Snohomish Washington Public Market and Wine Cellars of Washington

    We love how during the summertime people are encouraged to visit farmers' markets and support local businesses--get fresh produce and buy crafts from local artists. But once winter hits much of that mentality is lost because most of the markets close down for the season. Up until recently, we didn't think there was a farmers' market-like place we could go in the winter...that's why we were so excited to learn about the indoor Washington Public Market that runs every Saturday and Sunday in downtown Snohomish.

This was one of our favorite displays: Nostalgic Bay had a wonderful collection of enchanting merchandise

The Market

    The market features local businesses with vendors who sell everything from handcrafted jewelry to handmade alpaca clothing to Washington wine to truffles. The market just started up in November of 2011, so if you haven't heard of it, you're not alone. We were impressed by the variety of items of the nearly 100 vendors and artists at the market--we spent several hours browsing around admiring it all. 

Alpaca critters--all are irresistibly soft--you can't help but pet them

It's All Here

    The Snohomish Market is a one stop-shop. You'll find antiques, gifts, massively discounted new furniture, cooking shows, people spinning alpaca wool to make yarn, and 25 Washington wine vendors selling one-of-a-kind wines from all over Washington. It's best to not be in a rush when you visit so you can take it all in, so feel free to spend your afternoon there so you have time for it all--especially the wine...

You'll find a variety of flavors among these wineries--here's Scott after talking with Pat with Elevation Cellars

The Wineries

   Since the Wine Cellars of Washington features 25 wine cellars all in the same building, you're in for a real treat. For $5.00 a person, you can get access to all 25 wine cellars and the best part is, you can cycle back through as many times as you want in a day because you're given a bracelet for the entire afternoon. This allows you to explore lots of flavors, explore more of Snohomish and the market, and then come back to enjoy all of your favorite wines from before. Take note that the $5.00 is a door fee and some of the tasting stands charge an additional dollar to taste their wines. Whether you're tasting the complimentary wines that some stands have to offer or you pay the additional $1.00 for other wines, the overall cost to you is so much less than if you go to most other tasting rooms around the area. Plus, if you buy any bottle you get your 5 bucks back. 

You never know what kinds of goodies you'll find at the Washington Public Market in Snohomish

    The Washington Public Market and Wine Cellars of Washington is a fantastic place to spend an any kind of day, especially a rainy one!

Some of the Artists:

Eclectic Treasures -- Inspiring glass treasures that serve great as gifts.

Elevation Cellars -- One of the 25 cellars you'll find, with fantastic wine and very friendly people.

Nostalgic Bay -- "Supplies the unusual and the unique," definitely worth checking out.

Silver Wears -- Beautiful pieces of jewelry, many made from silver that you wouldn't expect to see...

Creative Jewelry By Martin -- Martin has a variety of lovely jewelry and some very neat steampunk-inspired gadgets and jewels.

Things To Know:

• The Washington Public Market is open every weekend: Saturdays 10am to 6pm and Sundays 10am to 5pm
• The Wine Cellars of Washington is featured at the market every weekend as well: Saturdays 12:30pm to 6pm and Sundays 12:30pm to 5pm
• This is a relaxing and fun way to spend an afternoon with family and/or friends
• Snohomish is located just east of Everett

Address:

    1010 & 1011 2nd Street

    Snohomish, WA 98290
    (888) 415-9567

License plate signs, made from license plates from lots of different states--too cool

Let us know what your favorite part of the market is!

Head on out Around Puget Sound...and Beyond

Wineries & Tasting Rooms -- Desmodus Vena Winery -- Woodinville, WA

Woodinville Wines -- Desmodus Vena 

    If you haven’t heard, wine is a big deal in Woodinville.  Maybe there are some natural spirits floating down the Sammamish River that have drawn more than 100 wineries and tasting rooms to set up shop in Woodinville, Washington.  At any rate, all these wineries share the same passion for crafting superb wine. 

    In our first wine article we will be covering a small family grown winery founded by two friends, Michael and Pasha, the Desmodus Vena Winery www.desmodusvena.com.  We've known Michael for many years after taking classes at the University of Washington together.  He and Pasha have been making wine since 2004, and boy, do they work hard to bring you the best possible product. They run a small "home-grown" operation in the cellar of Micheal's family's house.  You can reserve a bottle of their finest here.

Grape Crushing
    Michael and Pasha invited us to join them for their annual fall grape crushing event and lend a hand in the first steps of wine the making process.  For anyone who hasn't done any grape crushing before, we aren't talking the take your shoes off and start stomping kind of grape crushing--there are much more efficient and cleaner ways of going about the it these days (thankfully)...

Sorting good grapes from bad ones so the best can be crushed for wine

    All of the grapes that are used in their wines come from Riverbend Vineyard in the Wahluke Slope along the Columbia River in Washington State.  After the grapes arrived we hand sorted them to remove dead grapes and leafy debris from grape bunches, leaving only the juiciest ones.
    Once grapes were sorted we delivered them by the bucketful to the stem removal and crushing machine where the grapes became a juicy mash.  This is where the wine crafters took over.

The grape crushing event happened over Halloween weekend, so Micheal is running the grape crushing machine while styling part of his vampire costume

How to Make Wine

    Next, the newly created grape mash was added to one of several fermentation tubs where it was mixed with fermentation additives and kept at specific temperatures throughout the fermentation process.

Big tubs of crushed grapes getting mixed before being allowed to ferment 

    After the initial fermentation process the wine is then syphoned out into smaller 5-gallon carboy containers where the next fermentation process can be closely monitored. 

Grape juice being fermenting in the cellar (Photo courtesy of Desmodus Vena)

    When the time comes, Michael and Pasha employ all their trade secrets and let the wine age to perfection so they can bottle their finished product.

Michael and Pasha bringing you another year's worth of amazing wine (Photo courtesy of Desmodus Vena)

We'll Be Back

    We had an incredible time participating in the future of Desmodus Vena. We ate great food, enjoyed wonderful company, and tasted their 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon--which was fabulous. We are excited to come back next year to crush more grapes, and you can too.  This is a low-key and fun event. One of the guests remarked while we were there, "There aren't many things like this these days that bring people together over a harvest-time tradition. I like that wine is still one of those things."

Desmodus Vena truly knows how to make wonderful wine (Photo courtesy of Desmodus Vena)

Things To Know

• To learn more about Desmodus Vena or subscribe to their wine club email: info@desmodusvena.com
• Once part of their wine club you will get all the updates on exciting events like their grape crushing event
• Desmodus Vena is a small home-grown company that strives for excellence. 

To reserve a bottle visit: http://desmodusvena.com

There's nothing quite like GOOD wine!

Head on out Around Puget Sound...and Beyond