ZILLAH — For Joe Balanoff and his wife, Betty Hageman of Seattle, the weekend provided a chance to seek out some sun, a bit of hiking, and some wine.
For Jeff and Jodi Brooks of Selah, Thanksgiving in Wine Country gave them an opportunity to reacquaint with winery owners they have come to know — and taste some wine.
Both couples found what they were looking for Friday as wineries stretching from Yakima to Prosser opened their doors for a winter event that has become a staple of wine tourism in the Yakima Valley.
Shirley Puryear of Bonair Winery, north of Zillah, said Friday she conceived the idea as a member of the old Yakima Valley Wine Growers Association because Bonair received a lot of visitors on Thanksgiving weekend.
Bonair was one destination for Balanoff, an accountant, and Hageman, a graphic designer. Balanoff said the couple came over Thursday and plan to extend their visit into Sunday.
“It’s been so rainy and cold in Seattle. This is a nice time to show up and see sunshine,” he said.
Seated at a table at the Bonair tasting room on South Bonair Road, Vlad Bessonov, a Russian native and now a U.S. citizen who works in software development at Microsoft, said he and his wife have come to the Yakima Valley three of the last four years for a change of weather and a chance to learn more about wine.
“The winery owners are very nice people and we like to talk about wine,” said the Issaquah resident.
Up the road at Wineglass Cellars, Jim and Carol Pidduck of Ellensburg were tasting wine at midmorning.
Pidduck, Ellensburg city attorney, said the couple does wine tasting about three or four times a year. Friday, they were on their way to Walla Walla to meet up with family members.
“We try to come early when there are fewer people and we can chat with the winemakers,” he said.
Both Wineglass and Bonair are members of the Rattlesnake Hills Wine Trail, an organization of 18 wineries in the Rattlesnake Hills American Viticultural Area that sponsor Thanksgiving in Wine Country.
A larger winery group, Wine Yakima Valley, also promotes the event on behalf of its members.
Both began emphasizing local attendance this year due to the uncertainties surrounding winter weather on the passes, the conduit through which westside residents must travel to enjoy Yakima Valley wines.
Such was the case last year when bad weather dampened attendance.
Shannon Hitchcock, executive director of the Rattlesnake Hills Wine Trail, said the group modified its marketing strategy this year to encourage more local residents to visit wineries.
“We are trying to remind our neighbors they should go back out to the wineries. There are a lot of new releases that people didn’t taste over the summer,” she said. The approach paid dividends for Piety Flats Winery on Donald-Wapato Road, northeast of Wapato.
Owner Jim Russi said the winery had a lot of visitors Friday, the vast majority from Eastern Washington.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “It’s almost exclusively from Eastern Washington. ... The trend is just about reversed. Usually, 80 percent are Seattleites.”
