Wanting to raise our spirits on a recent gloomy, rainy winter day, Serret (from Serretabella Images) and I decided to treat ourselves to an afternoon wine tasting in Woodinville! Why not? A girl shouldn’t sit huddled by the fireplace moping all afternoon!
We wandered into the welcoming Dusted Valley tasting room after a nice lunch at Purple Cafe nearby. Dusted Valley was the first tasting room in this strip mall, opening in 2009.
We met the delightful and knowledgeable tasting room manager, Megan, who taught us about the history of Dusted Valley wines.
She showed us a photo of Corey and Cindy, Chad and Janet, the owners, explaining how two sisters and their husbands all moved to Washington from Wisconsin.
They began their wine adventures in 2003. At that time, they were the 52nd winery in Washington. Now, in 2018, they have three estate vineyards. Dusted Valley produces around 6,000 cases of wine per year now.
One of the owners is a former dentist, and thought it would be funny to refer to Dusted Valley’s wine club as the “Stained Tooth Society.”
You can learn more about the Stained Tooth Society wine club here.
We were delighted to find out that Dusted Valley is a dog-friendly tasting room, but alas, we didn’t have Serret’s darling Frenchie, Lola, with us on that day. We suspected she’d rather snuggle up and nap at home in her warm bed.
The tasting room was all out of their 2016 Chardonnay, so our tasting began with the 2015 Squirrel Tooth Alice.
Megan explained that Dusted Valley’s wines are either Rhone inspired or Bordeaux inspired.
This wine was named after a legendary Old West “lady of the evening.” It’s a Rhone-inspired blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, and Syrah (thus it’s referred to as a “GSM.”)
Next, we tasted the 2014 Wallywood Syrah, a blend of 63% Syrah. Carrie is struggling to learn to like syrah, and this wine definitely pushed her further along the path towards syrah enjoyment!
The 2014 Tall Tales Syrah is from Walla Walla’s Stoney Vine Vineyard. The vineyard is seventeen acres, and was planted in 2007.
“Tall Tales Syrah” is named after Corey’s “Grampa Fred,” a tall tales teller. It’s meant to have an “earthy funk” from the rocks, granite and basalt of the vineyard it’s grown in. This wine has a cult following, Megan said.
The other syrah, Rachis (named after the scientific term for a stem) is a more fruit-forward, 100% Syrah.
Dusted Valley also makes Boomtown wines from Washington and Oregon grapes. Around 20,000 cases of Boomtown wine are made each year.
Megan explained that the winery’s name was inspired by the wheat and onion harvests in Walla Walla, which make the town dusty for a few weeks.
The tasting room even has a decorative wheat stalk as a tribute to the Walla Walla valley.
We were impressed by the colorful chalk art describing the current tasting menu!
The 2013 V.R. Special Cabernet Sauvignon was a big hit with both of us! So delicious. It’s a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Petit Verdot. That’s a lot higher percentage blend of Petit Verdot than we often run across in Woodinville tasting rooms!
The V.R. Special wine is named after Chad’s “Grampa Vernon Rhodes,” who was known for his chocolate chip cookies.
Serret let me take a turn behind the camera to snap a photo of her enjoying Dusted Valley wine!
We sampled the 2014 Malbec next, which is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon.
This is Carrie taking notes on the tasting in hopes of remembering all the cool things Megan taught us!
We enjoyed the colorful stories behind Dusted Valley’s wine names. Carrie felt compelled to sit under the Squirrel Tooth Alice tribute poster.
Dusted Valley’s wine bottle labels depict Ceres, the goddess of the grain harvest and of agriculture.
You can learn more about Dusted Valley’s limited edition wines on their Cult of Ceres page. The next wine release from this collection is in February 2018.
We forgot to ask why their wines have twist-off screw caps (see this Seattle Times article) but we love that choice. It makes it so easy to enjoy a glass or two one evening and save a glass to enjoy the next day!
Megan showed us a map of Washington AVAs and pointed out Dusted Valley’s vineyards.
April is the release month at Dusted Valley – we suggest you stop by to sample their newest wines or attend one of their release events!
Dusted Valley’s Woodinville tasting room is located at 14465 Woodinville-Redmond Rd. NE, near The Commons and Purple Cafe restaurants.
-Carrie
RESOURCES:
Dusted Valley Woodinville Tasting Room on Facebook
