{"id":4967,"date":"2021-05-24T09:42:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T16:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danthewineguy.com\/?p=4967"},"modified":"2021-05-25T09:57:46","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T16:57:46","slug":"outstanding-wines-earn-mellisoni-vineyards-winery-of-the-year-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/?p=4967","title":{"rendered":"Outstanding Wines Earn Chelan’s Mellisoni Vineyards Winery of the Year Honors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article originally appeared in the June\/July, 2021 issue of Bellingham Alive Magazine<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ntransformation of Chelan\u2019s Mellisoni Vineyards from small-town winery to one of\nWashington\u2019s finest has been nothing short of amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the\nwinery opened its doors in 2010, husband-and-wife owners Rob and Donna Mellison\nwere operating their tasting room from the couple\u2019s 40-foot fifth wheel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
On the patio at Chelan’s Mellisoni Vineyards<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

From those\nhumble beginnings, they have grown their facility into one of Chelan\u2019s iconic\nwinery destinations, with four acres of estate vineyards, breathtaking lake\nviews from a contemporary tasting room, and extraordinary, award-winning wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year,\nthey\u2019ve added yet another honor to their growing list of achievements: Wine\nPress Northwest has named Mellisoni Vineyards its 2021 Washington Winery of the\nYear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were\ncompletely humbled by the (Washington Winery of the Year) award,\u201d says Rob. \u201cWe\nwork hard to try to make the best, high-end quality wine and the fact that we\nreceived recognition for it was beyond anything we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the\nonset, the Mellisons have focused on the \u201cexperience\u201d of visiting the winery\nand providing impeccable customer service and stellar wines. They were one of\nthe first wineries in the state to move away from the traditional tasting bar\nand offer their guests tastings and glass pours on the winery\u2019s outdoor patio\nand landscaped terrace areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mellisons\ncurrently make all their wines with a minimum of outside consulting. While\nDonna feels that Rob\u2019s forte is crafting full-bodied reds, he in\nturn, notes that \u201cDonna\u2019s chemistry background has completely transformed our\nwines, especially our whites.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt starts in the\nvineyard,\u201d adds Donna, \u201cand we want the vineyard to speak for itself. From\nthere, you\u2019re going to make a phenomenal, gorgeous, aromatic wine. It\u2019s the\nmost rewarding experience for a winemaker. That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to\nattain\u2026to make the best wines for our wine club members and our guests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, the two\nhave earned plenty of impressive accolades, including a Double Gold and four\nGold medals at the 2020 Bellingham Northwest Wine Festival, and three Best in\nClass, Five Double Golds, and four Golds at the 2020 Seattle Wine Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those medals\nqualified them for the Wine Press Northwest Platinum Judging, where they\nreceived a stunning six Platinum and two Double Platinum awards. Wine Press\ncontributor Eric Degerman noted that this year\u2019s results put Mellisoni on the\nPlatinum Judging all-time leaderboard of Pacific Northwest winery elite, with a\ncumulative total of 11 Platinum and Double Platinums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the\nten different red and white varieties grown at their estate, the Mellisons source\ngrapes from nearby Larc Hill Vineyards, also located within the Lake Chelan\nAmerican Viticultural Area (AVA), and Stillwater Creek Vineyard in central Washington\u2019s\nRoyal Slope AVA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those considering\na visit to the winery, a Bellingham-to-Chelan drive over State Route 2 and\nStevens Pass makes for a scenic four-hour journey. Reservations are encouraged\nand can be made at www.mellisonivineyards.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in the June\/July, 2021 issue of Bellingham Alive Magazine The transformation of Chelan\u2019s Mellisoni Vineyards from small-town winery to one of Washington\u2019s finest has been nothing short of amazing. When the winery opened its doors in 2010, husband-and-wife owners Rob and Donna Mellison were operating their tasting room from the couple\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heard-through-the-grapevine","category-from-the-bellingham-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4967"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4972,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967\/revisions\/4972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}