Federal Way’s Abbe Winery offers a place to visit after your golf round

Golf and wine always have a way of going together. Now, if you are playing some golf in the South Puget Sound area there is a local winery that would be the perfect stop after a round. Welcome to Abbe Winery in Federal Way, a South Sound winery that offers a tasting room for those who would like to find a terrific way to wrap up a day of golf.

Partners Vilnis (Val) and Fina (Inese) Kleper and Dainis Svarcs created a winery in 2009 – a winery that started off at a slow growth pace, planting the first of four parts of the vineyard, about 1/4th of an acre with Chardonnay and Mellon grape varietals. The next year the winery planted another acre and a half with more Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a touch of others just to see what would grow (primarily  Pinot Munier, Riesling, Viognier, and Muscatel). Most of my fellow winemakers said that to grow in the northwest is extremely challenging if not impossible, but I always enjoy a good challenge.

After the third year the partners saw an ad for 2,500 Pinot Noir plants for sale and went out and promptly bought them.  They dug up all the plants in the middle of the winter in Sedro Woolley with a back hoe, placed them into three-gallon black bags, transported them to Federal Way, replanted and waited to see how many had decided to grace us with their clusters. 

The planting and the harvesting of the plants is only one small part of this dream job of mine. A large portion is creating wines from what mother nature gives me to work with. Not until you taste the grapes do you have a true idea of what may come to fruition for the wine on your table.

For more on Abbe Wines, call 206.679.4151 or see www.abbewines.com.