Beer, Wine & Spirits in Bonney Lake

The Northwest Cellars story began eight years ago, when Bob Delf received a custom-labeled bottle of wine that was so repugnant he poured it straight down the drain. This was troubling, especially given Bob’s experiences growing up in a family of wine importers and distributors. Determined to raise the bar, Bob founded Northwest Cellars, where today he creates award-winning wines with grapes grown at vineyards across Washington state. To seal the deal, Bob also supervises design artists as they adorn bottles with custom labels, enhanced with anything from wedding photographs to business logos to reminders to buy more wine. Northwest Cellars boasts many awards, including five gold medals at the 2012 Seattle Wine Awards.

Though microbrewers celebrate limited flavor runs and regional ingredients, they still need much of the same equipment as the big brewers to concoct their craft beers. That's where The Cellar Homebrew comes in, outfitting winemakers, brewers, and cidersmiths with the equipment and ingredients needed to make their drinks. The store's owners––who boast more than 30 years of experience and a past line of fine wines––collect organic ingredients such as hops and yeast and sell them alongside fermentation equipment, keg systems, and cleaning supplies. They even offer one-hour on-location classes to instruct people in the basics of beer brewing. In addition to supplying items for alcoholic beverages, they also hawk basic supplies for cheese-, soda-, and vinegar-making, all of which go well over lettuce.

There's a revolution happening in Woodinville, Washington. There's no violence though, unless you count the stomping of grapes. Home to hundreds of boutique wineries, the region is beginning to rival Napa Valley as the United States' biggest wine producer. Woodinville sits at the same longitude as France's wine country, allowing for optimal adult-grape-juice production and the ability to wear a beret with dignity. Barrel Wine Tours, a co-op of Woodinville winemakers, takes guests throughout the community on tours of the distilleries and wineries of these passionate part-time vintners. On a luxury coach, participants ride to four distilleries or wineries, and three-course lunches and wine pairings occur during each tour.

Every time he begins a new handcrafted batch, winemaker Philip Coates strives to bring out the elemental flavors of his Washington-grown grapes. A limited production schedule lets Philip and his team spend more time on each varietal, de-stemming grapes by hand before fermenting batches with native yeasts and aging them in french oak barrels. Next, they fill, cork, and wax each bottle by hand before applying labels designed by local artists.

Though his repertoire has grown since 21 Cellars’ inception in 2003, Philip’s specialty remains bordeaux varietals, including a 2009 malbec and the 2006 Pont 21 cabernet sauvignon, which _Seattle _ magazine deemed Washington’s top new wine of 2011. Alongside wine by the bottle, staffers pour samples of current wines at weekly tastings at Anthem Coffee and the 21 Cellars’ own tasting room—a cozy grotto lined with oak barrels.

While other teenagers were trying to steal sips from their dad’s vintage wines, Ray Curtis was dreaming of making his own. Ray’s career began at Shawnee Vineyards, where he was a jack-of-all-trades, bottling, labeling, and racking the central Ohio winery’s signature varietals. After moving to the Northwest 10 years ago Ray opened Olympia’s Northwest Mountain Winery, which lies along the idyllic South Sound Wine Trail and specializes in handcrafted wines of his own invention. Patrons populating the tasting room can enjoy such creations as the 2009 Columbia Valley syrah, which posits its flavor bouquet of dark cherries, cola, and smoked cedar to studious taste buds, or the Mountain Majesty, a medium-bodied blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and zinfandel. The Firebreathing mead earned a bronze medal at the Seattle Wine Awards for its surprising hints of honey and jalapeño, which delightfully complement spicy Thai dishes or bees with a taco craving.

During a stretch of economic hardship, Brad and Lisa Havens decided to trade in their worry for a tandem bicycle, on which they rode to wineries, outdoor concerts, famers markets, and art festivals over the stretch of nearly 1,800 miles. On this mobile sojourn, the Havens eventually pedaled their way to the idea for Tandem Dinner and Wine Bar.

In the comfy eatery, a constantly changing selection of local Northwest wines complements Brad’s contemporary take on American classics, including butternut squash ravioli, crab cakes made with local Dungeness crab, and mac and cheese. Besides crafting menu items from local, organic ingredients, Brad also leads cooking classes to share his skills with customers.

Paying homage to the epic journey that started it all, they mounted a tandem bicycle to the outside of the new restaurant. To decorate the rest of the space, they collected pieces inspired by the feel of their own home, with history behind each item. Live music fills the space with laid-back atmosphere during concerts held three nights a week.