For an impromptu wine weekend, wander around VisitKitsap.com to discover fantastic wine tasting opportunities and weekend lodging deals. With almost 300 miles of spectacular shoreline, there are many rooms with a view of the water, Mt. Rainer or spectacular sunrises or sunsets.

The Kitsap Peninsula has its own small but growing wine country; it’s part of the larger Puget Sound American Viticultural Area, a federal designation that includes the islands, peninsulas and south to Olympia.

This weekend, the Winery Alliance of Bainbridge Island presents  Wine on the Rock, a Wine & Charcuterie Weekend on November 10 and 11, just in time for your Thanksgiving Dinner menu planning.

This is a marvelous opportunity to meet with the seven local winemakers, from 12-5pm on both Saturday & Sunday. Award winning Amelia Wynn Winery will be open at their downtown Winslow Way tasting room just minutes from the ferry terminal. From there, the other award winning wineries, Bainbridge Vineyards, Eagle Harbor Winery, Eleven Winery, Fletcher Bay Winery, Perennial Vintners, and Rolling Bay Winery will be celebrating with wine and charcuterie.

Tickets can be purchased online here and are valid for both days (stay the night and spend a leisurely Sunday on the Island!)   Included is an event wine glass, wine tasting at each winery, charcuterie to complement the wine tasting, and a wine bottle wine tote.

Transportation options are many with buses (on Saturday), ferries, Uber and Lyft and for large groups, Tour Bainbridge or Bon Vivant Wine Tours. Wineries are just minutes away from the ferry terminal, close enough to bike to if the weather is nice. So bring your own or rent one from Classic Cycle on Winslow Way.

Make this getaway relaxed and Stay the Weekend! The Winery Alliance has partnered with the Bainbridge Island Lodging Association to offer amazing Wine on the Rock weekend packages. Book a two night getaway with one of our participating accommodations and enjoy a weekend on the Natural side of Puget Sound. Included is a complimentary bottle of wine, $5 dollars off your Wine on the Rock ticket and depending on the property, possible weekend discounts.

Closer to Tacoma, just north of Gig Harbor at the other end of the Kitsap Peninsula, is Olalla Vineyard and Winery. Open since 2008, the Olalla estate vineyards are planted to Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Viognier, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc and Golubok. Golubok, according to the Good Fruit Grower, is perfectly suited to the Puget Sound AVA.

And suited to red wine palates with “one-eighth parentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. Believed to be from the Ukraine, It’s an extremely early variety with red flesh and juice that is used for blending.” Another unique aspect of this winery is the use of clay amphorae, a type of container of various sizes with a wide body, narrow neck and two handles as pictured on their wine labels.

This is an entertaining place to hang out with music on Fridays from 6:30 ‘til 9:00p. During the drier months, local performers and guests are outside in the vineyards and during the rainy season, Free Friday Night music moves into the Loft. It’s a cozy, intimate venue for these live performances.

On Friday, November 9, LaVon Hardison sings jazz standards, originals, and her own eclectic and compelling arrangements of popular songs. Because of limited space, please register for this free event at Events/Happenings in the Vineyard.

View from the Comfort Inn Port Orchard

Snacks and wine are available at the winery but why not make it a special occasion with an early dinner at the highly rated Bay Street Bistro in Port Orchard for a delightful dining experience of inspired dishes such as local northwest cheeses with grilled bread or a house smoked pork chop. Cozy accommodations and a delicious breakfast await at the pet-friendly Port Orchard Comfort Inn on the Bay and wake up to scenic views of Sinclair Inlet.

Gig Harbor’s pet-friendly Best Western Wesley Inn and Suites also has a delicious free  breakfast spread, wifi and an easy stroll to the waterfront for unique shops for early Christmas shopping before enjoying lunch at the local watering hole, The Tides Tavern. With 16 tap handles, northwest wines, burgers, chowder and crab mac n cheese, you’re going to love lunching at this waterfront tavern.

Gig Harbor’s pet-friendly Best Western Wesley Inn and Suites also has a delicious free  breakfast spread, wifi and an easy stroll to the waterfront for unique shops for early Christmas shopping before enjoying lunch at the local watering hole, The Tides Tavern. With 16 tap handles, northwest wines, burgers, chowder and crab mac n cheese, you’re going to love lunching at this waterfront tavern.

Belfair, a small town on the southern tip the Hood Canal, is also home for two wineries, award winning Mosquito Fleet Winery and the newest Kitsap Peninsula winery, Long Road Winery. Both have small productions, 55 cases here, 250 there, but are making a huge impressions.

Established in 2009, Mosquito Fleet Winery is a place for wonderful hand-crafted wines and a boatload of fun. Like most wineries on the Kitsap Peninsula, the tons of grapes are trucked over from warmer, drier eastern Washington in macro bins, then sorted, destemmed, fermented and left to mature in oak barrels.

Mosquito Fleet Winery only made 55 cases of the 2013 Reserve 34 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet and it sold out shortly after it was awarded the #1 Cabernet in the Northwest in the Seattle Times Pacific NW Magazine Top 50 in November 2017.  So get on down to the tasting room, located at 21 Ne Old Belfair Hwy and taste future award winning wines before they’re gone. Open Saturday from noon ‘til 5:00p., Sunday’s from noon ‘til 4:00p.

Long Road Winery in Belfair is one of the newest, award-winning wineries on the Kitsap Peninsula. Production is small but mighty! While they’re not yet open to the public, you can get a bottle or two of their wines on line, from Harbor Greens in Gig Harbor or enjoy a bottle with dinner at the exquisite Brix 25 in Gig Harbor.

On the Hood Canal, Seabeck Cellars is the newest family operated winery. While not open to the public yet, their wines are available online or better yet, take a road trip to scenic Seabeck and mosey into fresh-from-the-farm Lone Rock Mercantile or the historic Seabeck Landing General Store both on the Seabeck Highway. This is a Sunday kind of drive with spectacular views of Hood Canal with the Olympic Mountains in the backdrop.

The Kitsap Peninsula is easily accessed by Washington state ferries from the Seattle area or a scenic bridge crossing the Tacoma Narrows.