Gateway Wines Gives Bellingham Wine Lovers Even More Choices

Is there ever such a thing as having too many wines to choose from? I don’t think so, and the choices for local wine lovers just got better with the recent opening of Gateway Wines in downtown Bellingham.

Owner Mike Peterson, who also owns Bellingham’s DuJour Bistro and The Vines wine shop, opened Gateway Wines to compliment and augment the wines offered in his other store. He’s done this by placing an emphasis on a much broader range of wines, from higher-end, harder to find wines to well-priced values for everyday drinking.

To say that the cozy shop is stocked in wall-to-wall wines is no understatement since it features dozens of columns of bottles in wall-mounted display racks. Wines are arranged by country, rather than varietal, with a nice domestic selection from Washington and California and international choices from France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Australia.

An example of what I found on a recent visit included the 2002 Red Table Wine from Washington’s Quilceda Creek Vintners – priced in the $50 to $60 a bottle range at some locations, but available at Gateway for only $34.30.

Also on hand is a selection of new releases from Whatcom County’s Dakota Creek Winery. I really enjoyed their 2005 Merlot ($19.60 a bottle), which is full of subtle dark fruit flavors, good acidity and hints of pie spice on the finish. This is a fine first effort from Winemaker Ken Peck and only available in very small quantities.

Gateway Wines is located at 202 East Holly Street, Suite 111 behind the downtown Bob’s Burgers & Brew and is currently open 11:30 am to 7:00 pm Tuesday to Saturday with hours on Mondays to be determined. Phone 676-6284 for more information.

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