Review: Bon Vivant Wine Tour, Woodinville Wineries

A shared wine flight at Bunnell Family Cellars in Woodinville's Warehouse District.

I have enjoyed tasting beautiful wines in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, Napa Valley, California, Walla Walla, Washington and Woodinville, Washington. Never before had I participated in a formal wine tour. I just went from tasting room to tasting room trying to find wine to take home and enjoy.

My first official wine tour was with Bon Vivant Wine Tours in Woodinville in early June. It was a girls weekend and Bunny had NEVER been wine tasting before. I signed us up for the tour through our hotel, the Healthman Hotel, in Kirkland. It was $85 per person through the hotel, and I was told to bring cash for additional tasting room fees.

Here are our stops on the tour and a rundown of wine we bought.

In one corner, we have Bunny, a newcomer to the world of wine, seeking out sweet, easy-to-drink wines. In the other corner was me, a seasoned wine taster but NOT a wine expert, seeking th e best bottle of wine to share with Darling Husband.

At Washington's largest winery, Chateau Ste. Michelle.

Chateau Ste. Michelle

Our first stop was Washington's largest winery, Chateau Ste. Michelle. I had been on the grounds once, but never done a tasting. I loved that we got a formal tour detailing the history of Washington wines and the AVAs chateau's grapes come from. We even got to see the bottling line!

I learned so much in about 30 minutes from our tour guide Ellie. Then, we got to taste three wines, with Ellie giving us direction on how to evaluate and enjoy our wine. After the tour, Bunny and I bellied up to the tasting room bar and shared the riesling tasting. We shared at most locations. Four wineries is a lot!

They had a special going that day, and Bunny bought three bottles of different riesling varieties for about $70. We did get a discount through the tour at most tasting rooms.

Chateau was beautiful and a true comprehensive wine experience. I was glad it was our first stop. It was perfect for Bunny because chateau specializes in rieslings, the sweet, easy-to-drink wine she was seeking.

Novelty Hill Januik

Our second stop was down the street at Novelty Hill Januik. This is where all of the cool kids were hanging out. There were more older folks and tourists at chateau. Novelty Hill Januik was full of hip Seattleites out enjoying the day with friends and family.

Bunny did the tasting for sweet whites and rose. The late harvest semillon was her favorite. I tasted two merlots, which our tour guide Peter said the winery was known for, one sauvingnon blanc and a rousanne. The rousanne was surprisingly my favorite. It was citrusy and smooth.

Our favorite parts of this tasting were seeing a sorority sister of Bunny's working the tasting bar. It was fun to catch up. And we enjoyed our tasting attendant in his Hawaiian shirt, especially when he honestly mentioned he prefers beer to wine. It reminded me of Darling Husband.

Very cool ambiance at Purple Cafe in Woodinville. Photo courtesy of Yelp.

Purple Cafe & Wine Bar Woodinville

Our stop for lunch was at Purple Cafe & Wine Bar in Woodinville. Most of us had chicken and waffles, which had been mentioned as a wine pairing by our tasting room attendant at chateau. None of us could get it out of our minds! The chicken was crispy and flavorful. The waffle was cornbread! An interesting, delicious twist. The cornbread made the waffle a little dry.

I drank a ton of water, knowing we still had two wineries to visit. Peter warned us if we enjoyed a glass of wine at lunch, we would be consuming an entire bottle of wine per person on our tour. Bunny and I had water so we could enjoy.

Patterson Cellars

Our first winery in the warehouse district, Patterson Cellars was a sneak attack of bold wines and a surprise meeting with the winemaker, John Patterson. We started our tour in the back room where all of the winemaking is done. Peter directed Bunny to enjoy a glass of the Late Harvest Rousanne instead of doing the tasting with the group. She enjoyed his recommendation. I sipped the flavorful, memorable wines and loved that we got to try a couple of wines straight out of the tank, including a dessert-sweet port wine.

Having a fine time tasting wine right out of the tank at Patterson Cellars in the Warehouse District.

There was one wine here I couldn't live without - the 2013 Sirah Syrah, with its notes of blue and black berries and lengthy, memorable finish. It's 67 percent petite syrah, 33 percent syrah from Corvus Cellars in Walla Walla. (What an awesome winery, upon research! I'm definitely visiting during my next trip in September.) This was the bottle I bought to take home with me.

Bunnell Family Cellar

To be honest, by this point we were exhausted. We shared a tasting at Bunnell Family Cellar in the Warehouse District and Bunny got us a bite of food. The tasting room was lovely, staff was friendly and attentive, but we couldn't really distinguish flavors anymore. We shared a mixed flight and followed Peter back to the bus.

Verdict: Peter at Bon Vivant Wine Tours is hitting it out of the park. His knowledge and ability to make everyone feel comfortable and his directions for newbies was one-of-a-kind. Four wineries makes for a long day, and we were on the tour from about 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Being part of a tour allowed us to get behind the scenes and really learn more about wines than all of the times I had gone tasting with an informal group. Do this tour. You will not regret it!

Wine-colored nails and pants! It's the small things in life.