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A Food and Wine Lover’s Paradise in Seattle


unny, breezy, 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Seri- ously… am I really in Seattle? This would be my 4th trip to this beautiful city and I kid you not, every time the weather has been absolutely stunning. I’m totally convinced that there is an urban legend going on about how terrible the weather is out here. In order to keep the population down, the locals all say it rains every day…but I think I’m on to them. Because really, between the amaz- ing food and drink, nightlife scene, eclectic shops, Wild Alaskan King salmon for $11/lb, and gorgeous scenery – who wouldn’t want to live here? The entire world might move here if they thought the weather was like it is when I’ve visited.


S After our ferry ride from Friday Harbor into Anacortes, we drove


out to Woodinville to experience some of the amazing wineries of the Columbia Valley. Washington has an interesting wine scene – all of the vineyards are actually about 3 hours east of Seattle out in the more arid, desert areas of Eastern Washington. However, all of the wineries where they do wine tastings are a short drive from the city. Realizing that most tourists weren’t going to drive to the vineyards, they brought the wine to the people. A great concept, but what I did find lacking was the typical picturesque scenery of the vineyards like you would see in Napa or Sonoma.


We visited four fantastic wineries including: Columbia, Novelty


Hill-Janiuk, J. Bookwalter and of course the world renowned, Cha- teau Ste. Michelle. Not that I would call myself a wine connoisseur by any means, but I do have certain varietals that I like and ones I traditionally don’t like; two of those being Chardonnay and Merlot. For me, most Chardonnay wines are just too rich and buttery, a result of being aged in oak barrels. And Merlot, well…most Merlot wines that I’ve tried have really just not been that complex or inter- esting – they’re often too light and I like an in your face bold type of red wine. Well, was I in for a re-education! Apparently, Washington State is the place for…you guessed it…Merlot wine. I cringed at the first winery when I saw the lineup and of course it included Char- donnay and Merlot. I laughingly told the sommelier that I wasn’t a big fan of either and she said…well, I think we might change your mind.


24 Essential Living Maine ~ April 2015


At Columbia Winery we tried a very interesting 2012 Compo- sition Red Blend. Composition is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah – a grape that the winemakers introduced to Washington State. Our next stop was the Novelty Hill-Janiuk winery where we enjoyed a lovely 100% Chardonnay. At J. Bookwalter win- ery, which interestingly names all of their wines after literary terms like protagonist, subplot and foreshadow, we tried some amazing cabs and red blends. My favorite was the 2011 Conflict which was produced during the coldest vintage on record in Eastern Washing- ton. And of course, you can’t go wrong at Chateau St. Michelle who produces more Riesling than any other winery in the world. Three hours and wineries later and yup – I bought a bottle of Chardonnay and 2 bottles of Merlot. My friends will be laughing…that is until I convert them too!


Later that day we checked into the Pan Pacific Hotel in down-


town Seattle. Situated in an envious location only 10 minutes walking distance from the famous Space Needle or Pike’s Market, the Pan Pacific Seattle is a beautiful and luxurious high-rise. We had a corner king suite with a stunning view of the Needle. The rooms feature Hypnos beds (you won’t want to get out of them), modern bathrooms with separate rain showers, oversized European soaking tubs and Shoji screen doors, the largest vanity mirror you’ll ever see and iHome® docking stations with audio speakers.


Their list of ecofriendly initiatives is lengthy and includes many


great practices, but some of the more unique things I found were for only a small fee per night, guests can match the electricity use of 25 kilowatt hours for a one night’s stay in a guest room at the hotel. Guests who contribute additionally will support the generation of clean wind energy. The wind energy credits for this program are sourced from wind farms in Washington State and North Dakota.


The PanEarth® program launched at the Pan Pacific Seattle and maintains the position of model property throughout the brand. They repurpose all amenities to the YWCA and unused soap is do- nated to the Clean the World program. It was also great to hear that all of their unpresented banquet food is donated to Food Lifeline in Seattle.


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