Traveling the North Cascades Highway? Be Sure to Visit Challenger Ridge Vineyard

If you like to venture out to wineries and do your tasting and purchasing at the source, Challenger Ridge Vineyard & Cellars hits the trifecta for Washington wine drinkers. With an experienced and knowledgeable winemaker, a full range of reasonably priced red and white wines, and a beautiful location in which to enjoy them, this is truly a must-visit destination.

A few weeks ago I spent some time at the winery with winemaker Randy Bonaventura, who previously worked at wineries in Oregon and Washington (including Mount Baker Vineyards) before taking over the winemaking duties at Challenger Ridge in 2006.

You can’t get much more hands-on than Bonaventura, whose residence is adjacent to the winery’s eight acres that are planted mostly with pinot noir grapes. After tracking his wines the past several years, I’ve always felt that his forte is taking a good varietal and finessing it with just the right combination of other grapes to make it a near-perfect wine. His current releases continue to reflect this, and I’ll cover some of them in more detail next week.

The winery’s tasting room is located in a 100-year old farmhouse, nestled on a gently sloping hillside along the North Cascades Highway, just west of the town of Concrete. It’s an easy one hour drive from Bellingham, with plenty of beautiful scenery to take in along the way.

If you can’t make the trip, Challenger Ridge wines are available at several local restaurants, including Bayou on the Bay, Skylarks, and the Grand Avenue Ale House. You’ll also find them in Bellingham at the Barkley and Meridian Haggen stores, Community Food Co-Op, and Purple Smile Wines, and in Anacortes at Compass Wines.

Next week: A few recommendations from Challenger Ridge Vineyard & Cellars.