WINO Wine Tours: Whidbey Island

As with all of our reviews, opinions, quips and rants, they are of little consequence to you, the reader. What we are really trying to do here is encourage you to get out and experience these venues for yourself. Try the wines, meet those who make it possible, and take in the environment. Wine is not just about juice, it’s about tradition, friends, and natural processes. So, get out there. Take a trip, visit these places and expand thy palate. -The Publishers

Greenbank Farm
765 Wonn Road, Suite A201
Greenbank, WA 98253

In the 1930s, after a stint in the dairy business, Calvin Philips and family began berry farming on Whidbey Island, and by 1972 the Greenbank Farm became recognized as the largest loganberry farm in the US. Chateau Ste. Michelle bought it and opened a retail shop there for a while, but in 1995, they tried to sell the property for a large housing development. That didn’t sit right with the locals, so they rallied to save the farm, and turned it into what it is today: a living history farm and cultural community center.

Now, the farm operates a wine shop that focuses on local wines and food. There are a few wineries on the island that don’t have formal tasting spaces yet, so to experience these on your Whidbey wine tour, you’ve got to stop at Greenbank Farm for a tasting. There, you can sample wines by Swede Hill, Whidbey Wine, FishTalk Vineyard and Blooms Vineyards, to name a few. There are also other regional wines such as Lost Mountain and Sorensen from the Olympic Peninsula, as well as wines from all over the state. Managed by Art Herrera, the wine shop stays true to its mission of being part of the community.

With duck ponds, an amazing adjacent cheese shop, and community events like last month’s Oktoberfest, Greenbank Farm is worth the stop. Because Greenbank Farm is not technically a winery, and is, in fact, owned and operated by local government, we’ll not be scoring this venue in our usual manner. Instead of stars and bottles, we give the Farm a high five.

Holmes Harbor Cellars
4591 S Honeymoon Bay Road
Greenbank WA 98253

Some wineries quietly evolve from modest beginnings, and some strut out onto the stage amid smoke, strobe lights and the wailing of guitars. Greg and Theresa Martinez of Holmes Harbor Cellars came on the scene like a rock band at Madison Square Garden, fully developed and ready to conquer the world.

Visiting the winery on Whidbey Island is like finding an old penny freshly polished. The manicured lawns surrounded by old-growth trees, the modern conveniences in a mission-style facility, the sparkling new stainless steel tanks and cutting-edge machinery next to custom-ordered oak barrels…history has been cloned in the lab and sent out into modernity.

Greg did his homework before founding Holmes Harbor, affording himself extensive education, and starting out with only the best equipment, grapes and facilities. Theresa, a chemist by training, keeps the artist grounded in the possible, and the results are award winning wines in the first vintage, a tasting space that begs to be broken in, and winos coming out converts.

Look out for the Holmes Harbor 2006 Teragré Red Etude, and the 2006 Yakima Valley Pinot Noir, which was made using the Carbonic Maceration method, where fruit is fermented before the crush (while the grape is still whole).

Whidbey Island Winery
5237 S Langley RD
Langley, WA 98260

Some wines get better with age. Likewise, so do some winemakers. After a couple of decades making wine on the island, Greg Osenbach at Whidbey Island Winery has cut his teeth, been around the block, earned his stripes, become a big fish in a small pond, and myriad other adages. Meeting Greg in his tasting room, you get the feeling that he has enough knowledge to take on any of the big dogs, but enough kindness to stop and fix their flat tire on the roadside. The tasting room oozes with the same warm sentiment. You want to take off your hat, sidle up to the bar, and explore the wines like your favorite photo album. While Whidbey produces some great reds from vineyards in Eastern Washington, like the 2004 Composition blend, they also produce whites from their estate vineyards just outside the tasting room. Among these is one of our newfound loves: Siegerrebe. A pioneer in Puget Sound wine, a trip to Whidbey Island Winery is better than the Smithsonian. You can bring home some great wine instead of a stupid keychain.

Greenbank Cellars
3112 Day Road
Greenbank, WA 98253

A stop at Greenbank Cellars isn’t a winery stop. It’s not even a roadside attraction on the wine trail. Greenbank Cellars is a walk through the Museum of Unnatural History. Frank Rayle, owner/winemaker of Greenbank has trudged happily through history, and dragged with him as many relics as he could discover along the way. His winery facility and tasting room reside inside an ancient restored barn.The bar back is an ornate, carved wood counter from the kind of soda shop they must have had during the Little House on the Prairie era. In his outbuildings, he stores other remnants of days gone by, like a fully restored 1934 Cord (a gorgeous automobile), a Belgian fairgrounds organ, player pianos and Wurlitzers, all of which he has restored with his own resourceful hands. And, he’s happy to do a show-and-tell of all of them.

Frank is as idealistic about his wines as he is about his gizmos. All the wines he makes—and there’s plenty of them—are 100% pure varietals and made in the Alsatian style. He believes that the fruit should speak for itself. It should tell about the terroir, the weather, the year. This purist philosophy has led him to pour many vintages down the drain, but he sleeps the contented sleep of a man with fortitude of purpose. Among his wines are a few notables that include Siegerrebe and Madeline Angevine, two wines that flourish in the Puget Sound. Greenbank Cellars is a great place to visit for laughs over anecdotes and wine.