Sun Mountain Lodge

Last month, Seattle DINING! reported on the natural beauty, great dining and wonderful wine cellar of Sun Mountain Lodge, a resort in Winthrop, Washington. As if that isn’t enough, there’s another draw—wine weekends.

Three times a year, Hector Garibay, Food and Beverage Director, and Chef Patrick Miller and the Lodge staff put on wine weekends—three days of wine tasting, pairing and talking to winemakers. The culmination is the wine dinner on Saturday night where Chef Patrick goes all out and dishes are paired with wines from the featured wineries (click here to see the November 2006 menu).

Started five years ago, the wine weekends drew fairly small crowds, but the numbers grow each time. About 50 percent of guests have been to previous wine events and the other 50 percent are newcomers. Last summer, they stopped accepting reservations at 100, but "Only because Patrick made me," laughs Hector. The summer weekend takes place outdoors, even the Saturday dinner. "People stayed so late because it was wonderful to sit out under the stars."

Each wine weekend, two wineries are featured. Owners and/or winemakers attend to share their history, wine knowledge and show off their wines. A Friday evening reception takes place in the Wine Cellar. Sparkling wine is poured and guests chat with winemakers and winery owners. The Cellar boasts over 5000 bottles and 450 labels, many from Washington and California, others from around the world. Appetizers are laid out on the long cherrywood table (see photo above).

Afterward, guests filter, on their own, into the dining room and bar for more snacks, dinner or cocktails by the fireplace. After a five-hour drive from Seattle, nice wines and food, many others go straight to the outdoors hot tub or right to bed.

Photo below: (l) David Forsyth, Director of Winemaking, Hogue Cellars; (c) Hector Garibay, Food & Beverage Director, Sun Mountain Lodge; (r) Craig Mitrakul, Winemaker, Ryan Patrick Vineyards at November 2006 wine weekend.

Saturday morning has everyone in the banquet room ready to learn from the winemakers. They bring a number of different wines to taste and talk specifically about their wines and winemaking in general. November 2006 showcased Ryan Patrick Vineyards and Hogue Cellars. Ryan Patrick winemaker Craig Mitrakul shared the history of the company, why they generally choose to make blends and their new tasting room in Leavenworth. David Forsyth, Director of Winemaking and General Manager for Hogue, talked about how he got into winemaking, how Hogue has grown and the detailed research they did before using screw caps on Hogue wines (they still use corks on their other labels like Genesis).

The afternoon is left free to enjoy all the Lodge and its 3,000 acres has to offer. Meanwhile, kitchen staff spends the day prepping 5-6 courses. A new kitchen was completed in May 2006. "It’s so great," enthuses Hector. "Servers used to have to take heavy trays down stairs to get to the banquet room. Now we have an elevator directly from the kitchen to the staging area." After dinner, guests mingle and chat or head up to the lounge to listen and dance to live music.

The next wine weekend will take place March 17-18, 2007, and will feature Reininger wines from Walla Walla and Irony & Encore from Napa Valley. Summer will once again take place beneath tents in the great outdoors, showcasing L’Ecole Winery from Walla Walla and Cristom from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The November event is in the planning stages now.

Previous weekends featured:
Bergevin Lane Vineyards, Walla Walla
Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery, Wenatchee
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Woodinville
Chinook Wines, Prosser
Columbia Winery, Woodinville
Forgeron Cellars, Walla Walla
Hightower Cellars, Benton City
Long Shadows Vintners, Columbia Valley
Lost River Winery, Mazama
Mission Hills Winery, B.C. Okanagan
Pepper Bridge Winery, Walla Walla
Robert Mondavi, California
Russell Creek Winery, Walla Walla
Three Rivers Winery, Walla Walla
Tsillan Cellars, Lake Chelan

These weekends are a great way to actually get to know winemakers and winery owners, taste a number of wines on their own as well as paired with food and get educated on a variety of wine issues. You get to ask the questions! Top it off with a stay at Sun Mountain Lodge and it’s as close to a perfect weekend as you’ll get.

Connie Adams/January 2007

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