Novelty Hill Winery

So, we happened to be up in Woodinville today for the Seattle Street of Dreams. Quite disappointing (though, that is another story.) We thought we might drown our sorrows (or sip them away) by visiting our first Puget Sound area winery.

So, we picked Novelty Hill based on curb appeal. What a tremendous amount of appeal it was, though. It may be the most beautiful winery I have every been in -- I am, however, a sucker for bare concrete with good design. Which, come to think of it, may be a good analogy for the wine. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Pricing: The (cheap) tasting was $5 for four tastes, seven bottles to choose from (priced $18-30). There were other tastings available, but the wines seemed to top out around $40. Fifteen dollars for what equates to a glass of wine from a $30 bottle wine seems to be a great idea for the winery, but we passed on that.

Behind the Bar: The servers were polite and perfunctory. There was absolutely no chatter about wine, the winery or anything else. There was just an embarrassed look away when I asked for the "Seh-mill-on," ("or is it Seh-mill-yun?" I said. Forgive me, I was underage last time I lived in these parts. Later, when asking what kind of grape was in their late harvest (since they were pouring the wine without telling me) I learned that "Se-mee-yon" makes you sound like you know what you're doing.

In the Glass: Great bouquet on the reds. Beautiful color on the white. Lackluster performance in the glass. Maybe in 5 years, but I am not ready to be $18 on it.

Glee factor: 2 (out of 5) Glees. And that is really just because of the building. Ah... bare concrete and snake grass as landscaping.