by Mark Willstatter » Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:59 pm
As Clark has already told you, with your travel time limitations, the wineries of Eastern Washington are out of reach but there are plenty of wineries in the Puget Sound region, even if they often (even usually) get their fruit from east of the Cascades. The biggest concentration of wineries, as Clark also said, is in the Woodinville area. Amplifying on his warning on traffic, if you don't want to risk traffic hell, wait until the morning commute (say, 9 AM) to go north and plan to return south before the afternoon rush or stay until after. In addition to his suggests, if you're up for a ferry trip to Bainbridge Island, there are a couple of wineries out with worthy products. Bainbridge Island Vineyards actually makes wines from fruit sourced in the Puget Sound area, for example dry and off-dry versions of Muller-Thurgau, Madeline Angevine and an ice-wine like botrytised Siegerrebe which is tasty (and priced like it). Eleven Winery is also out there and while I haven't visited, the wines are solid and the trip to Bainbridge would be a nice outing if you're up for some touristing.