Lake Chelan in Washington state is a perfect place for an outdoorsy family vacation. Up until twenty years ago, that's all it was when you came for a visit. Over fifty miles long bluewater lake surrounded by rolling hills, untouched forest, and tons of opportunities to go camping, hiking, swimming, canoeing, boating, and jetski riding.

Twenty years ago, Lake Chelan area was also famous for its cherries, apples, and pears. But then a few people thought, why don't we try planting grapes and making wines instead of growing boring pit fruits?!
This move was inspired by other farmers in Eastern Washington who became successful by converting orchards into vineyards and earning acclaim for their wines. It also was a chance to overcome "the apple market crash" (true story) at the end of the 90s.

Just like on the dancing floor, it takes a first brave couple to step up, and others will follow. In a short twenty years later, the wine industry is booming in Lake Chelan, and over 25 wineries are making award-winning wines. And now Lake Chelan has another attraction on top of all outdoorsy things you can do - go wine swinging at the local wineries. Astrologically we both are water signs, and we attracted to lakes, rivers, and oceans. So holiday on the lake coupled with wine tasting is a jackpot for us.

We love outdoors, and we love exploring new wineries and wine regions. As part of that, we enjoy comparing wines made from the same grape in different areas of the world. With that in mind, we wanted to find out what makes wines from Lake Chelan AVA special. We wanted to know how local Chardonnay, Tempranillo, or Malbec tastes like.

We must say that it was "word of mouth" and happenstance trip rather than a well-prepared one. The idea came when we visited Walla Walla Valley of Washington. During the vineyard tour, the general manager of Watermill Winery suggested visiting Lake Chelan because of the uniqueness of its terroir. Coincidentally, our friend offered to take advantage of his time-share at the resort on the lake a couple of weeks later, and there we went exploring the new wine region. It was totally "word of mouth" trip because we bounced from winery to winery following their recommendations.

Two wineries that pioneered Chelan Lake winemaking were Lake Chelan Winery, and Tsillan Cellars. They started just a month apart at the end of the 90s, but who was first depends on who you ask. While they started at the same time, you won't mistake one for another because their marketing is quite different.

Lake Chelan Winery tasting room has a feel of farm store and, probably, more connected to its apple orchard roots than most. They produce a wide range of wines targeting different tastes and price ranges. Perhaps, the most memorable wine from their tasting line up was Falling Cow White and Red because it commemorates a true story. Once there was a cow grazing peacefully on one of the steep cliffs of Lake Chelan. No one knows why, but it fell off the cliff on the hood of the car passing by. Passengers survived, but sadly the cow didn't, and neither did car.

That's a perfect example of how the wine adds richness to our life by preserving local history. If it weren't for the Falling Cow wine, we wouldn't know about this event. Drive carefully around Lake Chelan and lookup for a chance of cow.

Tsillan Cellars, on the other hand, embraced the Italy theme. No wonder because Lake Chelan landscape reminded us of Northern Italy a lot. At Tsillan you'll find Italian touch everywhere from the grand villa tasting room design to wine labels and restaurant menu. Our favorite of the wine flight here was the 2018 Bociollo di Rosa - Rosé blend of seven grapes.

The winery that leveraged the most spectacular views of the lake and the Mediterranean vibe was Siren Song Vineyard Estate and Winery.
While they might need a little work on the consistency of their wines, the food is excellent, and French Riviera inspired tasting room, and the views are unforgettable. The terrace overlooking the lake made us forget we were in Washington. The wine that stood out to us was 2014 Matisse Estate Chardonnay.

One of the unexpected surprises on the trip was finding sparkling wines made by Karma Vineyards. And as you may have noticed by our posts, we have a weak spot for bubbles. Maybe Karma found us!

Karma makes the bubbles following Méthode Champenoise. Sounds funny, right? Karma makes bubbles! Toast to marketing ingenuity!

We tasted nine wines at Karma, three of which were sparkling. We liked all three, but 2014 Blanc de Noir was our top choice that day.

On our wineswinging journeys, we learned that it's hard to be faithful to one wine. You might come back to the same winery and taste the same wines just to find out that you in love with a different bottle next time.

One of the signs of the booming wine industry are tasting rooms in urban settings. One of them is Rocky Pond Winery in downtown Chelan. While their tasting room is in town and has an inviting modern style with a lounge feel, it's not "an urban winery." Unlike urban wineries, Rocky Pond doesn't buy grape. They grow grapes for their own wine production as well as for other producers in the region.

2017 Rocky Pond Gewurztraminer made it to the top three white wines from our trip.

Succession Wines is among the youngest wineries in the region, and despite being a relative newcomer, they already have a good reputation. They make wines from the estate fruit as well as other vineyards within Lake Chelan region and Columbia Valley of Washington. We tasted six wines, and one of the wines we took home was 2018 L & R Sauvignon Blanc.

Twenty years ago Lake Chelan was considered a cool-climate region more suited for the white wines than red ones. Over time that has changed, but most believed that Tempranillo grape can't ripen in Lake Chelan AVA. Thanks to the brave woman winemaker of Tildio Winery, the status quo was successfully challenged. We are big fans of this varietal, and we were very impressed with Tildio's 2014 Tempranillo.

Nefarious Cellars was among a few wineries showing consistent quality across all of their wines. Maybe their secret is the unique dynamic of the husband and wife winemaking team. We don't know. We liked the entire flight, and 2016 Malbec made from Lake Chelan grown grapes was our favorite.
Nefarious was instrumental in our "word of mouth" strategy on this trip. The other wineries they recommended were spot on, and we were happy we listened.

Cairdeas (pronounced Cardis) winery is artisan winery founded by Charlie & Lacey Lybecker in West Seattle in 2009. Three years later, they relocated to the Lake Chelan wine region to produce wine inspired by the winemaking tradition of the Rhone Valley of France.

Just as in Rhone Valley, Cairdeas makes reds from Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, and whites from Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne to mention a few. They craft some traditional and truly unique blends.
One of the favorites of the flight was 2015 Trí, although it was made from the grapes sourced outside of Lake Chelan region. Trí is a red blend of Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Grenache sourced from Yakima Valley.
We were seduced by aromas and flavors of ripe cherry and plums, red flowers and licorice, smokey chocolate. The fruity character is balanced by sensible acidity and tannins.

Cairdeas was among a select few wineries in Lake Chelan with consistent quality across the entire flight of wines we tasted.

Following recommendations, we visited the Fielding Hills winery. This winery was outside of the parameters we set for this trip, which was evaluating the wines made from local grapes.

At this point, Fielding Hills makes wines only from grapes grown outside Lake Chelan AVA now. We were torn whether we should make it part of the Lake Chelan region review. In the end, we were very impressed with the consistency and quality of the wines and decided to make it part of our article. We also looking forward to tasting wines made from the estate fruit planted in Lake Chelan.

The most impressive wine of the flight was 2015 Cabernet Franc made with grapes grown in Wahluke Slope AVA fruit.

Vin du Lac winery is making wines for over 15 years in the Lake Chelan area. It's located on the northern shore and offers a stunning view of the lake and town.

Besides, a broad selection of wines and Vin du Lac offers lunch and dinner at their bistro. The place has more of a rustic feel than the polished look of some newer wineries. Although we didn't have a chance to eat there, they have good reviews, and the food looked appetizing.

Our favorite wine of the flight was 2016 Viognier made with Lake Chelan AVA grapes. As with some other wineries in the area, consistency across the wines is the area of opportunity.

We weren't sure if we wanted to go to the winery with unusual and not easy to pronounce name Hard Row to Hoe. With that in mind, we didn't expect much and decided to be open-minded. It paid off!

This winery is an excellent example of people who take winemaking seriously but don't take themselves too seriously and have fun promoting their wine. We loved their 2016 S&M, and it is precisely what you think.

Another interesting white blend named Nauti Buoy paired well with our sushi dinner.

There are almost 30 wineries in the Lake Chelan region, and we visited a dozen, and not all mentioned in our article. Are they all 30 worth a visit and your liver? Probably not, in our professional opinion, and here's why.

One of the challenges of the new wine regions is the consistency of the wines. Think of it as a restaurant. There are restaurants you wish you can eat every day at because you love the atmosphere, and your taste buds dance from appetizer to dessert. Others might have one dish to die for, but the rest of the food sucks. Most of the time, it depends on the skill and experience of the chef and the ingredients.

The same thing goes for the wineries. Consistency is the first indicator of the skill of the winemaker and the quality of ingredients. That's why best winemakers in Lake Chelan able to make delicious wine from
both locally sourced grapes and grapes grown outside the region. Good winemaker like a good chef knows the ingredient will define the taste. Winegrowers and winemakers are still learning what grapes will result in better wines. There are good examples already, and there's a lot to discover yet.

Have you been to any Lake Chelan winery? We would love to hear back from you after a visit or if you taste their wines. Let us know if you find other wineries you would recommend in this region.