Belltown to Chateau St. Michelle

That was the plan today and it worked very well. I went there with my friend LiveStrongrrrrl who is in town from NYC. It was a bit windy and cold today -- only about 50 degrees when we started out. But it was sunny for most of the way and pleasant because we had quick-dry long-sleeve tops on. After we finished riding, it seemed that it took longer to get there than riding back, which seemed quicker but harder. In fact, it turned out that it took 1:24:51 to get to the Chateau St. Michelle winery (22.2mi), and 1:26:10 to get back (22.0mi?).

In any case, we had a great time there. Once you enter the property through gates marked with the Chateau St. Michelle name, the road takes you about 200 yards through vinyards on each side of the road. I think they're there just for show because the actual vineyards are located in central-southern Washington, but nevertheless they look very nice and are well kept. We then proceeded through the parking lot and took our bikes on a walkway to one of the entrances. Once inside we quickly made our way to an L shaped wine-tasting bar (the end of which you can see in the picture)! My friend suggested that we eat something with the wine, so she bought crackers, cheese, and a couple of apples. The woman who was serving the wine told us that they normally wouldn't allow us to eat at the bar because the odor of the food could interfere with other people's sense of smell, but it wasn't too busy so she said, "Uh, sure, no problem" (in a nice way).

We tasted four wines. Normally, the cost is $5/person, but we chose to share because we didn't want to be too trashed with over 22 miles left to ride. And I think it was the right thing to do, as much as we wanted to try more wines. The other worry--which I actually think is more importnat--besides the "inability to operate machinery" is dehydration. The wines we tasted were:
- 2003 Cold Creek Chardonnay ($25.99)
- 2004 Cold Creek Riesling ($19.99)
- 2001 Cold Creek Cabernet Franc ($29.99)
- 2002 Cold Creek Cabernet ($29.99)

They're all from the Cold Creek Vineyard in celebration of the 30th harvest. In any case, if you haven't been there, I'd recommend going. You can get a tour of the facilities (some wine is barreled and stored there) and learn about wine-making in addition to tasting.

My first ride and blog posting was a 55 mile ride that went by the winery on August 5 of this year. I'm glad I went back. Next time I'll visit another winery in the area, and there are quite a few including Columbia Winery.

One final note: my friend Strongrrrrl did a great job and kept up with me the whole time. 15.5mph is very good for over 44 miles! Yes, we took a break at half-point, but it's still a great time. Most importantly, we had a great time :-)

Total: 44.2mi Bike Ride (15.5mph); 1663 cal.; 140 lb.