, only a few of which you could stop at on a given trip due to the distances.

Welcome to MikeL's WA Winery Guide (http://vintners.net/wawine/)

up to MikeL's WA Winery Guide -- Main Index