Washington state | GetAway Travel LLC

We are very pleased to announce that we are now accepting deposits for our June 2015 Waterfalls & Wine tour! Perfectly timed to coincide with our Alaska Inside Passage Cruise group, this is an agency exclusive tour – not available anywhere else.

Whether you are a wine novice or connoisseur, prepare yourself for an amazing time as we explore the wines and natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Our group tour embarks from Seattle, Washington on a wines and waterfall focused journey through Washington State and into Oregon, ending in Portland. Along the way you will view some of the areas most amazing waterfalls and sip wine at award-winning wineries. Taste the big Merlots of Walla Walla Valley, the supple Chardonnays of Horse Heaven Hills, and the sleek sexy Pinot Noirs of Willamette Valley. You will even create your own red wine blend to take home. The waterfalls are not only amazing to view, they are extremely accessible. You won’t be taking long hikes to see them, as you need to save your energy for sipping wine! For all the details and pricing information – please visit our web page.

Washington state ranks second in the US in wine production, behind only California. Washington has twelve federally defined American Viticultural Areas (AVA) with all but one in Eastern Washington. The largest AVA is the Columbia Valley AVA, which extends into a bit of northern Oregon and encompasses most of the other Washington AVAs. These include Walla Walla , Horse Heaven Hills, Wahluke Slope, Lake Chelan, Naches Heights, and Yakima Valley, which in turn also encompasses Rattlesnake Hills, Snipes Mountain and Red Mountain. In our short trip to the area, we traveled through the majority of these locations!

Grapes were first planted in Walla Walla by Italian immigrants a very long time ago – it was in the 1950s and 1960s, the precursors of the state’s biggest wineries (Chateau Ste Michelle and Columbia Winery) began. While many grape varietals thrive throughout Washington, the dominant ones are Rieslings, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. In our opinion the big boy is the Merlot with bright intense flavor and lush texture. It is said that in California, Merlot is added to Cabernet Sauvignon to soften it, but in Washington, Cabernet Sauvignon is added to help soften the Merlot.