Sunset road in Benton City, Washington is home to several wineries all located within a 2.5 mile stretch of road that sits inside 4,000 acres of vineyards. This provides the perfect backdrop for the unique tours offered by Red Mountain Trails: horseback rides, wagon rides, and wine tour by bicycle. I love wine, I love sunshine, and I like to bike , so I rounded up a few girlfriends and we gave it a try.
Our tour began at Red Mountain Trails on these awesome cruiser bikes. They were really well maintained and easy to ride.
We made our way down the gravel road and into the vineyards. Jeff Owen, our tour guide, made periodic stops along the way to educate us on the differences in vineyard growing techniques, watering, and pruning, all of which come together to create different styles of wine grapes.
Our first stop was Hedges Winery where we enjoyed a glass of their 2019 DLD Le Rosé paired with Tikka Tacos from the Fast & Curryous food truck that was on site for the day (one of my favorite food trucks by the way!). We then bought a bottle of the Rosé to share among the girls because it was that good!
We hopped back on the cruisers and headed up the hill to Hightower Cellars. When we passed these old wine barrels along the way I just had to stop and take some photos. Wouldn't these be a wonderful backdrop for a photography session?!
The trek up to Hightower was not bad - and you can stop and walk your bike at any time. In fact, after I had taken these photos I walked the rest of the way and was only 2 minutes behind the rest of the group.
We were seated inside next to a large window with a spectacular view of the vineyards below. I had a wine flight and decided to take home two bottles of their 2017 Merlot.
We then headed next door to Tapteil, where we were seated at a private table on the back patio under an arborvitae covered in a beautiful and very mature wisteria. It was a perfect spot to cool down and enjoy another glass of Rosé.
We all shared a wine flight here and it was hard to decide between their GSM and the 2016 Syrah - both were amazing, but I finally settled on the Syrah and picked up a bottle to take home.
From Tapteil we coasted back down the hill to Red Mountain Trails where we collected our purchases from the day and enjoyed a wine flight from their very own Red Mountain Trails Winery while watching the making of a music video. The music video isn’t part of the tour - but hey...what perfect timing for us to land there right while they were filming!
This is a full day event and you'll want to rest afterwards - maybe plan for a nice dinner out. Or, if you are coming from out of town, I think it would be perfect to follow-up up with a charcuterie board and soak by the pool at The Lodge.