Yakima Valley trip Easter 2007: Day 2

We started day 2 with our free continental breakfast - waffles, fruit loops, eggs, bagels etc... Good enough for me.

We drove down to the Red Mountain area of the Yakima Valley. This area is about an hour outside of Yakima, but has been heralded as the premiere region within the Yakima Valley, so it would be silly to miss it.

We parked the car at Terra Blanca which was the most extravagant winery we saw on the trip. Shawn had a hard time opening the massive wooden doors, but once inside we were greeted with some of the best wine we tasted on the trip - in our opinions of course. Cheryl and Megan tasted the complimentary wines while Shawn and I decided to pay the $5 fee to taste the premiere wines. I did enjoy the ONYX blend, but for the price we decided the merlot was the best bargain.

We got on our bikes and moved on. The next winery on our list was Kiona (pronounced K'eye-ona). The Lemberger was unlike any wine we had tasted, so for $12 it was one we wanted to take back, but their Syrah was by far the favorite among our group. We later discovered that the Cab/Merlot blend was also a pretty good buy. 

When we got back out to the bikes I noticed that my back tire was flat. This was our first encounter with the Goat's Heads I discussed in the last post. After a bit of struggling I replaced my tube only to find out that Shawn's tire also had a puncture. Luckily he just pushed the Goat's Head back into the tire and that plugged the hole for the rest of the ride.

On we went to Hedges which was just down the street. When we got there the staff offered to let us take a bike tour of the winery, but it was getting late, so we had to continue on. Again, Shawn and I paid the extra cash to taste the premium wines, and although they were good, we were feeling a bit light on cash given the number of bottles we'd already purchased. Hedges had a great back barrel room that we were able to go visit. It was cool to see that much wine in one place.

Off to Tapteil. In addition to wine, Tapteil had a set of oils, and vinegar to taste. At this point in the day my taste buds were failing me, so I didn't find a wine I wanted to buy there either.

But the scenery was nice enough to take a quick shot before moving 50 yards to the next winery:

Next on the list was Hightower Cellars. They usually only book via appointment, but we decided to go down and say hi anyhow. We had the opportunity to meet Murray (their dog), and taste one of their house reds. Shawn bought it, but my taste buds had all they could put up with for one day...

On our way back we visited the Seth Ryan winery. The coolest thing there was the massive bottle they had made for the owner's daughter. It was made the day she was born, and is meant to be opened when she turns 21 (or on her wedding day).

From there we drove back to Terra Blanca to end our day in style. By this time we were almost as tired from our day of tasting as you likely are - just reading about it.

Here's a picture of Shawn and I relaxing at the Terra Blanca vinyard:

And, as with Day 1, Cheryl and I ended up with another small collection of wine at the end of the day:

When we got back to the hotel room, we realized that both my tires had sprung goat's head caused leaks. Shawn's tires both had leaks, and so did Cheryl's back tire. It seems that Megan was the only one who escaped the day without a flat. Those things are a pain.

We had a great night out in Yakima, but I think I've already put way too much time into this post :)