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The
Tasting Room
Pike Place Market's New Hotspot!
The Tasting Room, featuring some of Washington
State’s best artisan and hard-to-find wines, opened
in the heart of the Pike Place Market on December
9, 2002.
For a small fee, wine lovers
will be able to taste wines from several Washington State boutique
wineries while enjoying the ambience of a European-style “wine cave.”
The Tasting Room is located in a historic Market building at 1924 Post
Alley, between Stewart and Virginia.
"The Tasting Room will showcase privately owned wineries in
Washington,” notes Paul Beveridge, founding partner. “It will give these
boutique wineries visibility to a broader audience in the Pacific
Northwest, and give visitors the opportunity to taste some of
Washington’s best artisan wines. Robert Goodfriend,
 co-founder says: “We
have modeled The Tasting Room after the regional wine cellars of Europe,
where customers can sample a changing assortment of wines from the small
producers of the region. We want to foster the same sense of community
among winemakers and wine lovers that I have seen in Europe. I’m
thrilled to bring this concept to Seattle.”
“Washington is the nation’s second largest producer of premium
wines,” notes Washington Wine Commission Executive Director Steve Burns.
“With over 200 wineries and 300 growers, it’s a diverse and thriving
industry that’s gaining global recognition. The Tasting Room is an
infinitely sustainable idea – there will always be new, exciting
Washington wines to discover!”
The Tasting Room currently features the limited production wines of
Camaraderie Cellars, Harlequin Wine Cellars, JM Cellars, Wilridge
Winery, and Wineglass Cellars, with more wineries to come soon. The
wines available for tasting will change frequently, giving visitors a
reason to visit often. All of the wines may be purchased on site or
shipped. Private and corporate events are welcome at the venue as well.
Details on each participating winery is as follows:
Camaraderie Cellars
Located in Port Angeles, on Washington State’s north Olympic Peninsula,
Camaraderie is the farthest northwest winery in the continental U.S. In
business since 1992, Don and Vicki Corson have built a reputation for
crafting quality wines from excellent Eastern Washington vineyards.
Their wines are valued for full flavors and food-friendliness.
Camaraderie takes no shortcuts to excellence, which translates into
patience at every turn, from fermentation to the aging process. Their
growing number of international awards is testament to their philosophy.
Current releases
include: Grâce red table wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc,
Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc.
Harlequin Wine Cellars
Harlequin was founded in 1999 by Robert Goodfriend and his wife,
Elizabeth Cook. This small, family-owned winery located in Maple Valley,
works with the best vineyards and growers in Washington State and Oregon
to designate individual vineyard rows which are specifically assigned to
Harlequin. Harlequin maintains complete control over yield, canopy
management, irrigation and picking decisions. Winemaking at Harlequin is
very hands-on and intensive. Reds are fermented in small, one-ton fermentors and punched down by hand. Ageing occurs in the best oak from
the best coopers. Current releases include Pinot Noir, Cabernet
Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Chardonnay.
JM Cellars
This family-owned winery specializes in making handcrafted, premium
Washington wine. Founded by John and Peggy Bigelow in 1998 at their home
in Seattle, the winery was moved in 2001 to a piece of property next to
Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, Washington. Originally making
wines exclusively with fruit from the Red Mountain American Viticultural
Area (AVA), JM Cellars has branched out to include fruit from Yakima
Valley and Columbia Valley AVAs. The focus of the winery has been to
create a high-quality, family-run business. Their signature wine is
named in honor of their three sons. Called “Tre Fanciulli,” it
translates from Italian into “three treasured lads.” Current releases
include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Columbia Valley
Cuvée, Cabernet Franc, and Tre Fanciulli.
Wilridge Winery
This family-owned winery is located in the historic Madrona neighborhood
of Seattle. Founded in 1988 by husband and wife duo, Paul Beveridge and
Lysle Wilhelmi, Wilridge specializes in hand-crafted red wines made
from selected single vineyard sites in Washington and Oregon. The
company’s goal is to find the best vineyard sites in the Pacific
Northwest and hand-make the wines to bring out the unique characteristic
of each vineyard’s terroir. Grapes are picked in the Yakima, Red
Mountain, and Walla Walla appellations and are crushed, pressed and aged
in new French oak barrels at the winery. Current releases include Pinot
Noir, Mélange, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Nebbiolo.
Wineglass Cellars
Founded in 1994 by David and Linda Lowe, this small Yakima Valley winery
produces 3000 cases per year.
Wineglass keeps production small, enabling
them to closely control the quality from vintage crush to labeling the
bottles. The winery only buys the highest quality grapes from the Yakima
Valley. By keeping their operation small-scale, they are able to acquire
small lots of grapes and produce a small bottling of special wines that
are unique to a vintage. Current releases include Merlot, Cabernet
Sauvignon, and Chardonnay.
The Tasting Room will be managed by Jen Doak, formerly of the
Washington Wine Commission and president of the Washington State
Chapter of Wine Brats.
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