The Southwest Washington Winery Association’s annual Valentine’s Day celebration is back with an expanded slate of participating wineries for 2023.
The annual St. Valentine’s Wine and Chocolate Celebration runs from Friday, Feb. 10 to Sunday, Feb. 12. This year, the event has 21 wineries involved, which is five more than in 2022.
“This is kind of unprecedented,” Mark Mahan, the association marketing committee chair and owner of Burnt Bridge Cellars in Vancouver, said about the number of participants.
New offerings in North Clark County this year include York Farm Vineyard in Battle Ground, Koi Pond Cellars in La Center and Columbia Ridge Winery in Ridgefield. They join eight other wineries covering the northern half of the county for this year’s event. The event features wineries from the Vancouver Waterfront up to Kelso.
Mahan believes the greater participation is a result of wineries who have found their membership with the association as valuable.
“We do these kinds of events and people see it as an opportunity to get a little bit better visibility and get more customers,” Mahan said. “Plus, it’s also fun.”
The Valentine’s Day weekend festivities have been a local fixture even before the association was founded in 2016, Mahan said. Each of the participating wineries offer their own pairings of wine and chocolates for the event.
Those looking to take part can print out a “passport.” After getting stamps from three wineries over the course of the weekend, the passport can be turned in to be entered into a raffle featuring gift cards for participating wineries. Mahan said this helps encourage some exploration of the numerous wineries in the region.
“It gets people thinking about going to more than their one favorite spot, maybe try something new,” Mahan said.
Though wine is the association’s focus, the event also features chocolate to go with the glasses. Mahan said wineries often have relationships with local chocolatiers.
“We have some pretty wonderful folks making some pretty good products around here,” Mahan said about the chocolatiers.
For downtown-based Burnt Bridge Cellars, Mahan said they work with a chocolatier only a few blocks away from their own business.
The event’s proximity to Valentine’s Day makes perfect sense, Mahan said.
“Because Valentine’s Day is sort of a normal wine and chocolate event, it’s something that we can give to our customers that they really enjoy,” Mahan said.
Taking a trip across the county can be enjoyable in itself as the seasons make their march toward spring, he added.
“Especially in north county, there’s lots of beautiful places, lots of nice roads to travel and interesting people to meet,” Mahan said.
North Clark County wineries
♥ Emanar Cellars, Battle Ground
♥ Rezabek Vineyards, Battle Ground
♥ York Farm Vineyard, Battle Ground
♥ Koi Pond Cellars, La Center
♥ Confluence Vineyards and Winery, Ridgefield
♥ Windy Hills Winery, Ridgefield
♥ Stavalaura Vineyards and Winery, Ridgefield
♥ Columbia Ridge Winery, Ridgefield
♥ 14 Acres Vineyard and Winery, Ridgefield
♥ Matranga Vineyards, Woodland
♥ Pomeroy Cellars, Yacolt
Other participating wineries
♥ Airfield Estates, Vancouver
♥ Amavi Cellars / Pepper Bridge Winery, Vancouver
♥ Valo Cellars, Vancouver
♥ Barnard Griffin Winery, Vancouver
♥ Brian Carter Cellars, Vancouver
♥ SuLei Cellars, Vancouver
♥ Burnt Bridge Cellars, Vancouver
♥ English Estates Winery, Vancouver
♥ Lane Cellars with pouring at Juxtaposition, Camas
♥ Capstone Cellars, Kelso
Information on locations and hours of operation for wineries is available online at swwawine.com/wineries.
