This weekend area vintners have come together to offer their largest tour yet; the SW Washington Wine Country New Release and Barrel Tasting Weekend, featuring 17 wineries and tasting rooms. Push yourself away from the Thanksgiving table, shuffle into as many as your schedule will allow and support the tenacity and creative spirit of local winery owners that has helped grow Clark County into a true travel destination.
Just 10 years ago, the North Bank was home to three wineries — Salishan Vineyards, English Estate and Bethany. Since then retirement closed one, but vision and passion opened 15 more.
With the addition of Cellar 55 — Vancouver’s first cooperative tasting room — in 2013, the variety of Washington wines available in our little neck of the woods has grown by leaps and bounds and six more are hoping to make their debut in 2016.
Although area wineries are still sourcing much of their grapes from Eastern Washington, the Willamette Valley and even California, more and more estate-grown grapes are making their way into bottles with every vintage. Varietals such as gamay noir, gewurztraminer, tempranillo, orange muscat, pinot noir, pinot blanc, pinot gris, chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc and even some cabernet sauvignon are being lovingly-tended on winery grounds while vineyards with vines dating as far back as 1983 dot land in Yacolt, La Center and Woodland.
