Highlights of the Wine and Cheese Tour

NW Wine and Cheese Tour Olympic Peninsula

Wine and cheese. Yum.

Join Washington State Wineries and Cideries on the Olympic Peninsula for the 2012 NW Wine and Cheese Tour, April 14 and 15.

Read on for a list of what not to miss. Additional information is available on our Olympic Peninsula Wineries Events page.

Black Diamond Winery

Sip 2007 Syrah and Muller Thurgau with three types of Golden Glen Creamery Fresh Curd.
Finish with Plum and Raspberry wines.

Camaraderie Cellars

Sip Trinquer, a delicious white blend, and nibble amazing blue cheese cookies from Spoonful Caterers.
Try the newly released Malbec with several cheeses from Wilapa Hills Creamery.

Eaglemount Wine & Cider

Sample the new Cabernet Sauvignon and hard cider.

FairWinds Winery

Try Back Country Creamery’s Trailblazer with a glass of Gewurztraminer.
Enjoy Summit House with a glass of the Cabernet/Merlot blend.
Discover the wonderful combination of Camp Chego and Mead.

Finnriver Farm & Cidery

Enjoy spring goat cheeses from Mystery Bay Farm with glasses of sweet wine and sparkling cider.

Harbinger Winery

Try the 2010 Rose with any cheese.
Sip the Reserve Syrah with cheddar aged near the banks of the Samish River.
Pair Raspberry Bliss (made from locally grown berries) with a smokey blue cheese from the Rogue Valley.

Olympic Cellars

Enjoy the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon with Golden Glen Creamery’s Double-Cream River Cheddar.
Try the 2009 Chardonny alongside a Wine and Cheese Soup and artisan bread with Golden Glen butter.

Wind Rose Cellars

Sample a variety of Black Sheep Creamery cheeses with the 2011 Pinot Grigio, the 2010 Barbera dry rose, and the 2010 Dolcetto.

A Locavore’s Dream: Washington Wine and Cheese

Wine is a wonderful. It can be enjoyed on its own and it can bring out the best in food. For every meal, there is a wine. For every moment, there is a wine. Yes, wine is wonderful.

We're looking forward to trying the cheese from Black Sheep Creamery.

It’s hard to think of a more perfect combination than wine and cheese. Perhaps that’s because both wine and cheese are so diverse. There are big, bold Cabernets and there are light, effervescent, whites. There are delicate goat cheeses and strong blue cheeses. It would be easy to devote a lifetime to finding perfect combinations of wines and cheeses, and people have. The right combination can be out-of-this-world.

The Wineries of the Olympic Peninsula are looking forward to trying new combinations of Washington State Wines and Cheeses during our upcoming Northwest Wine and Cheese Tour, April 14-15, 2012.

Read on for a list of participating cheesemakers, and make your plans to attend the Olympic Peninsula’s 2012 Northwest Wine and Cheese Tour. (more…)

New Year’s Resolution: Be a Locavore

As you review the past year and consider the year to come, we at Olympic Peninsula Wineries would like to encourage you to be a locavore.

This is what being a locavore in Washington State looks like.

We don’t mean to suggest that you should eat and drink only locally produced foods and drinks 100% of the time (though what an accomplishment that would be). The joys of biting into colorful, juicy Satsumas during grey Pacific Northwest winters are too great to overlook. We do hope you’ll consider the benefits of eating locally: to your health, to the environment, and to your local economy.

This blog is no place for a diatribe, so we’ll keep it short and sweet. Eating locally:

keeps your money in your community
reduces your carbon footprint
tastes and feels good

Those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest are lucky: we can eat a varied diet of foods grown and raised here twelve months a year. We can grow kiwis and tomatoes and greens and berries in our backyards. We can find a wide variety of artisan, farmstead cheeses, free-range chickens, and grass-fed beef at farmers markets. We can eat wild salmon and Hood Canal oysters. We can drink Washington State wine and cider and beer.

In short, eating local in Washington State means eating pretty darn well.

Be kind to yourself in 2012. Be a locavore.

A Washington State Thanksgiving Feast

Eating local is all the rage right now, and with good reason. When we eat fruits and vegetables grown near our homes and meats from animals raised near our homes, we’re supporting our local economy. Locally grown and raised food often comes from small farms that don’t use nasty pesticides. They treat their animals humanely. By choosing to eat locally, we’re choosing to support a more sustainable way of life.

Try a sparkling wine or hard cider from Washington State this Thanksgiving.

More and more restaurants are turning to small, local suppliers for their produce and meats. Increasingly, they’re serving local wines, beer, and even spirits, too. This is heartening for us small, independent producers of Washington State wines.

This Thanksgiving, let’s be thankful for the bounty of Washington state. Let’s give thanks by being locavores. Let’s put as much on our tables that was grown, raised, and produced in Washington State as we can. The more local, the better.

Fortunately, we don’t have to go without wine. Washington State Wineries produce some truly extraordinary wines and ciders. It will not be hard to find an appropriate local accompaniment to any Thanksgiving feast, no matter what you’re serving.

Many of you had the opportunity to sample a great variety of wines and ciders made by our member Olympic Peninsula wineries this past weekend, during the Harvest Wine Tour. If you did, there is a good chance you’ve already selected a few bottles of Washington State Wine or Cider to enjoy on Thanksgiving. If not, read on.

Sparkling wines and cider go very well with Thanksgiving feasts, complementing both white and dark turkey meat, sweet dishes like yams, and just about everything else on the table. Finnriver Farm & Cidery and Eaglemount Wine and Cider have a lovely selection of ciders, including the awarding winning Artisan Sparkling Cider from Finnriver. FairWinds Winery of Port Townsend makes a mean Firewood Mead, which would be festive addition to Thanksgiving day.

Syrah is an excellent red for Thanksgiving tables laden with turkey. Try the award winning 2008 Syrah from Camaraderie Cellars, or the award winning 2007 Syrah from Eaglemount Wine. Sorensen Cellars also has an excellent Syrah from 2006.

White wine drinkers should consider serving the award winning 2009 Viognier from Harbinger Winery. The award winning NV Working Girl White from Olympic Cellars, which combines Chardonnay and Riesling, is another excellent choice.

Try a mulled Syrah from Black Diamond Winery after dinner. It will be a perfect way to conclude a Washington State Thanksgiving Feast.