Every Sunday in summertime, the tasting rooms at The Junction in Woodinville host a block party. Everybody has their doors wide open, patios open, and food trucks set up to feed hungry wine, beer and cider tasters. There’s live music too, by rotating musicians. Sadly, the block party is over at 5pm usually.
I happened to be hosting a Meetup for Eastside Social Club on Father’s Day. Those of us who don’t have fathers nearby, or whose fathers passed away years ago, met up at Davenport Cellars for food and our first glasses of wine for the day. We decided we would all like to hear live music, so I brought the ladies over to The Junction.
The live music on Father’s Day was provided by Ian Skavdahl.
You can visit Ian’s Facebook page to find out where he’s playing next.
The patio at Five Star Cellars was open and uncrowded, so we made ourselves at home and explored the tasting room. I loved the festive string lights!
Their current wines include a Sangiovese, a Syrah, a Merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Malbec. You can do a full tasting, or just enjoy a glass pour. Most of us opted for the tasting experience.
The tasting room associate, Elaine, made us feel so welcome and really went above and beyond to help us have an enjoyable afternoon.
As we worked our way through the tasting menu, the Sangiovese was clearly a crowd favorite.
My new friend Cheryl especially enjoyed the Merlot.
We have a lot of newcomers to the social club, mostly transplants from the East Coast. I was glad to see them bonding and making new friends. If you ever have to move across the country, I recommend joining an active social Meetup group in your new city as soon as you can!
I was completely taken by surprise by how very good Five Star Cellars wines are. I didn’t have any expectations in either direction, and of course Washington wines are generally quite good anyway. The wines here were so amazing, I ended up blowing my budget and buying way too many bottles.
I opened the Syrah for myself at home the next week and enjoyed it. Then I found myself making a trip to Wenatchee to visit my favorite cousin, who really was in need of a good bottle of wine or two.
I really hated to part with my Five Star Cellars Sangiovese and Malbec, but thought my cousin would enjoy them so much. Sure enough, the next week I got a series of texts from her and her husband exclaiming about how much they’d enjoyed the Five Star Cellars wines and could I please bring them more bottles next time I visit Wenatchee!
Thanks again Elaine for a fun afternoon and for being such a good sport about my camera being in your face so much!
I highly recommend the Sunday Block Party at The Junction if you’re looking for an entertaining time this summer. You can choose between a brewery, several wine tasting rooms, and a cider company. The food trucks and musicians rotate, so you won’t be bored if you go back a few Sundays in a row.
-Carrie
RESOURCES:
Five Star Cellars on Instagram
Five Star Cellars Woodinville Tasting Room on Yelp
