restaurants in Seattle, from the sultry Dahlia Lounge downtown to family-friendly Etta’s overlooking the market. Douglas’s triple coconut cream pie is the stuff of legends. The general consensus is that Seattle owes its feverish foodie obsession to two things: the abundance of top-notch produce and the grey winter months. “A person can wear all the layers they want, but nothing warms the soul like a good rich meal, hot coffee or sweet treat,” says Nick. Seattle’s port status ensured a supply of exotic ingredients but Washington State is legendary for the quality of its local produce. “With our climate, we just seem to have the best of both worlds,” says Nick. Some of the best apples in the world are coming out of the temperate eastern half of the state, alongside pears, cherries, peaches and wheat. Then the western coast is blessed with fresh seafood and seasonally foraged mushrooms and berries. Delta Air Lines, in addition to its new direct flights to Heathrow, recently added non-stop services to Seoul and Hong Kong, and visitors from these food-obsessed nations do their culinary homework before they arrive. “We’ve always had a lot of Japanese on our tours, but I’m seeing a large contingent of Korean and Chinese visitors today,” says Nick. A short stroll from Pike Place is Chocolate Box on Pine, an
impeccably curated emporium of the best locally made chocolate and wine. “There are the classics, such as the salted caramels from Fran’s Chocolates (President Obama’s favourite chocolatier) or the creatively flavoured truffles from Pink Peony Chocolates on Bainbridge Island,” says the owner, Kathy – a walking, talking, eating and drinking encyclopaedia when it comes to chocolate and wine. “We’re strong believers in the ‘shop local’ movement and we love our local chocolatiers – large and small.” Her pride isn’t unfounded: local chocolatier Karen Neugebauer of Forte Chocolates has just won the 2014 International Chocolate Awards for her Lemon Pepper Truffle. This pioneering boutique and tasting room offers several gluttonous ‘experiences’, but for vineyard- bound clients, its £45 Wine and Chocolate evening is an invaluable introduction to local wineries.
l WINE TIMES Visitors to Washington State tend to split into two camps after a few days in Seattle. Active sorts venture west into Olympic National Park, hiking misty, forested mountains and wandering windswept beaches. Wineheads, however, travel southeast towards Oregon, into wine country. Evergreen Escapes, a slick, impeccably run outfit offering guided tours of the state,
has both wine tours and rugged hiking itineraries on its books. At this point on the tour, we
all really fancy a glass of red, so the unanimous choice is to head towards the wine country. Most visitors associate the
Pacific Northwest with mist, forest and rain; pop culture hits such as Twin Peaks and the Twilight trilogy traded on these moodily
mysterious surroundings. “But on this trip you’re going to see dense forest give way to burnt- out grassland – almost a desert landscape – and then we get into rolling hills and vineyard territory,” says Kirsty, our eternally upbeat Evergreen Escapes guide. Driving through Skamania County, we head for Mount St Helens where we visit the National Volcanic
Vineyards in the Tri-Cities region
60 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 22 January 2015
Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum and the Space Needle
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