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PATIT CREEK (822 W. S ra ue • atitcreekcellars. com) opened its downtown tasting room this past June. Located across from the Davenport Hotel, it makes a great starting point for a short urban tour of some of the best vintners in Washington state. Here visitors can sample Merlot, Bordeaux and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from vineyards in the Columbia and Walla Walla valleys. “We have other varietals like our signature red blend called The Creek,” says Sonya Morrison, Patit Creek’s director of hospitality for Spokane. “It’s similar to the bordeaux, but it has Grenache [grapes] in the body so it’s a bit lighter.” An off-season hit this year is the lightly oaked chardonnay, which has seen sales continue into the autumn months. “Normally I think of whites as more summertime wines, but people are really enjoying it,” says Morrison. Patit Creek’s tasting room is unique in that it allows visitors to enjoy hors d’oeuvres that have been paired with appropriate wines. The winter menu, which rolls out in early December, will feature a cabernet cream cheese brownie. From there, head west to BARRISTER ( io Pacific Railroad • barristeri er .com), where each sip is enhanced by the rarity of the vintage. In 2012, for example, Barrister only produced about 3,200 cases of red wine and just 400 cases of white. But before you put it on your itinerary, be
sure to make a note of Barrister’s holiday hours. Every vintage — all of them red — produced by WHITESTONE WINERY ( . Post • hitesto e i er .com) comes from their family estate vineyard next to the massive outcrop of Whitestone Rock near Lake Roosevelt. Their tasting room offers at least five wines that derive from their exclusive Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot grapes. “We’re really well known for our Pieces of Red,” says tasting room employee Carrie Jorgens. “It’s a popular and award-winning blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.” Whitestone’s top-of-the-line blend is the St. Vincent Meritage: a deep purple mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc in a 6:3:1 ratio aged in new French oak barrels. Finally, cap off your mini-tour (there are even more wineries downtown) at the downtown tasting room for ARBOR CREST (River Park Square, third floor • arborcrest.com), another family-owned regional winery that is popular with oenophiles as well as causal wine drinkers. Their prize-winning varietals and blends include the acclaimed Dionysus meritage blend, Malbec and a Columbia Valley Syrah.