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Wine Walking is a Great Workout

As you already heard, I spent the weekend in Leavenworth, Washington, mourning the loss of my 20's.  And what better way to send out your 20's in style than at the 10th Annual Leavenworth Wine Walk?! This is how I spent my 29th birthday as well, although last year I was lucky enough to have my ACTUAL birthday fall on the Wine Walk day.  This year Leap Day screwed me out of a weekend birthday.  Stupid Leap Day... It's my 30th birthday!  Oh wait, we're not too bright with the 03 or 30 arrangement.

Anyway, the Wine Walk is a truly FABULOUS event that I highly recommend to anyone and everyone.  It's a fundraising event in which you purchase tickets (a little spendy at $50 a couple or $30 a single but well worth it for a special occasion and it supports a good cause!) to get a wine glass and an arm band.  Then you travel (aka WALK, getting the WINE WALK part of it?!) around to the many adorable shops / wineries in Leavenworth and taste a few wines at each place. Wine tasting at the first stop

You taste way too many wines to keep track of, with participating wineries (for the wine snobs out there who might recognize my name dropping) including: Baroness Cellars, Bella Terrazza Vineyards, Bergdorf Cellars, Cascadia Winery, Chateau Faire le Pont, Crayelle Winery, Eagle Creek Winery, Jones of Washington, Horan Estates Winery, Icicle Ridge Winery, Kestrel Vintners, Okanogan Estates & Vineyards, Pasek Cellars, Ryan Patrick Vineyards, St. Laurent Winery, Silvara Vineyards, Snowgrass, Snowdrift Hard Cider, Stemilt Creek Winery, Swakane Winery, Willow Crest Winery, and more. I'm certainly no wine expert and I almost never choose wine over a good hef or Coke Zero, but I did find two clear winners.  I think Pasek Cellars was my favorite, with their wines made all from various fruits (not from grapes), including pineapple, passion fruit, raspberry, blackberry, etc.  My second favorite was Bergdorf Cellars, who served both a white and red HOT - it was a spiced wine and smelled and tasted like Christmas. There were also delicious cheeses from the Cheese Monger (my favorite shop!) to taste, and we found a new favorite over the garlic gouda we brought home last year: pepper cheese.  Plus you can't beat the weather and the scenery in Leavenworth, and the brats and pretzels ready at Munchen Haus.

Cooper had a grand old time as well - walking the streets of Leavenworth in style and making friends with some goats. Okay actually the first goat didn't really want anything to do with Cooper. But the second one was very intrigued!  They're new BFFs.

And there you have it.  The Leavenworth Wine Walk.  A good time was had by all.

Will you join me in 2013?!  Save the date for June 1!
Posted by Ricole Runs at 3:00 AM Labels: Cooper, travels, weekend
