I grew up in Woodinville before there were all the wineries, breweries, and distilleries.  The coolest thing to do growing up was the movie theater and hanging out in the Top Foods parking lot.  What’s nice is that going back and visiting my family in Woodinville now means that we get to go wine tasting and experience a whole new side of Woodinville that wasn’t there 20 years ago.

I took my husband wine tasting in the warehouse wine district of Woodinville.  I like this area better than the typical Woodinville wine district because there is more parking, better diversification of wineries and cider houses, as well as it tends not to be as packed as the other areas of Woodinville.  I’m sure this changes with the seasons and when passport weekend is.

Since my husband isn’t a huge wine drinker and hasn’t been to the warehouse district, I let him pick from the 55 tasting rooms. We decided to try out four wineries.  I would recommend only doing two or three if you are driving yourself or get an uber or there are tons of event buses you can charter as well.  I had no idea there were so many wineries that this is going to have to be a thing with the hubby until we try them all!!

We started with one that I had been to before to ease him into it.  The first stop was Pondera.  What I like about Pondera winery is that the tasting room is large, and they have a lot of art on the walls.  The wine is full bodied and a lot of reds to choose from.  The guy pouring our wine was super knowledgeable and took his time explaining and answering our questions.  While we didn’t buy any this day, it is still one of my favorite places to hit in the warehouse district.

The second stop was Warr-King.  We wanted to visit this winery because it is women-owned and it has been featured at Russell’s during a winemaker dinner.  We were not able to attend the dinner, but the menu and wine look amazing.  When we stopped in, we were happily surprised that allowed dogs and were a little sad we didn’t bring Kowboy with us.  Apparently, you can bring dogs to several of the wineries in the area.  So, we will be doing that next time we are tasting.  I will say the whites here we did not like very much but the late season Syrah was excellent, and we even were able to revisit.  It was interesting to see the difference one year can make on a wine.  I may have to order some Warr-Kings next time I’m at Russell’s for dinner.

The third place we went to was Sparkman Cellars.  This was the cutest tasting room and was packed.  They were dog and family friendly as well.  We chose to stand, but it was nice because we could see all the action and people watch.  Not to mention getting some good pics for the gram!  What we enjoyed most about tasting here was the variety and the notebook that they shared with us.  This notebook had the notes of the wine as well as food pairings and movie pairings.  We thought this was such a cute touch.  We enjoyed it so much that we bought the Ruckus 2015 Syrah.  It pairs well with the movie Pulp Fiction.  They also have a tasting room in the downtown wine tasting district as well.

Lastly, we visited Page Cellars.  We wanted to taste here because they are having a winemakers dinner at Russell’s and we are not able to go because of vacation.  This tasting room was by far the most fun, the atmosphere was so low key and chill, that it was like tasting wine at home with friends.  We were even lucky enough to meet one of the winemakers who explained everything on the tasting menu, which made it that much more special.  I will say without a doubt this is a winery that I will be going back to and trying at Russell’s.  We bought the 2011 Syrah and had it with dinner that night, and it was to die for.

As you can see, we love some red wine, and there are so many places to taste in Woodinville, I have barely scratched the surface.  I hope this helps get your toes wet in the Woodinville wine districts. Don’t be afraid to go tasting for the weekend.  It is such a tasty lunch or brunch activity.

If you’ve gone tasting in Woodinville before what wineries would you recommend?