Washington: Woodinville

Beneath the green hills that roll east from Puget Sound, on the edge of Seattle’s suburban Eastside, one of the world’s most unusual wine regions is tucked among strip malls and horse farms. Woodinville, Washington, a town of some 10,000 with a climate more suited to pines than vines, sits farther from any workable vineyard than Times Square does, but that hasn’t stopped it from emerging as one of America’s top spots in which to swirl and sip. Using grapes trucked in from growing areas scattered throughout the state’s drier eastern half, its 45 producers turn out bright Cabernet Sauvignons, crisp Rieslings, and smoky Syrahs.

Woodinville had no wineries unstil 1976, when Washington’s second-largest producer, Chateau Ste. Michelle decided to build a Provençal-style castle on 87 acres of vacant land. “We figured, why not just move the grapes?” says Ted Baseler, the company’s CEO. The city caught on, marketing itself as a wine destination. Now a thriving wine community lives amid the Microsoft techies and Boeing engineers. “You can feel the passion for wine here just like in Napa Valley’s St. Helena,” says Mike Januik, a local winemaker. “Only on a smaller scale.”

Chateau Ste. Michelle remains Woodinville’s cornerstone, but wine pilgrims are also drawn to the town’s boutique producers and the chance to sample rarefied bottlings. A short drive down a rural road, Betz Family Winery specializes in Rhône grapes such as Syrah and juicy Grenache. DeLille Cellars makes a firm Bordeaux blend called Chaleur Estate. Farther north are two producers, Januik Winery and Novelty Hill that share winemaker Januik—and also a tasting room. Visitors can try some of Washington’s best Syrahs in a starkly modern, 33,000-square-foot facility that includes a full-time kitchen staff, wine-tasting classes, and even a bocce court.

Woodinville has only one hotel, but it’s a destination itself. The Willows Lodge (doubles from $219 ), a contemporary take on a wood-beamed lodge, landed on T+L’s World’s Best list last year. The 84 rooms and suites have stone fireplaces and oversize soaking tubs, and bicycles are available for guests interested in wheeling along the 26-mile Burke Gilman Trail. Willows’ Barking Frog restaurant (lunch for two $60 ) carries wines from nearly all the best local producers; lunch includes light seafood dishes like hazelnut-encrusted scallops. Next door, the exceptional Herbfarm (dinner for two $358 ) matches nine-course dinners built around ingredients grown on its nearby farmstead with regional wines culled from a 25,000-bottle cellar. Its new chef is Keith Luce, a 39-year-old Long Islander who has migrated westward with stops at Chicago’s Spruce and Napa Valley’s Press. In Woodinville, he has found a community with a love for fine eating and drinking that rivals California’s wine country, but without the astronomical land values. And that, he says, is the benefit of wines without vines: “Up here, we can afford the farm.”