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Two of my favorite things: wine and gardens are coming together again on Sunday, May 16, 2010 from 4-6pm in Historic Dunn Gardens in Seattle, WA. Last year, because I was traveling, I missed this fantastic event, but I did write a three part interview with Executive Director Sue Nevler here.

Ferns & Flowers Showing Off at the 2008 Dunn Wine Tasting Tour

This year, I made sure to reserve the date on my calender early, and I encourage you to do the same. Dunn Gardens was developed around 1916 by the renowned Olmstead Brothers firm. Today, it is maintained through the efforts of a tireless board, dedicated volunteers, talented curators, and donors like you who attend fundraisers like the forthcoming wine tour. Reservations and Tickets for the tour available here.

This year, to pique your interest about the forthcoming tour, I spoke with Sue again, and I interviewed local, award-winning Seattle winemaker, Jason Domanico, founder of Domanico Cellars winery in Ballard, about the gardens, the event, wine and more. Over the next few weeks leading into this fun event, be on the look out on gardenhelp.org for an on-going series of posts from my conversations with Sue and Jason.

Today, a few words from Sue:

Robin: ” Sue, what inspired Dunn Gardens to begin the Spring wine tasting tour and when did you start the wine tasting tour?”

Sue: “It seemed a logical fit for us, a wine tasting in a lovely garden setting. JM Cellars was the first winery we invited and a lovely pairing was born. Peggy and John Bigelow showed us the ropes and it all started from there. They’ve come back several times as their own winery has grown. Tre Fanciulli and Bramble Bump were early favorites in the garden. 2007 was our first year. One of the reasons for holding the tasting in May is that it’s Preservation Month. We were hoping to raise awareness of the Dunn Gardens during that month, and appeal for support in a very pleasant convivial way. We gathered guests one year and posed for the National Trust’s campaign “This Place Matters” during the event, and posted that on their website.”

Dunn Supporters Tasting Wine in the Gardens

Robin: “Over the years, which wineries have participated, and who will be participating this year?”

Sue: We’ve had an impressive list in just this short time: Domanico Cellars, Efeste, Firesteed, JM Cellars, Long Shadows, Page Cellars, Sparkman Cellars, Thurston Wolfe, Yellow Hawk Cellar. This year the lineup is Chinook Wines, Domanico Cellars, Lake Chelan Winery, Long Shadows Vintners and Lost River Winery. We like to mix it up, and I hope you’ll come and sample some terrific wines.

Robin: “How does the wine tour benefit Dunn?”

Sue: “Each winery donates a percentage of their sales to the Dunn Gardens, and we use the revenues from donations to continue to run the garden. I have to be frank. Times are very tight in the gardens, so donations are critical for us. The general trend these days is for supporters to donate in the form of attendance at events. We really need members to help support the finances of the gardens. I was listening to the KUOW pledge drive and thinking we’ve probably been too delicate in asking for money. I think it needs to be said that each member or donation goes into our general operating budget, and we need that support to survive. So a big thank you to our member/donors for remembering to support the gardens financially.

Tags: bramble bump, chinook wines, domanico cellars, dunn gardens, efeste, firesteed, garden tour, historic sites, jm cellars, lake shelan winery, long shadows, lost river winery, national historic trust, olmstead, page cellars, preservation, preservation month, sparkman cellars, this place matters, thurston wolfe, tre fancuilli, wine, wine tour, yellow hawk cellar

This entry was posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 7:23 am and is filed under Garden Treasures Series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.