Perennial Vintners

What a gem of a place! If you’re looking for a down to earth, gain some wine knowledge and Bainbridge island history, Mike (winemaker and proprietor) is your guy. Locally sourced grapes… he’s making some truly good wine… the Syrah was wonderful!

Perennial Vintners is a winery and vineyard. It is one of two wineries on the island growing grapes and making wine. Mike started the winery on Bainbridge Island in 2003. Cool climate vineyards in WA state are not common. The owner and winemaker Mike Lempriere is taking advantage of the cool weather to make some exciting delicate white wines, that are hard to find in the U.S. Currently, he is the only winery in WA state growing and making wine from the Melon de Bourgogne grape. This grape is also known as Muscadet in France. The winery is 100% Mike. You can visit the winery by appointment. We thought the winery had already closed, and we called on a whim and Mike answered. Even though he was closed, he invited us to come on over. Mike gave us a tour of the vineyard and shared his amazing story and passion for wine making with us. Then he took us into the basement of his house, where he turns the grapes into wine for a tasting. For $ 5 – 7 we were able to taste about 7 wines. His white estate wines reminded me of the European white wines that I have been missing from the French side of Switzerland, where I lived for a couple of years. The Muller Thurgau was spot on. It had the right amount of acidity, with bright floral notes and well balanced minerality. The Melon de Bourgogne was also delicate and very nice. Definitely the wine I will be having with some seafood in the near future. He also has a couple of wines that he makes from grapes sourced elsewhere. But, the estate wines won me over. They are quality wines. Another favorite is their very nice raspberry dessert wine, made from locally grown fruit. The fruit comes from a neighboring farm that was owned by one of the Japanese American residents who had been interned, and then returned to the island. He worked the land, until he passed away several years ago. Mike shared the amazing story and history of the land with us. Every bottle truly is a labor of love, and has direct connections with the island and land. The beautiful labels on the estate wines were all done by a local artist and highlight the vineyard itself. The bottle prices are also very reasonable. I definitely purchased several bottles to take home with me. You can find Perennial Vintners at some Whole Food locations in Seattle. Or better yet, hop on a ferry and visit the closest vineyard to Seattle.

Loved the passion of this place. Mike is the real deal. He loves his wine, is passionate about being local and is a wonderful guide into the world of wine. Charming and small, with the actual vineyard serving as the backdrop for your tasting. Highly recommended.

What a lovely place nestled in the middle of Bainbridge. I would say off the beaten path because it took us forever to get there but we were doing a biking wine tour, so it took us forever to get anywhere. It was up this dusty gravely road at what felt like the owners house rather than a wine estate. Its quite lovely to actually get to see the vineyards as opposed to those out in Woodinville, it was like a breath of fresh air, literally. It was so fresh and clean, i hesitate to call it the country, but again distances can be deceiving when on a bike.
The owner was very nice, great guy, easy to talk to. You can tell he knows his wine. He did a bit too much name dropping for me though, he tooted his own horn a bit too loudly. It mostly seemed about personal stuff though, not the wines he was honest and not selling those too hard which i appreciated. It would have been nice to have done a little tour of the place. I think he may have mentioned those occurring in the past.
Notes about the wines: I think there was a 5 or 7 dollar tasting fee for 7ish wines, $ 1/​taste sounds familiar now that i think about it. So, decent enough of a deal and the most of the wines were very tasty. They were all very mellow and hardly any oak. A lot of fresh fruit aromas and flavors with out any harsh oak involved. He also had a delicious raspberry port which was very stout. It almost has to be eaten with cheesecake, but alas none was provided.
All in all i would go back, probably not on a bike though. Definitely worth while place to visit if you are doing wineries in the area. Maybe check if he is doing events, i think he mentioned that, a band or estate tours. There wasn’t any space to sit down so it made the visit very fast. We also weren’t invited to explore and walk around but I would have liked to have done so and spent more time there. Maybe next time.