Category Archives: Whites

White wine reviews

August 29, 2016On-Site, Reds, Whitesadmin

This past weekend found us camping in the mountains outside of Yakima, Washington. We took the opportunity to chase some grape juice.

Windy Point

Very pretty tasting room, with a beautiful kitchen! Makes you want to cook!

Joyce likes their wines, and the view is great! This place is a keeper.

Masset Winery

Just a short drive down the road we found ourselves at Masset. Keep your eyes peeled for mutants…

A great thing about dropping by wineries on non-weekend days is you get to beat the crowds and you can chat more if you feel like it. All the wines at Masset worked good for me. They are a small producer and you pretty much need to go buy straight from them. In any case, a pleasant visit!

Two Mountain

Next up was Two Mountain.

We’d been here a couple years back. The tasting room is lovely, I quite like it. However, we didn’t enjoy this visit as much. We’d been spoiled by having the other wineries be nearly deserted. Here we encountered a group of giggling college kids who monopolized the staff. I remember that we had enjoyed their wines the last time we were here. Today not so much. It may be that the wines at Windy Point and Masset were quite good and simply overshadowed Two Mountain.

Knight Hill

Knight Hill was my personal fav from this trip. Very friendly personable service from the owner, good wine, great views.

We had a good time chatting with the owner.

Yes, we stopped for some lunch. Yup, it was hot outside.

They had a sign up about a B&B room they have. Nothing on their web site about it though. I guess drop them a line if you’re interested.

Portteus

Our last winery of the day was Portteus.

Big building!

This map must mean something…

We had a good time chatting him up about their experiences going organic vs. traditional vs. biodynamic. We got to chat about our experience in Costa Rica exploring the El Toledo coffee farm and how they converted to biodynamic.

I was stuck washing my own hands. Sad!

Garnier Vineyards

September 1, 20142014, good, Reds, Whitesadmin

We finished up our Columbia Gorge trip with Garnier Vineyards. Located right off 84 in Mosier, Oregon they have a very lovely view of the vineyard and the river from their deck. As you can see, life continues to be tough for the Wine Bastards!

http://garniervineyards.com

Sunshine Mill

September 1, 20142014, good, Reds, Whitesadmin

A very impressive place. Right in The Dalles in the Columbia Gorge. They’ve turned a huge cereal mill building into a winery and event space. You can’t miss it as you drive by on I-84 as they’ve painted their name about the size of a football field on the side of the silos. Very pleasant place to hang out inside, especially if you’re me and you’re fond of big old machines.

http://sunshinemill.com

Knight Hill Winery

May 28, 20132013, On-Site, Reds, Whitessteve

Best winery dog of the day. Best view for a picnic. Good wines too.

A few hours later we were up to our necks in snow.

Tanjuli Winery

May 28, 20132013, On-Site, Reds, Whitessteve

Surprise! Customers on a slow day. Again, a small friendly place. Has Sherry!

Bonaire Winery

May 28, 20132013, On-Site, Reds, Whitessteve

These guys started early, buying the land in 79 and building a house. Very friendly place! Say hi to the ducks.

Two Mountain

May 28, 20132013, On-Site, Reds, Whitessteve

Friendly! Four generation farm that converted from apples to grapes and they are planning to move to pure rocket fuel. Note how the sun has appeared.

Mark Ryan Winery

May 27, 20132013, On-Site, Reds, Whitessteve

Winner of best interior design for their use of American Pickers style vintage and rock posters. I did not have any wine. Good golly, I may be wined out for weeks to come.

Locati Tasting Room

May 27, 20132013, On-Site, Reds, Whitessteve

Well kids, here we are in Walla Walla at the Marcus Whitman hotel. Nice place. Grand in the old school way. And there are three tasting rooms right there in the building. I’d maxed out at this point. I couldn’t tell you a damn thing about their wines, but they were friendly and conveniently located! Walla Walla has a nice historic downtown. However, they mostly roll up the sidewalks early. Most of the restaurants close by 9. Pretty good eats though, you won’t go hungry here. And we managed to find some Cuban salsa before we retreated to the hotel.

Three Rivers

May 27, 20132013, On-Site, Reds, Whitessteve

Time is relative, lunchtime doubly so. Here’s a hint for you — carry your own snacks. Great patio here at Three Rivers. Can’t remember a dang thing about their wines, but we sure had a nice time snacking down. They are also clever enough to turn their lawn into a golf course. Win!