The town of Goldendale Washington is very quiet on Labor Day weekend, apparently everyone leaves except for a couple of tourists like us. Not far at all from the Columbia Gorge and a fine place to stay.
Had a fabulous burger at the Windy Ridge Saloon.
Also, if you’re in the area definitely make time to visit the Goldendale Observatory. Fabulous experience! Great views of the moon and our friendly local planets. Super fun, friendly and knowledgeable staff.
Fantastic views of the Columbia Gorge, as you can see here. Absolutely lovely place to stop and have lunch! As you see, we come prepared. And of course, there’s the nearby Stonehenge and Maryhill Museum.
One of Joyce’s favorites. Except they want us to age their wines 5-7 years! Lovely place to visit, with riding toys for the kids and hammocks! Can’t beat that with a stick! Joyce joined their wine club, so now we’re stuck having to go back out there four times a year. Oh, dang.
synclinewine.com
Outside Lyle, WA in the Columbia Gorge
Gets our vote for best wine names. Goat Boy, Moth Love and Tyger Tyger. Fun, friendly place.
Columbia Gorge, outside of White Salmon. Hard to spot the sign for their tasting room! If the road turns to gravel, you’ve gone too far.
Best wine if the day. Best breadsticks of the day. Best Romanian server of the day. Best presentation of the wine of the day.
So good we bought two bottles.
Zerba Winery. Right off the highway. Hits on all our three criteria. Bringing home port and their finest cheap red.
What do want out of a winery visit?
Friendly, affordable, and decent product
If the staff are jerks, well guess how the wine will taste. Tasting fees are ok, less ok if they aren’t waived with a bottle purchase.
Oh yeah. The last of the three the product should taste good.
This place does wine and cider. Did well on all three counts. Two thumbs up.
Second stop on our trip to Walla Walla. Prodigal Son Brewery and Pub. This is the pub sampler. Not a loser in the lot. Clean, good flavored brews. The most innovative would be their hefeweizen served with a slice of grapefruit.
Food, nicely better than plain pub chow. The fries delivered on all the promises of the menu. Two thumbs up.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a big red wine. This bottle packs that phat red wine taste that demands the stinky cheeses, the red meats, overstuffed furniture and large-gauge cigars.
If this wine was a person, it’d probably be Tony Soprano.
Trader Joe, $12.99
Now here’s an Italian red wine that really knows how to stand up for itself. It’s a blend of 50% Whoop-Ass and 50% Take-Numbers. When Chuck Norris went to Italy as a baby, this what was in his sippy cup.
Nerelo Del Bastardo. Yep, I think you know what this goes well with. Big food. That giant hunk o’ vaca you’ve been marinating all day, cooked slow on the grill. Ya baby, this is where it’s at.
Trader Joe’s, $8.99. The wine guy pointed me at another bottle by these same guys he says is event meater. Yum, can’t wait.