This holiday season is the perfect time to travel over and tour your wine country here in Washington. As Seattle is turning grey and wet, hit the road and as you traverse the Cascades on your Eastern voyage, you’ll be pleasantly greeted by the sunshine of Washington Wine Country. Two traditional holiday events await you as well as a sprinkle of others.

Thanksgiving in Wine Country
Enjoy your long holiday weekend post turkey day and take part in the Yakima Valley’s annual wine country holiday, Thanksgiving in Wine Country. On Friday and Saturday, November 25 and 26, wineries throughout the Yakima Valley will welcome visitors with Thanksgiving bounty of the enological variety. You will discover special tastings, many paired with tantalizing edibles and treats such as organic harvest stew and artisanal bread at Kana Winery or roast turkey sliders with cranberry chutney at Mercer Estates. Dineen Vineyard Winery will be roasting chestnuts in their new wood burning oven and guests visiting Steppe Cellars will be greeted with a cozy outdoor fire and grapevine making inside. The Tasting Room, Yakima, home of Wilridge Vineyard Winery and Naches Heights Vineyard, will be offering vineyard tours and guided hikes to help burn off the stuffing and pumpkin pie. Doesn’t it all sound so warmly inviting?

Best of all, this is a wonderful time to begin your holiday shopping. Participating wineries will be offering holiday discounts, gifts baskets or special case pricing all perfect for gift giving or as a way to stock up for your holiday cheer. For more details on this traditional wine country holiday, visit www.wineyakimavalley.org.

Holiday Barrel Tasting
Two weeks later, December 2-4, venture a little further into Washington Wine Country to the town of Walla Walla for their annual Holiday Barrel Tasting event. Here you will discover a multitude of wineries with their halls decked and their tasting rooms jolly. Over 70 participating wineries will be opening their doors with a little something special for visitors on this special weekend. From warm soups and chowders to hand-crafted chocolates to accompany some of the finest wines of the world, your palette will be pleased as you taste your way through. In addition to the wineries current vintages, many will be excited to introduce you to their future wines with tastings straight from the barrel. You may even sneak home with a “not yet released” vintage to share with your friends back home. Such experiences are only found by visiting the wineries themselves and we can’t think of a better time than during this sparkling holiday season.

The Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance offers a printable pdf of the Holiday Barrel Guide and more details on this time honored holiday event.

More Holiday Sparkle
Wherever you may find yourself, Washington’s Wine Country is vast and waiting to be explored. Here are more holiday happenings throughout the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in wine country.

Wineries in the Rattle Snake Hills region of Washington Wine Country will also be hosting Thanksgiving in Wine Country festivities throughout the weekend of November 25-27. A holiday passport is available for $10 giving visitors access to many special tastings and discounts participating wineries have to offer. For a closer look, visit www.rattlesnakehills.com and scope out more tantalizing tasting opportunities this Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Also on the weekend of November 25-27, you will discover a vibrant Fall Barrel Tasting in the Lake Chelan Wine Valley. Venture over and discover what Lake Chelan wineries call the “lake effect” found in the bottles from their unique growing region. On this extended holiday weekend, you will find more future barrel tastings as well as discounts and other holiday treats among the many wines of the Lake Chelan Wine Valley.

In the southern part of Washington Wine Country (and dipping down into Oregon), wineries of the Columbia Gorge spanning from Underwood to Goldendale will be opening their doors for a Thanksgiving Open House Weekend, November 25-27. From live music, new wine releases and tasty nibbles, holiday cheer will be found from one welcoming winery to the next. Visit www.columbiagorgewine.com to learn more.

For a complimentary map of the wine region before you go, contact Washington Wine Country at 206-285-0514 or info@winecountrywashington.org.