| Washed up in Washington
At first it sounded like a good idea. A trip to Washington to visit the up-and-coming wine region of Walla Walla and taste our way through a smattering of the top producers. While we’re there, we’d also catch a Seahawks game and check out the rodeo action at the annual Pemberton Roundup – and all this would take place in the span of about 72 hours. Just me and a couple of fairly notorious drinking buddies – and at our disposal a few dozen wineries and a couple of hundred microbreweries. This was not going to be the kind of trip where you come home feeling refreshed.
My mission was to stick with local wines and sample a few of the neighbouring microbrews and come home with a good idea of how Washington wine and beer stacks up against the competition. It started off well enough, but my plan had one basic flaw. I was travelling with a posse of bourbon drinkers and I knew I couldn’t fend them off for long.
First stop and it’s burritos for lunch – the drinking has already degenerated and slushy margaritas are rounding the table at a furious pace. The drive to Walla Walla is not at all like more familiar stops such as Napa or Tuscany. Instead of seas of vineyard dotted with palatial estates, the terrain is more like Drumheller, with dry, dusty fields and sprawling cattle ranches. Wineries are few and far between and while the locals are friendly and enthusiastic, you have to cover some serious ground to find them.
Walla Walla greeted us with more charm than the name suggests, and evidence of wine country quickly became more apparent. This tiny town could even boast one bar that Calgarians would look upon with envy. A small wine shop was combined with a tasting bar and café, where patrons could sample from a list of several dozen well-chosen and interesting selections. We made an afternoon of it. That evening it was off to visit an old friend and local winemaker who was working on a new top-secret project. We plied him with several of the bottles of wine we had acquired that afternoon, but he told us nothing.
I had just closed my eyes when the 7 a.m. wake-up call sounded. Climbing into the car for the next leg, I was feeling greener than the dodgy Cabernet we had tried the night before. Perhaps it was all the wine, or staying up till 3 a.m. in the morning playing pool and drinking bourbon with the locals, or maybe all the Mexican food was taking its toll. Regardless, there was a job to do and the time to turn back had long since past – like it or not, I was in it for the long haul now.
The morning was spent in the arid and dusty vineyards of Woodward Canyon with veteran winemaker Rick Small. You couldn’t help but share the obvious excitement in Rick’s voice as we trampled through the dirt examining the plump berries dangling under the hot desert sun. We finished by sampling a dozen or so of Rick’s wines, which reassured me that Washington was capable of producing world-class stuff.
But time was pressing and we had a rodeo to make 60 miles away. Nothing like a quick stop at the taco truck to power you up – delicious chorizo burritos dripping with spicy sauce and accompanied by a cold beer filled the void nicely.
Pendleton is a town of about 10,000 people, but during the annual rodeo that number more than doubles. As far as wine goes, Pendleton isn’t on the map, but when it comes to American-style free-pour highballs, these guys have the stuff. The rodeo featured the Let’er Buck Room, with a highball-only format, and although the room may have been more than 200 or so people over fire code, the whisky-soaked locals seemed perfectly cozy in their confines.
When I came to, we where headed back to Seattle for my first experience at an NFL game. You might think $11 Canadian is a lot to spend on a bottle of Budweiser, but hey, someone’s got to pay those ridiculous salaries – and we did our part.
Overall, Washington made for a great weekend getaway. The wineries are genuine and untouched by snobbery or arrogance, and the towns are cozy and welcoming. Seattle boasts some amazing restaurants and wine lists to match, featuring fantastic local producers. This was a trip I would be happy to do again. |
