Spotlight on SEATTLE TIPS for Traveling With Wine Since a stop in Seattle all but guarantees a trip to Pike Place Market, Michael Teer s Pike & Western Wine Shop (1934 Pike Place, pikeandwestern.com) is an excellent spot to start out your wine adventure. Teer has long been a champion of local wines and stocks Seattle-area notables along with greater Washington wines and wines from around the world. He also hosts free tastings every Friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. While you re at the market, pay a visit to the Wines of Washington Tasting Room (1924 Post Alley, winesofwashington.com), where you can taste and buy wines from six notable central and eastern Washington wineries in a relaxed, comfortable setting. Just outside the city, area wineries offer small, intimate tasting rooms where wines are frequently poured by the very people who make them. Your best bet is to drive 30 minutes northeast of downtown to the former farming town, now transformed into wine country, of Woodinville. Chateau Ste. Michelle (14111 N.E. 145th St., ste-michelle.com), the grand dame of Washington wines and the rst winery to open a tasting room in Woodinville back in 1976, is a must-see for any Woodinville trip. The free tour of the winemaking facility (complete with tasting) offers a good overview of Washington wines and the development of the area s wine country. Though many of the 20-plus tasting rooms in Woodinville are open only on weekends or by appointment, there are a handful of options for weekday visitors, including Januik s chic, modern facility (14710 Woodinville-Redmond Road N.E., januikwinery.com) and Woodhouse Family Cellars easy-to-miss warehouse space in an industrial business park (15500 WoodinvilleRedmond Road N.E. Ste. C-600, woodhousefamilycellars.com). Both are less than a mile from Chateau Ste. Michelle. For a complete list of Woodinville wineries, visit woodinvillewinecountry.com. And though you won t see any vineyards in Woodinville, or near the warehouse spaces that house modest winemaking facilities in and around Seattle, the passion for crafting ne wine is nonetheless evident in the uniform quality of their product. All the more reason to seek out, and bring home, some of Washington s amazing, smallproduction wines. Because TSA regulations restrict the amount of liquid passengers can carry onboard an airplane, carrying on bottles of wine is no longer an option. Here are a couple of tips for getting your precious cargo home in one piece. I F YOU RE PACKING a few bottles in a suitcase, wrap each one in bubble wrap, put them in individual plastic zip-closure bags in case of leakage, and use clothes to further cushion and separate them. Touring Wine Country To make the most of your Washington wine experience, hop aboard a guided tour of Seattle-area wineries. Shuttle Express offers Saturday half-day and full-day tours of Woodinville wineries that leave from Seattle and Bellevue hotels and take you to boutique and large wineries alike. Call 425-981-7000 or visit shuttleexpress.com. FOR ADDED PROTECTION, invest in a wine carrier. 1 BottleWise Duo ( bottlewise.com) is an insulated tote designed to cushion up to two bottles in checked luggage. A padded plastic bag like 2 Wine Mummy (vinoamici.com) is another option. 2. If you plan to bring back a case of wine, a separate bag may be in order. 3 WineCruzer ( winecruzer. com), a hard-bodied roller case, is available in four, six and eight bottle varieties and is fully insulated to protect against extreme temperatures. DIDN T PLAN AHEAD? Most local wine shops have Styrofoam carriers packed in cardboard boxes available for a nominal fee or for free. They can also arrange to have bottles shipped to you, provided your home state allows it. A. T. 1. 3. nwa WorldTraveler 83 pg 82,83.indd 2 8/18/08 3:30:40 PM