Home   Our Products   Tasting Schedule   Wine Club   News & Events   Hours & Directions   About Us   Contact Us    

SHOP ONLINE   

Upcoming Events

Thursday, March 11th, 5p - 7p

Soos Creek Wine Cellars

(Woodinville, WA)

Meet owner/winemaker Dave Larsen

Tasting fee: $5.00.

Waived with purchase of any featured selection and for all Wine Club Members.

Dave Larsen's first exposure to wine was during a vacation to Europe. And what a revelation it was! After a few years of making blackberry wine from fruit on his parents’ property, he graduated to grape wine by joining the Boeing Winemaking Club. A trip to the wineries in Napa Valley planted the seed for founding Soos Creek Wine Cellars in 1989.

The early years were filled with voracious reading on winemaking, attending winemaking classes, talking to other winemakers and constant experimentation to discover the best winemaking techniques.

Dave’s reliance on taste in winemaking decisions is based on the belief that you can only make great wine if you know what great wine tastes like. Therefore, he continues to develop his palate and wine memory by attending events and wine tastings to sample the world’s finest wines.

We established our winery in 1989 on the belief that the vineyards of Eastern Washington were capable of producing world-class vinifera wine grapes. The recent accolades for Washington state wines certainly confirms the extraordinary terroir of our vineyards.

By starting our winery at a relatively early time in the Washington wine industry, we were able to source our grapes from a few of the best and oldest vineyards in the state.

We believe that blending wines made from different grape varieties and sourcing grapes from different vineyard locations will generally make a more balanced wine with better flavor complexity. However, in years when the wines of a specific vineyard are especially outstanding, we may also produce vineyard-designated wines. We believe that exceptional wines should age well. Therefore, most of our wines are built around a tannic backbone that has proven to give them a long life.

Production is still very small – growing from 100 cases in 1989 to 1,500 cases in 2006. At this small volume it is easier to give the proper attention to each wine during every phase of the winemaking process.

We approach winemaking very much as an art, rather than a science, and rely on taste for most of the winemaking decisions.  The ultimate criterion is that the wine should be very enjoyable and always beckon you back for another sip.

To realize the full potential of the grapes in our wines we have specialized in red wine made only from Bordeaux grape varietals. This allows us to discover how to best handle the many variables that make winemaking so fascinating, e.g. the best yeast strain, the optimum fermentation temperature, the use and duration of extended maceration, how hard to press the wine and the barrel regimen.

Our winemaking practices are very low-tech and therefore labor intensive. We use small open-top fermenters and punch down the cap by hand 2-3 times a day. The small lots allow us to closely monitor and control the fermentations and the amount of time the juice spends “on the skins”. We press the wine very slowly to avoid extracting any harsh flavors and do minimal pumping to be gentle on the wine. The barrels are all French oak from several different coopers to provide complexity. We prefer that oak not be a primary component of the wine so use only about 40% new barrels each year.  

WINE

2007 Sundance (New Release)

2007 Palisade (New Release)

2007 Commander Comet (New Release)

2007 Champoux Cabernet Sauvignon (Sold out at the winery!)

Save 10% off all featured wines (mix or match)!!

Saturday, March 13th, Noon - 5p

Wines of Spain presented by

Cascade

Tasting fee: $2.00.

Waived with purchase of any featured selection and for all Wine Club Members.

Join us for an afternoon of wine tasting featuring wines from some of Spain’s various wine regions including Rioja, La Mancha, Priorat and more.

WINE

TBD

All featured wines will be 10% off (mix or match)

Wine & Beer Tasting

Tasting fee: $2.00 ~ Waived with any in-store purchase

Weekly Friday Night Wine & Beer Tastings!

 

The Wine Alley invites you to start your weekend with a Wine & Beer tasting every

Friday evening from 5:00 - 7:00pm. 

Tastings feature at least 2 wines and 2 beers.  

The last Friday of the month enjoy at least 2 wines and 4 beers. 

Stop in on your way home or to start your evening on your way out. 

Either way, you’ll enjoy some nice wines and cold beer!

Thursday, March 18th, 5p - 7p

Chinook Wines

(Prosser, WA)

Meet owner/winemaker Kay Simon

Tasting fee: $5.00.

Waived with purchase of any featured selection and for all Wine Club Members.

Since its inaugural vintage 26 years ago, Chinook Wines has been a cornerstone of the Prosser wine community. In 1983, the husband and wife team of Kay Simon and Clay Mackey combined their extensive experience in winemaking and viticulture with the goal of creating quintessential Yakima Valley wines. With Kay’s distinguished background in winemaking and Clay’s as a respected viticulturist, it is the perfect marriage.  

WINE

TBD

Save 10% off all featured wines (mix or match)!!

Saturday, March 20th, Noon - 5p

Wines of France presented by

Elliott Bay

Tasting fee: $2.00.

Waived with purchase of any featured selection and for all Wine Club Members.

Join us for an afternoon of wine tasting featuring wines from some of France’s various wine regions.

WINE

TBD

All featured wines will be 10% off (mix or match)

Wine & Beer Tasting

Tasting fee: $2.00 ~ Waived with any in-store purchase

Weekly Friday Night Wine & Beer Tastings!

 

The Wine Alley invites you to start your weekend with a Wine & Beer tasting every

Friday evening from 5:00 - 7:00pm. 

Tastings feature at least 2 wines and 2 beers.  

The last Friday of the month enjoy at least 2 wines and 4 beers. 

Stop in on your way home or to start your evening on your way out. 

Either way, you’ll enjoy some nice wines and cold beer!

Ladies’ Night Wine Tasting

Wednesday, March 24th

5p - 7p

Tasting fee: $2.00 Waived with any purchase.

Leave your spouse, boyfriend or significant other home for the evening and stop by The Wine Alley for an evening of wine tasting.  Grab your girlfriends, neighbors, mothers and sisters and enjoy a variety of wines, cheeses, crackers and chocolates selected with just you in mind.

Come out and meet Lisa Thompson, an Independent Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay Cosmetics, and also a Woodside resident.  She’ll have all kinds  of fun things you can play with and try while answering all of your beauty questions.