A couple of weeks ago, we attended a Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism Media Tour in conjunction with the Bellingham Northwest Wine Festival. We had a wonderful time! And even though we’ve lived in the area for more than four years now, we found new places where we will definitely return.
The highlights: The Bellingham Northwest Wine Festival; a Washington wine dinner at B-Town Kitchen at Four Points by Sheraton Bellingham; a tour and flights at Twin Sisters Brewery and Beer Garden; wine tastings at Samson Estates Winery and Dynasty Cellars; and a delicious lunch and whiskey cocktails at 9 Restaurant at North Bellingham Golf Course.
In addition, other tour stops included Cosmos Bistro for a tasty breakfast; Bellingham Farmers Market (loved the dumplings at Dumpling Girls booth, pictured right); Waypoint Park Tour (one of the first tangible signs of the city’s waterfront redevelopment of the former Georgia-Pacific paper mill site); historic Hotel Leo (formerly known as Hotel Leopold, and transitioning to a boutique 31-room new hotel and 61-unit apartment building); Good Time Girls Walking Tour and Cloud Mountain Farm (whose grapes are pictured above).
Here are the highlights.
Mark your calendars for the fourth annual 
Mark your calendars for the third annual 
More than 100 wines were poured at the inaugural 
Of course we couldn’t taste all the wines from 36 participating wineries but between the two of us, we found quite a few new wines that we never tasted before and hope to again in the future (e.g., Tucannon Cellars, Two Mountain and Jones of Washington), along with new releases of old favorites from Forgeron Cellars, William Church Winery and Cooper Wine Company.
Cooper Wine Company: 2013 L’inzio (we’ve been fans of this Red Mountain beauty since its first vintage); 2012 Cabernet Franc; and Bud’s Blend “Gatekeeper,” named after Coop’s awesome winery dog
Tucannon Cellars: 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, a great find from Red Mountain