Bethany Vineyard & Winery

Walt Houser named his vineyard and winery after the love of his life: his wife, Bethany. Another great love of his is wine, making it not with the aim of winning awards, mind you, but for the sheer joy of it. In his younger years, Walt focused on berry wines, but quickly moved to making premium grape wines. Nevertheless, he still makes berry wines including a strawberry-watermelon wine that grabbed my palate during a recent visit.

But it is Walt’s vinifera wines that cause WineTrail lovers to take Exit 14 off I-5 and head east to the Bethany Vineyard and Winery. Bethany Vineyard grows 15 different varieties of wine grape that are suitable for southwestern Washington’s cool climate. Walt is proud of the fact that all Bethany Vineyard wines include some grapes from his vineyard, which surrounds his winery and tasting room. The other grapes come from Eastern Washington and go into making cabernet sauvignon, malbec, merlot, and syrah. Preferring to emphasize the taste of the grape, Walt will transfer his wine, after just seven months in new oak, to older neutral oak barrels. He then allows the wine to remain in the barrels for an additional two years or longer, depending upon the varietal. The result is handcrafted, premium wines, and his no. 1 seller is his pinot noir.

Walt and Bethany present a meticulously kept winery and tasting room worthy of a navy admiral’s inspection. Inside the tasting room, visitors can view barrels in the backroom resting comfortably between racking. During the summer, visitors flock to the winery to enjoy “Music in the Vines” summer concerts featuring local artists. The concerts take place next to the winery’s private lake (which is also the setting for outdoor weddings held with weekend regularity).

For those planning a visit to Bethany Vineyards & Winery you can pre-order a $12 boxed lunch prepared by Simple Elegance Catering to enjoy by the lakeside patio or manicured lawn. Go to Bethany’s website for order form. Next on the agenda is to find the perfect wine for the lunch and enjoy!

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  Bethany Vineyard & Winery was featured in WineTrails of Washington as part of the Southwest Washington WineTrail on page 166!