Submitted by Westport Winery
Westport Winery will host the annual Crush Me, Squeeze Me, Make Me Wine at the Beach Festival on Sunday, October 5, from noon to 4:00.p.m. The winery will provide bins of grapes for guests of all ages to stomp into purple-footed bliss with winemaker Dana Roberts at the production cellar. The annual Lucy and Ethyl Look-A-Like Contest will be held at 3:00 p.m. in the tasting room. All ages are encouraged to enter.
Merlot grapes from the renowned Two Blondes Vineyard near Zillah will be hauled in just prior to the event. This will mark the winery’s eighth harvest since its founding in 2008. They haul over 60 tons of grapes to Grays Harbor annually with about 20 trips to Eastern Washington each September and October.
In the winery, all 35 wines and three ciders are available for tasting. Their Farm to Fork restaurant is also launching their fall menu this weekend. There is no cost to attend this fun-filled event featuring live music from local favorites Ken Albert and Christine Hill.
Between the production cellar and the highway guests will get a preview of the winery’s expanding botanic garden and arboretum as winery co-owner Kim Roberts displays her design for that five-acre area. This new (and as yet unnamed garden) will include immense strolling green spaces bordered by planting beds filled with cultivars that thrive in the maritime climate and soil. Heathers, maples, conifers, rhododendrons and azaleas are the foundation of Grays Harbor’s first arboretum. Unique grasses, ferns, and perennials will accent the collection. Many of these specimens will be available in the winery’s nursery.
As part of this expanded garden the winery is working on a walking trail network throughout the property. Eventual plans include trails through their wooded ravine and adding a wildflower meadow to the apple orchard in the west end of the property.
Westport Winery and Vineyards By-the-Sea with the unique outdoor sculpture garden, lavender labyrinth, musical fence, 9-hole executive golf course, giant chess set, outdoor scrabble game, and grape maze, is located on the corner of Highway 105 and South Arbor Road halfway between Aberdeen and Westport. Westport Winery was named Best Northwest Wine Destination in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Westport’s award-winning wines are exclusively available at the winery. The tasting room, gift shop, produce market, plant nursery and bakery are open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The restaurant is open for lunch daily from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and for dinner on Friday and Saturday from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. For more information contact Westport Winery at 360-648-2224 or visit the website at www.westportwinery.com.
