Rattlesnake Hills
1:11 PM
This weekend Kathrine and I took a trip to the wine country around Yakima. More
specifically we toured the Rattlesnake Hills AVA. It was a
good trip. We had a lot of fun and bought/consumed too much wine. We drove over on
Saturday morning with the intention of seeing three wineries and then eating a
picnic before checking into our hotel. We went to Sagelands Vineyards, Bonair Winery,
and Paradisos
del Sol. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating. It was in the low
70's with very light rain off and on, so we decided to hit one more winery, Hyatt
Vineyards, before going to the hotel.
The hotel was nice, but
nothing special. I don't know if there are any that are really special in the Yakima
area. Maybe one of the bed and breakfasts would be a nicer option for our next
visit. We ate our picnic lunch in the room instead of outside and then lounged
around and used the hotel spa until it was time for dinner.
We ate a very good dinner at a place called the Barrel House in downtown Yakima.
The food wasn't spectacular, but it was very good. They had an extensive wine list,
all from Washington. The bottles were more than reasonably priced. They had
multiple bottles of wine for under $20. Best of all, every thing was available by
the glass. I was able to enjoy a gewurztraminer from Maryhill Winery with the tuna tartare
(which was more of a sashimi), while Kathrine drank a rose from Barnard Griffin. With our entrees, we
were both able to change gears. Kathrine was having a sirloin and went with a syrah
from Saint Laurent, while I
had a bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with apple chutney paired with a viogner from Canon del Sol. The service was
also impeccable. They were never intrusive, but made sure to check on us often.
The waiter was never pushy and made very good food and wine suggestions. I almost
felt bad because we had no room for dessert. Of course, then I saw the size of the
creme brulee that came out to the table next to us, and I was glad I abstained.
Even though our hotel offered a free hot breakfast, we figured we could do better.
I'd heard about Waffles
Caffe on Chowhound and thought it
would be a great place to go. It was the perfect hearty breakfast place. My only
complaint was that I didn't have room for any waffles!
After breakfast we decided to hit five wineries before lunch. It was an ambitious
plan, but we pulled it off. We went to Eaton Hill Winery, Tefft Cellars,
Steppe
Cellars, Claar Cellars, and Two Mountain
Winery. By this time Kathrine was pretty wine'd out, and even I was getting a
little tired of tasting wine. It was about 1:30, and even though neither of us was
super hungry yet we decided to eat lunch.
The place we picked for lunch was called El Ranchito. I had heard it is the best
Mexican restaurant around. Possibly the best in the state. If you've spent much
time in Seattle, you probably don't think that means much as our Mexican cuisine
leaves much to be desired. But if you spend a few minutes driving through the
Yakima wine area, you'll notice that the Mexican population there is huge and there
are tons of restaurants. The food was great. Kathrine had chicken enchiladas and I
had a fried burrito filled with barbacoa (I think it was brisket) and a carne asada
quesadilla. What suprised me about the food was the layer of flavors. Nothing was
overly hot, but they used tons of spices like cinnamon to give a great depth of
flavor. Oh, and did I mention it was cheap? Now I know why the girl at Paradisos
del Sol raved about it.
After gorging ourselves on two giant meals and five wineries we could have left well
enough alone, but we made one more stop at Piety Flats. If only we had
saved room for dessert as the cute little tasting room also sold peach sundaes and
root beer floats. Alas, we had to decline the desserts (can you believe I said no
to dessert twice on this trip?) and started the drive home.
This is a great weekend getaway from Seattle. There has to be at least thirty
wineries you can try so there is plenty to do. The drive is also nice and easy.
Just a touch over two hours, but very easy as it is on the interstate the whole way.
I'm already thinking about our next trip there.