spokane wine weekend

After a wonderful trip to Spokane last weekend, I’m not even really sure where to start.  I suppose, as with most things, it is best to start at the beginning.  This trip to Spokane was initiated by my friend Lina, who has lived in Spokane for at least the past 20 years, and whom I have known since we were wee babes.  Upon hearing about my Eastern Washington blogging project, she invited me to see the sights in her lovely hometown.  Of course, I have been to Spokane many times before to visit Lina, but only recently have we discovered we have a common interest in food and wine.  So, this trip ended up being somewhat of a wine and culinary tour.  Sound delicious? Read on!

Spokane is definitely the easiest-to-get-to spot EWW has explored thus far.  On Friday morning, I rolled out of bed, got in the car, and started to cruise down I-90 East.   The March weather along the way proved that this month certainly does come in like a lion, blowing my little economy car all over the road.  Luckily, I made it in one piece, and by that time I was really ready for a drink.  Luckily, we had a whole afternoon of Spokane wineries ahead!   After I put down my bag and had a quick pizza lunch, we were off!

On our way downtown, we picked up our third wine-tasting companion, fellow blogger Georgette Graham, whose blog, Coffee, Cats and Keyboards, I highly recommend you check out.  Accompanied by my oldest and newest friends, I was off to try some spectacular Spokane wines!  Our first stop was Caterina winery, which features its own wines as well as those from Lone Canary Winery.

Housed in the historic Broadview Dairy Building, Caterina shares the space with the still-operating dairy and a milk production museum!  Unfortunately, we were on a schedule so could not visit the museum, but will try to circle back on a return trip.  By the way, be sure to use the above hyperlink to look up Caterina online.  Caterinawinery.com just gets you here, which is not super useful unless you know Japanese.

 Immediately upon walking in, I fell in love with Caterina’s space on the building’s first floor. The tasting room/gift shop was spacious but had a warm and cozy feel, with the unfinished floor boards and exposed brick walls.  Multicolored paper lanterns hung from the ceiling, giving the atmosphere a touch of whimsy.  This sunny Friday afternoon, the three of us were lucky enough to be the only patrons at the time we walked in.  A friendly gentleman was working behind the bar, and offered us a most generous tasting.  At no charge, we were offered a selection of 14 wines!  We made it through all five white varieties before we realized that we would have to pace ourselves if we wanted to remain standing for our other tastings that day.

For whites, we tried a pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, Riesling and gewürztraminer.  The standouts for me were the chardonnay and (rather surprisingly) the gewürztraminer.  A good chardonnay can be like heaven for me, especially if it is just full of butter flavor.  This chardonnay wasn’t quite a divine experience for me, as it was a little lighter than I generally prefer, but it did carry a distinct strain of butter flavor, which tickled my taste buds.  Plus, at a price of $10 it was very wallet-friendly. 

The real surprise was the gewurtz, though.  A sweet wine, in my (admittedly limited) experience, gewürztraminer generally has a lot of tropical fruit, citrus or lychee flavors.  This version, though sweet, had more herbal and piney flavors than I had tasted from this grape before.  Being a fan of gin, this aspect of the wine certainly intrigued me.  The price on this wine was also attractive: $12 for the bottle. 

The reds at Caterina were fine, though I did not enjoy them as much as the whites.  I tried the sangiovese, 2007 Merlot, syrah and barbera.  They all had about the same character to me: nice flavor at the beginning, but became bone-dry almost immediately.  I felt like I couldn’t enjoy what seemed like it would have been very nice flavor.  It made me glad that I had tasted all the whites and skipped several of the red wines.  Overall, though, we had a very nice time and a friendly host, and both Georgette and I went home with a bottle of the gewürztraminer.

Although the reds at Catarina left me dry, my thirst was quenched at our next stop: Barrister Winery.  I had been anticipating this portion of the afternoon since my last trip to Spokane.  At that time, I tried Barrister’s Rough Justice non-vintage red blend and it was love at first sip.  I’m sure you can imagine my excitement at the opportunity to try even more of their scrumptious reds.  Because Lina knew I was so eagerly awaiting this visit, she had even arranged a private winery tour for the three of us.

We almost didn’t make it to our tour, though, as we nearly missed finding the winery altogether.  Part of the charm of Barrister is that is tucked away in an alley near the railroad tracks, giving it a secret, magical feel.  Unfortunately, what makes the location charming also makes it a challenge to find.  We ended up in the wrong narrow alley and were starting to feel hopelessly lost.  At one point I began wondering whether the winery might be located in some Diagon Alley-type alternate reality, which would have been awesome if we were able to find it.  Luckily for us, Barrister exists very much in the real world.  After a panicky phone call with the tasting room manager, we discovered it was just one street over.

The reason for Barrister’s tucked-away location is that, at one point in time, the building was used to transfer railroad cars directly from the tracks and unload their goods.  Much as with Caterina, the owners have let the charm of the building shine through in the décor.  The rough-hewn floor boards are original, as are the bare brick walls, adorned floor-to-ceiling with the work of local artists.  The tasting bar where we started our tour sits in a sunny corner near the entrance.  Liz, our tasting room hostess, gave us samples of four of their wines: the aforementioned Rough Justice blend, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot.

Liz and Tyler, our awesome hosts at Barrister Winery

 I suppose at this point I should back up and also explain to you why the winery is named “Barrister.”  According to our tour guide (and winemaker) Tyler Walters, Barrister is so named because it was started by Michael White and Greg Lipsker, two attorneys who mistakenly came upon a wine-making supply shop while looking for a good bottle of wine to drink.  They impulsively bought a wine kit, and started making wine as a hobby.  Apparently, the first couple of batches of the DIY wine were duds, but the owners definitely got the bug and the “hobby” turned into a winery that produces 3,100 cases of wine annually.

I am certainly thankful that Mr.’s White and Lipsker decided to pour their savings into creating Barrister winery.  The wines are superb.   Of course, the Rough Justice blend was delicious: well balanced, full of fruit and velvety smooth.  What really won my affection during the tasting, however, was Barrister’s signature wine:  the Cabernet Franc.  Cabernet Franc is becoming a much more popular grape here in Washington State.  Traditionally, it is used as a blending grape, something to round out the flavors of a cabernet sauvignon or add to a Bordeaux-style blend. However, Washington wine growers have started to notice over the past several years that Cabernet Franc grows exceptionally well in this region, making for wines that stand out very well on their own.  After our visit to Barrister, I have to agree.  The Cabernet Franc was lovely: flavorful but not overwhelming, as smooth as Rough Justice and would go wonderfully with a nice flank steak or a tin of dark chocolate.  I am getting hungry and thirsty just writing about it!

After we took our time enjoying the scrumptious wines, Tyler officially began our tour.  Our first stop was the event space opposite the tasting bar.  It was beautiful.  The shabby-chic look of the 100-year-old warehouse space is so interesting that they did not need to do much other than set up 7 or 8 tables with plain black cloths and simple votive candles. 

 

The next stop on the tour was the wine production area to get a mini-lesson in how Barrister wines are made.  I was surprised at how small the space was, my only reference points being Novelty Hill/Januik and Chateau Ste Michelle in Woodinville, which are both quite large operations.  Tyler explained to us that the wine production at Barrister is still very hands-on.  Volunteers clean off the grapes by hand, picking out leaves, sticks, spiders and anything else that shouldn’t go in wine.  The grapes then go through a hopper to be separated from their stems to prepare to be juiced.  Once the grapes are juiced, they are placed into vats with the yeast necessary for fermentation.   Tyler told us that he personally “punches down” the grape skins atop the juice by hand to prevent them from drying out before the wine is ready to be put in barrels to age.  I was totally impressed by the amount of love that clearly goes into each bottle, along with all the blood, sweat and tears.  If I don’t have a full time job by the fall, I might go over there again to volunteer.

After the production area, we were taken by elevator (the ORIGINAL elevator that helped transport railroad cars, by the way) to the barrel room, a natural underground wine cellar.  You can get a glimpse of it below.  Apparently this space can also be rented for intimate dinners and other small events.

After visiting the cellar, we were treated to a look at the yet-unfinished upstairs space at the winery.   For now, it’s not used for much other than storage, but it has potential to be another event space, if you ask me!  I would love to have a party there (after they fix the holes in the floor boards, that is!).  

Marta, Lina and Georgette in the elevator at Barrister

At that point, our tour was over.  I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Barrister.  The wines were incredible, our hosts were extremely friendly, and the space was beautiful.  I will definitely be going back!

After our delightful time at Barrister, we decided that we’d try to squeeze in a quick trip to Arbor Crest across town.  Lina has been wanting to take me to Arbor Crest for a long time, as it is as much a Spokane landmark as a wine destination.  Sitting atop a hill east of the city, Arbor Crest looks over the Spokane River and has lovely views of the surrounding hillsides.  It is a popular wedding venue in town, and also hosts a series of events throughout the summer. 

We sped across town in hopes of reaching our destination before closing time.  Unfortunately, we missed the last tasting by about five minutes.  At least we got an opportunity to admire the view in the golden, late-afternoon light.

Upon our return to Lina’s place, we were greeted with a delicious pre-St. Patrick’s Day dinner of homemade corned beef, cabbage and potatoes with Amish butter.  I love having a local host when traveling.  No restaurant can quite replicate the warmth and great company of a good ol’ family dinner!  What a wonderful way to end a great day! 

Be sure to check out EWW next week to hear even more about my eating and drinking adventures in Spokane!