Basket gift guest town wedding

Woodinville a regional gourmet getaway

A WINE, BREW AND FOOD PARADISE sits amid the soaring forests on the hills and dales just south of Woodinville. This Seattle suburb is home to a pair of colossal wineries, a brewery and pub, the region's most celebrated restaurant and a Northwest-style lodge and spa - all clustered next to one another in the lush Sammamish Valley.

What a wonderful place to spend a Saturday afternoon with a carload of family.

Some 250,000 people visit the sprawling Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery annually, sipping wine, taking tours, picnicking on the manicured grounds and soaking up top-tier outdoor summer concerts. Expect to see motorcoaches disgorging throngs of camera-toting wine aficionados, just like we did.

While the Columbia Winery across the street is not as expansive, it does boast the biggest wine-tasting bar in the state inside its Victorian-style manor. Columbia also offers tours, concerts and picnicking. If you forget your basket, both places hold large wine, gourmet food and gift shops.

Both wineries also host weddings and offer an array of educational programs, including cooking demonstrations, wine pairing classes and winemaker dinners. We wanted to crash a wedding reception at Columbia, but the party was winding down.

Founded in 1934, Chateau Ste. Michelle is Washington's oldest and largest winery. It is best known for its award-winning chardonnay, merlot and cabernet sauvignon. Established in 1962, the Columbia Winery claims to be the state's "first premium winery" and introduced the syrah, cabernet franc and pinot gris varietals to Washington. Both wineries are open daily with complimentary tours and tastings. Premium tastings are also available, for a fee from $5 to $8.

Chateau Ste. Michelle launches its 21st summer concert series - in a scenic outdoor amphitheater that accommodates 4,500 - on June 20 with singer-songwriter Jewel. The 11-concert lineup also includes Diana Krall, Clint Black and Smokey Robinson, finishing up on Sept. 22 with Crosby, Stills and Nash. The winery also hosts the Smooth Jazz Festival on Aug. 7 and 8 with Spyro Gyro, Joe Sample Trio and many others ( www.ticketmaster.com).

The rustic Willows Lodge - dubbed "the quintessential Northwest hotel" in the new edition of "Best Places Seattle" - scavenged century-old Douglas fir timbers from the old Port of Portland, with notches, bolt holes and other scars still visible though smoothed out and waxed. A massive stone fireplace in the lobby completes the Northwest ambiance.

The luxury lodge, with a spa and a new high-ropes challenge course, sits on five landscaped areas bordering the Sammamish River. The 86 guest rooms and suites, also decked out in Northwest lodge style, feature fireplaces, large soaking tubs and patios or balconies with views of the valley. Climb into bed with 300-count Frette Italian linens, goose-down pillows and European-style duvets, and switch on the DVD or CD player.

Drag yourself away from bed and savor the only AAA Five Diamond restaurant in the Northwest. The Herbfarm is famous for nine-course dinners served with fresh produce from the restaurant's kitchen garden and farm. Each night's menu is not confirmed until hours beforehand in order to take advantage of the freshest ingredients possible.

Each meal, only served Thursdays through Sundays, is served with five or six matched wines. The bill is a whopper, from $159 to $189 per person. But as "Best Places Seattle" attests, The Herbfarm is a "must-experience place for anyone who loves serious food and formal service, and can pay the freight."

"The food is immaculately presented and carefully explained" and served in "gorgeous digs," the guide notes.

Request reservations months in advance, via the Internet ( www.theherbfarm.com) or by phone (425-485-5300). The Web site shows menu themes.

The Willows also houses Barking Frog. The restaurant specializes in a seasonal Northwest menu with a "staff (that) delivers a memorable dining experience without a whiff of the pretense one might find in the wine country of a certain state to the south," notes "Best Places."

We stuck to pub grub for lunch at the Redhook brewery's Forecasters Public House. The only pretense we found came from a table of four who appeared disturbed at our raucous laughter. It's a pub, for crying out loud, filled this day with none-too-quiet bikers gulping an ale or two after cycling the paved Sammamish River Trail (which connects to the popular Burke-Gilman Trail).

Forecasters also sports a beer garden with a prime view of the Willows' challenge course. The pub hosts live music on the weekends.

The brewery is open daily for tours, too. Those cost $1 and include three to four samples of beer, a souvenir tasting glass (which costs $3 in the gift shop!) and a walk and talk through the brewery.

For more information

-- Chateau Ste. Michelle: 14111 NE 145th St. (425) 415-3300; www.ste-michelle.com.

-- Columbia Winery: 14030 NE 145th St. (425) 488-2776; (800) 488- 2347; www.columbiawinery.com.

-- Willows Lodge: 14580 NE 145th St. (877) 424-3930; www.willowslodge.com; mail@willowslodge.com. The lodge offers packages with the Chateau Ste. Michelle concerts as well as the shows at nearby Marymoor Park in Redmond (that lineup includes Huey Lewis and the News, June 17; Kenny Loggins, July 15; and Harry Connick Jr., July 30).

-- The Herbfarm: (425) 424-3900; www.willowslodge.com/ herbfarm.html

-- Redhook's Woodinville Brewery and Forecasters Public House: 14300 NE 145th St. (425) 483-3232; www.redhook.com.

NEW 'BEST PLACES' GUIDEBOOKS

The editors and writers at Seattle's Sasquatch Books continue to crank out editions of the informative and reliable "Best Places" series, with three new guides fresh on the market: the 10th edition of "Best Places Seattle," by Shannon O'Leary ($18.95); the fifth of "Best Places Northern California," by Matthew Poole ($19.95); and the initial offering of "Best Places to Golf Northwest," by Jeff Wallach ($22.95).

If you're not familiar with the series, the books are compiled from reviewers who are locals. They work incognito and cite only the best places, including restaurants, hotels, shops, arts, nightlife and attractions. Hotels and restaurants are rated with one to four stars, and icons point out good values, family spots and romantic places. The books also offer information on sights, maps and three- day itineraries.

The golf book, though, is an exception - focusing solely on the courses from British Columbia to Northern Utah and the western Rockies to the Pacific, as the cover notes. Wallach doles out course reviews, statistics and tips. That must have been brutal research, playing all that golf and all.

The Seattle guide serves up stars sparingly, with only eight restaurants collecting the top grade of four stars. The aforementioned Herbfarm is one. The others are Canlis, Campagne, Dahlia Lounge, The Georgian, Lampreia, Le Gourmand and Rover's. The Herbfarm also rates an Editor's Choice icon.

Only one Emerald City hotel earns four stars: the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Several merit three and a half, including the Willows Lodge.

Whenever I visit Seattle, Portland, Vancouver or a host of other Western places, I carry one of these dependable books - even after a gazillion visits. I'm always searching for a good, new spot.

STAY-AND-PLAY PACKAGES IN WHITEFISH

Looking for a reason to visit the funky town of Whitefish, at the foot of Big Mountain in Montana's Flathead Valley? Here are several:

-- Big Mountain Summer Adventure Package: three nights of lodging, three days of unlimited gondola and chairlift rides to the top of the mountain; all-day mountain bike or scooter rental; a Walk in the Tree Tops Adventure; and lunch at the Summit House Restaurant. Stay at Hibernation House, which includes breakfast, for $219 per person, double occupancy; or opt for Edelweiss Condos, at $359 per person, double occupancy in one-bedroom condo, or pay $269 per person, quad occupancy in two-bedroom condo. Available through Oct. 3. (800-858-5439; www.bigmtn.com)

-- Montana Summer Family Adventure Package: four nights lodging at the newly renovated Grouse Mountain Lodge for two adults and two children (12 and under), a half day of whitewater rafting, a two- hour trail ride and a tour of Glacier National Park from Lake MacDonald to Logan Pass in a red "jammer" bus, for $1,146 for the family. Other vacations can be arranged (877-862-1505; www.grousemountainlodge.)

To submit an item for Here & There, write to Chris Wille, The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside Ave., Spokane, WA 99201; or e- mail to chrisw@spokesman.com. Deadline for submissions is three weeks before an event.