I have recently moved from New York to Seattle and I am interested to connect with the community here. While I don’t post much, I keep up with the board and I had the good fortune to get together often with a number of board members in New York who became some of my closest friends. I was very disappointed to leave them but hope to find a few like minds in Seattle.
I have spent some time checking out some of the wine shops or which I knew from prior visits. So far I’ve found Esquin, Pike & Western, Madison Cellars, and McCarthy & Schiering. What have I missed? Is there anywhere other than Esquin that holds regular tastings? Esquin’s events are so early in the evening that I have trouble getting out of the office in time.
I would be especially interested if anyone has an open seat at a tasting group or dinner. Based on a search of the offline forum, it does not appear that anything pops up there very often. I have pretty wide ranging tastes and while I typically drink Burgundy, Beaujolais, and Northern Italian on my own, I was also lucky enough to be a regular attendee of Mike Pobega’s very new world CLONYC dinners, which wines I enjoyed just as much. Feel free to PM me if you are interested in another bottle at the table.
I look forward to meeting all the Seattle regulars here.
McCarthy does regular tastings. Saturday tastings with the winemakers for free, and various dinners and other tastings for reasonable fee, done off site at various restaurants or places like Seattle wine storage (owner chuck Miller posts here). Get on their mailing/email list. the queen anne shop and the Ravenna shops operate a little separately but each do a good job. Actual tasting groups and tend to be pretty insular and a little harder to get into but hopefully you can get your foot into one of them.
I just moved to the area from L.A., so I’m in the same boat. I’m more of a drink what’s local guy, so my cellar skews American, but I’d be interested in finding a tasting group as well. Looking forward to checking out many of the shops that were mentioned. I’m storing my wine at Seattle Wine Storage and am looking forward to seeing the new location which is in the works.
Grand Vin Wine Merchants in Olympia. You can purchase online and pickup when your doing something down south or taking a trip to Portland. I’ve done a few tastings at the Queen Ann, McCarthy & Schiering; nice shop and knowledgeable staff.
Almost forgot, welcome to Seattle Matt & Eric. I live south of Seattle but visit the city monthly.
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. There are a few new shops for me to check out.
John, your comment about the tasting groups being pretty insular does not surprise me. Seattle is pretty famous for that. I am not opposed to organizing my own dinner, I used to host regularly at my place in New York. I’ve found that works better in a restaurant until the group gets to know one another. Are there any go-to spots for offlines? The BYO thread here lists only a few spots with what I consider fairly high corkage fees (I am pretty used to frequenting spots with free corkage).
The prior posters covered the Seattle LWS options. Grand Vin is also a good choice. For selection and price, I’ve started buying more wine from Portland retailers like Sec and Vinopolis. Easy to pick up when in PDX.
As a transplant myself, Seattle is a very insular place, but I doubt you’ll have too much trouble finding a few like-minded individuals to join in on tastings.
As for BYO, you won’t find free corkage in this town (unless I’ve completely missed the boat). Expect to pay $15 - 30/btl.
My cellar is majority WA and OR, but my interests are much broader. I’d be happy to open some bottles if you’re interested - I also am a SWS customer. Shoot me a PM if you ever want to organize a get together.
Been here a few years. I don’t know if “insular” is the right description, but there are shades of that for sure… Although most folks are friendly/open when I’ve gotten together with them.
I’ve not found free corkage either - unless you arrange it with someone ITB (which is uncommon).
Agree on purchasing from SEC and Vinopolis in Portland. Cheaper prices to begin with, and instant 10% off with no tax. With the good food you’ll find in Portland, it’s worth going down once in a while… they also will hold/accumulate your purchases so things i don’t need RIGHT NOW i look for there.
Always happy to meet new winos… back to the CLOSEA idea…
And don’t forget that there are something like 140 wineries in Woodinville alone. And if you drive out of town you can easily visit the Willamette Valley, Columbia Gorge, Walla Walla, Yakima, etc. for a ton more wineries.
I love across The Sound. If you decide to take a ferry and head this way and visit the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas (and you definitely should decide to do that) be sure to stop in at The Wine Seller while you are in Port Townsend. There are even more wineries (of varying quality) out this way. And lots of breweries. And, of course, amazing scenery.
Seattle you should know if Eric offers to cook, you want to be there. Had Eric’s duck the night after having Michael White’s duck at Ristorante Morini - gotta say it was Michael White who got chopped.
Conservation of Eric’s. I leave tomorrow for 2-3 years.
I don’t know that I would label Seattle as an insular community, but there are a lot of busy folks who don’t get out much. Some of the players post here. There is also a nice crew over on the CellarTracker forum. It’s not hard to find nice folks to drink with if you are proactive.
If you like the Dressner portfolio or other (okay i’ll use the term) ‘natural’ wines, I recommend Vif in Fremont. I’m far from a zealot, but I do like the wines quite a lot. Great coffee, b-fast, lunch, snacks there as well. They have special events at times - mostly food related, but sometimes focused on wine. Apart from that I 2nd, 3rd, 4th, whatever the Portland stores, and visiting Portland and the Willamette Valley in general.
In terms of events - do organize them. I’m interested and would even host (I live in Ballard), but I tend to be way too busy and short term focused to organize. My cellar is mainly from France and Oregon with a bit of Germany and Italy. I don’t buy much California wine anymore, but do have a large backlist of aged board darlings if people have interest. I currently own 1 bottle of Washington wine which was left at my house by a guest. I’m certainly willing to try more but have long since given up the search on my own - too many lemons.
Hey, I don’t want to be the one to give seattle a bad rap. You should easily find folks to drink with and wine events, dinners, etc, to participate in. Finding the perfect tasting group takes a little longer, but it will happen, or you could just start your own (Seattle I’ve heard is now the fastest growing city in the country). If you are not getting leads here, you could chat with Dan McCarthy at the Queen Anne M & S, or see if Chuck Miller has any leads. there also seems to be a Seattle contingent on the Disorder board that meets with some regularity.
Welcome, Eric. I haven’t had much luck hooking up with locals to drink and eat, but then again I haven’t tried too hard. The Portland scene is much more active with dinners and events and they are great about including and inviting new people – even guys like me who live up North!
Maybe enough of the WB folks who haven’t yet found a Seattle clique will post here and we can plan to meet sometime and each bring a bottle or two.
Anyone buy regularly here? or been here regularly?
browsing through their online inventory, it seems they’re about 20-25% more than WS prices… plus tax… ouch.
Do they hold good events etc?
(asking b/c they’re really close to my home, so would be neat to explore but if it’s regularly 25% premium, no real point)…
Seattle Wine Co in Bellevue has some decent prices, selection can vary. Pete’s in Bellevue is decent in selection, prices are higher, service sucks, IMO. Pete’s in Seattle usually has a few interesting finds.
I hear about the Seattle Freeze all the time. I think there is some truth to it, but there is also a whole lotta bull-stuff. Speaking purely for myself, I tend to be too busy with family and work to get out much, plus I find the area is pretty spread out, separated by bridges, etc and no good transportation system for those that have had a glass too many. I sort of belong to a wine group, but frankly they don’t get together often. Scheduling is a cluster.
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