Jen and I worked hard in our rental house kitchen on the night of July 3 – we wanted to get our cooking and baking responsibilities done so we could go wine tasting at Cairdeas Winery on the morning of the Fourth of July! Jen made an incredibly delicious potato salad to share with our families, and I baked several batches of cornbread.
Jen hadn’t been to visit Cairdeas yet and was really excited to explore, meet the winemakers and taste the wine.
The Cairdeas tasting room has plenty of parking. It’s an active working winery, so you might get to see some heavy machinery in action.
Cairdeas’ tasting room is spacious, light-filled, and offers comfy seating you can sink down into.
This winery wins the award for Longest Tasting Room Counter we’ve yet seen in our travels!
Here you can see the tasting menu from the Fourth of July: 2018 Nellie Mae, 2018 Northern White, 2016 Caislen an Papa, 2015 Tri, 2016 Consonance. So many temptations!
We hurriedly took photos of the tasting room before happy, thirsty crowds of wine tourists showed up to taste wine. (Nobody ever wants to be in the background of our photos, sheesh!)
Cairdeas is an estate winery, growing their grapes right here on the property overlooking Lake Chelan. Here are some estate Syrah grapes waiting patiently for harvest.
I’m going to have to do some research on wine grapes – I’ve never heard of Picardan!
We explored the vineyards a bit, but it was pretty hot on the Fourth so soon we headed back to the shady patio.
We love meeting other people, but were sort of secretly delighted to have the tasting room patio all to ourselves for a little while!
This is me (Carrie) tasting Caislen an Papa, a GSM blend with some Counoise and Cinsault blended in as well. It’s incredible!
Lacey and Charlie, the owners and winemakers, took time out of an incredibly busy Fourth of July day to come over and say hello. They are without a doubt the kindest, most down to earth, genuine folks we’ve ever met in our wine industry adventures.
I was thrilled to be able to introduce my stepmother Teresa to Lacey and Charlie. Our family lake house is super close to Cairdeas (just across the street and down a tiny ways) and it will be so easy to bring our houseguests over for a tasting flight or glass pour of this fabulous wine. Great neighbors to have!
We were honored to be invited to watch the low altitude military flyover at 1 pm on July Fourth, right along with the winemaker’s family!
My boyfriend Bob stopped by to say hi on his way into town. He’s a beer drinker though, so he said his hellos and then headed over to the house. He was eager to find one of the Elysian “Space Dust” beers I’d left in the fridge for him to enjoy after his long drive over from Woodinville.
Teresa and I are seen here drinking wine and plotting our next wine country adventures! She is a world traveler and when she’s home, she splits her time between Manson/Chelan, Las Vegas and San Diego. We have to make time to sit down with our phone calendars and compare schedules to prioritize spending time together!
My stepmother thoroughly enjoyed this white wine, Cairdeas’ 2018 Northern White blend.
Which wine from Cairdeas is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.
Cairdeas Winery is located at 31 Winesap Ave, Manson, WA 98831.
-Carrie
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