We love Woodinville! As Woodinville residents, we embrace all that Woodinville has to offer in local beer, wine, spirits and eateries. On the weekends, we spend our time exploring the local breweries, wineries and tasting rooms of Woodinville. We will be sharing our experiences and promote all that Woodinville has to offer!
A little more about us, Julia works as a Data Analyst for a major telecommunications company. Kevin has over 20 yrs. experience in the restaurant and wine industry in both Washington and California. He has created many wine lists for his restaurants and in 2011 was presented an award from the WA Wine Commission for his list, which featured Northwest wines. Kevin is also an amazing cook. He frequently “chefs it up” and I admit, I am spoiled with awesome cuisine on a regular basis.
As we make our way through all of the tasting rooms in the Woodinville area (and yes, we will), we love to discover new and exciting wines and meet fantastic people! After a day of tasting, we return home and talk about the wines, the people we met and what we liked and didn’t like about the tasting rooms.
In our opinion it’s not all about the wine, it’s about the experience. We feel it’s important for the rooms to have great ambiance, visually appealing and knowledgeable staff. We’ve had the best tasting experiences at the rooms that have interesting artwork on the walls, music playing, and great staff (and please, no Goldfish crackers!) If winemakers present the tasting room visitor with a great tasting experience, they are more likely to have a memorable experience, return and recommend to their friends. A few standout mentions for a great tasting experience are: Dusted Valley, Guardian Cellars, Sparkman, JM Cellars, Vortex Cellars, Patterson and Page Cellars.
Now, onto the wines, Woodinville is amazing when it comes to wines!
For this first blog of ours on Woodinville Patch, we decided to celebrate with Vortex Cellars!
Vortex Cellars Grand Opening, August 18th, 2012
Location: Woodinville Wine Warehouse District
Ed has been creating wines under the Vortex label for years, but only recently opened a tasting room in Woodinville. Vortex Cellars was founded by Ed and Nichole in 2010, Ed and Nichole’s varied tastes primarily focus on French and Spanish style wines made with a blend of traditional and modern techniques.
Vortex Cellars has amazing wines, and on opening day, great artwork by Miska was on display. The wines were fantastic! We were very impressed with the 2010 Viognier, made with fruit from the Columbia Valley; it was a sexy, silky white wine and one of our favorite varietals done perfectly! Fruity hints of orange and apricot, with a great finish. A great wine to serve with seafood, or to drink on the porch on a nice Woodinville evening.
The 2010 Tempranillo, a Spanish grape, grown in the amazing Rattlesnake Hills region of WA. This red was very youthful, fun to drink, had a great ruby color and is a great summer picnic wine.
You must try the 2010 Late Harvest Viognier, it’s no wonder they received a 90 from Wine Advocate and a Gold Medal from Seattle Wine Awards. This wine is a must have for the holidays, and would be a great finish to any dinner party. Kevin plans on making a sorbet with this to include in our holiday feast.
With no food options in the wine warehouse district, it’s a really cool idea to invite a food truck to park near your room. On this day, Caribreoso, a truck offering Caribbean, Creole and Southern cuisine was parked out front. Although we didn’t get a chance to sample, those who did gave it thumbs up!
Ed and Nichole did a fantastic job starting off their opening day with great cheeses, crackers and meats to enjoy with our wines. They had great music playing, and it looks like later in the afternoon a live musician, Garth Olson, came by to play some live music. We look forward to following their events calendar and returning to taste new releases and pick up more wine!
Vortex Cellars is located in the Woodinville Wine Warehouse District:
19501 144th Avenue NE, D500-A
Check out their facebook page
or follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vortexcellars
Open on Saturdays: 12-5
Sundays: Please check the Vortex Cellars facebook page for availability and events
Amazing Artwork at the tasting room by Miska on opening day! http://miska.com/
