We drove around the area and stopped off at two wineries this afternoon.
There are a couple of official appellations here in Washington state (Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley, Walla Walla Valley, Red Mountain, Columbia Gorge, and Horse Heaven Hills). I hadn’t tried much wine from the Pacific Northwest before today. The wines are pretty good. Apparently the Columbia Valley region in Eastern Washington state is a good place to grow grapes. The low rainfall (15-20 cm per year) and easy access to irrigation (from the Columbia river) allows the growers to control the watering, and the soil has good drainage being sandy loam on top of volcanic rock, and the winters are mild, among other factors.
The first winery we stopped at was Columbia Crest, only a half hour or so drive from my parents house. On the way back to our parents we stopped at one much closer, Bookwalter winery.
At the Bookwalter winery we also tasted some wines and had some cheese and a bit of proscuitto. It was all good stuff, but the thing that sticks with me is that it was all so cheap! For tasting of six wines for the four of us plus the cheese and other stuff we ate plus two bottles of wine I paid less than $70!! In Tokyo, we usually spend at least that much eating out at a regular restaurant for two. Things are so cheap here in the U.S.
On the way back, before stopping at the second winery, we took a scenic route through the Horse Heaven Hills. We stopped at a scenic vista overlooking the Yakama Indian Reservation. It view was gorgeous, in the distance we could see the Cascade mountain range. In the short time I spent here as a kid, I never got around to appreciating the natural beauty of the surrounding countryside.
Anyways, that’s America. Cheap stuff and big expansive vistas.
