harbinger winery

Harbinger never fails to deliver great wine and when added to the experience of wine tasting at the winery in Port Angeles, WA my day was complete. The hostess that day was Kelly and she is fantastic, funny and informed. We try to go back to Harbinger every time we are in the area. Thanks for producing great wine and giving us a great time.

conveniently located at a place where you can rent bikes/kayaks (or take a tour), nice small warm/homey feeling tasting room. $5 (hubby and I split tasting ... after all, we were driving;)) with generous pours ... not spectacular, but good tasting: left with a bottle to enjoy on the rest of our vacation

very friendly atmosphere and all the reds were wonderful! Even their "ever day drinker" at $16 was wonderful. The staff was very knowledgeable.

We love this place... From showers to party's to just relaxing on a weekday at lunch w a tasting or a Friday date night... This is where we go! When Kelley is there serving or Dave the wine guy visiting its a fun fabulous time and we would definitely recommend it to anyone :)!!

We recently did a little wine tasting at Harbinger Winery in Port Angeles, WA and found the experience to excellent. That's because the wine is good but also because the intimate setting calls for interaction between guests and it is easy to meet new friends.

If you've not stopped at Harbinger lately, you're really missing out. I absolutely love the Cranberry Bliss; its a must have for Thanksgiving dinner. I'm making sure a bottle (or 2) is on my shopping list.

Returning to our Port Angeles cabin from Cape Flattery (worth the drive, weather permitting), we stopped at Harbinger's tasting room just before 6 PM. We explained we were leaving town the next day but really wanted to taste the wines based on the great things we had heard. Kudos to Kelley, who was pouring tastes that afternoon, for agreeing to stay after closing and accommodate us. The service at this winery was superb! Kelley was not only gracious, but extremely knowledgeable about the wines. The value was great; you tasted all of their wines for only $10. Not a fan of sweet white wines, we were pleasantly surprised by the 2011 Viognier. The 2012 White Riesling was perfectly refreshing for a warm summer day (think BBQ shrimp). Both appellations are Rattlesnake Hills. Then came the reds... Dedicated to giving Merlot another chance, we found the combination of complexity and smoothness of the 2009 varietal irresistible. An odd favorite of ours is Cabernet Franc, so when Kelley poured us the 2009 Rapture, we were astounded. She explained it needs to age some more, so we are laying a couple of bottles down, but it is also good now! Then came the Blackberry Bliss, undeniably terrific. Thank goodness they ship to California! Wish and hope we can be there for one of their special "wine & chocolate" events in the future. This was definitely a highlight of our visit to the Olympic Peninsula. If you want to burn off the wine/beer tasting calories, just go next door and arrange for a fabulous kayak or mountain bike excursion!

Small western Washington winery that now also makes craft beers. I tasted wines and DH tasted beers. They had wonderful red wines (we're having 6 shipped to us) and the beers were enjoyed as well. Too bad it's so far from Texas!

We stopped twice hear in August. The staff is very nice and knowlegeable about the wines. They have great wines and also sample some locale beers. WE bought a few wines and some local cheese to go with then.

Driving down the road, I see a large quanset hut housing two businesses. On one side you can rent kayaks, the other is an unexpected winery. I stopped by after visiting another place just down the road with gardens, live cello and flute music, etc. A juxtaposition to be sure but I had more fun at Harbinger, not to mention some great wine.The inside of the tasting room here is nicely done in warm woods and comfy chairs. I was lucky enough to be served by the winemaker herself, Sara Gagnon. We shared stories and I tasted some great wines. I think, just possibly, El Jefé was my favorite but I ended up with several different appellations in my trunk before I left.

I'm from California but I have to say this was some darn good wine! My daughter, auntie and I visited and got to sample 10 different (and all great) wines for 5 dollars each. I ended up being forced to buy 2 bottles to lug back with me to CA. Informative staff, can't wait to return!

My husband had almost decided not to bother going to a 'Washington' winery but I convinced him that he should at least try. I don't drink so I'm his dedicated driver. Experience of California wine tasting was that you get 5 tastes for $10-$15 so that was his first pleasant surprise, he got to try all of their wines for $5.Second pleasant surprise was he liked all of the white wines (he's a red wine drinker who will tell you he doesn't like white wine!) and loved all of the red wines. He also enjoyed the desert wine, Raspberry Bliss.The downside of this winery; they don't ship to the UK and sell 90% of their wine locally - the rest goes to their wine club which we can't join because we live in the UK. Also I now have 2 bottles of wine to try and transport back to the UK in my suitcase without them breaking!However if you're in the area and wondering whether it is worth a visit, it is, go and see for yourself.

Located around the northern Olympic Penninsula are eight artisan wineries that are members of the Olympic Penninsula Wineries, and to promote themselves, they sponsor several organized winery tours/samplings throughout the year. One of these is their annual Red Wine & Chocolate Tour held in February.Our classic Thunderbird club did this tour several years ago and enjoyed it so much we did it again on a February weekend, going from one winery to another -- we scheduled four, not all eight, because after all, we did have to drive ourselves safely home. After lunch and some mild disappointment with the limited variety of wines and chocolates being sampled at other wineries, we visited Harbinger Winery on Highway 101 West in Port Angeles, located in a unique tasting room -- a former logging truck stop.Ah -- this was way more like it! They had several stations set up, and each red wine had its own delicious and unique, good sized chocolates to go with it. And instead of sampling just three wines, they offered five on their list, plus a very good Sangiovese, from a young lady walking around pouring samples into empty glasses. And to top it off, in keeping with the overall theme, they included a Venezuelan Chocolate Porter -- not a wine, of course, but delightfully robust and chocolate-ty.Instead of merely tpouring the usual Holy Trinity of red varietals most purchased by Americans -- Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah/Shiraz --they offered Rhone-style handcrafted wines made in small quantities. In speaking with winemaker/owner Sara Gagnon, I believe she said they produce about 3,000 cases.The red wines Harbinger choose to highlight started with their gold medal winning 2010 Dynamo Red, a meritage blend of six grape varities, led by 52% Syrah. This was followed -- if you were going in the "proper" order, by a 2009 El Jefe from the Rattlesnake Hills Appellation. The El Jefe was a rich dark red, loaded with ripe plum flavors and a little black cherry, at least to my palate. Then came a pour of my wife's favorite red, a 2008 Petite Sirah, also from the Rattlesnake Hills. We both enjoy this shy-bearing red grape varietal most when it's deep dark red, with a huge body and mouthfeel, and a "bottom of the barrel" almost earthy bouqet and taste. Harbinger's was not as "inky, brooding and unctuous" as we personally favor, but nonetheless was soft and loaded with a nicely blended blackberry jammy taste and what we felt was a medium body. Then came, for us, the highlight of the entire Red Wine and Chocolate tour experience. We were "ushered" into a small, separate area, a cross between a small tent and a confessional, complete with a full-sized female mannequin dressed in her best nun's habit watching us as we "joined the processional into that small confessional", "drank the wine and chewed the wafer" while those and other lyrics from Tom Lehrer's great satirical song, "Vatican Rag" ran through our heads. The wine was an "ohmygawd" great Raspberry Bliss, and I have to confess that sipping it was, well, pure bliss. It was easily the freshest, truest raspberry tasting wine we've ever enjoyed, and not cloyingly sweet as many fruit wines and raspberry liquors tend to be. We bought a bottle of this to add to our Brut champagne, and to drizzle over French Vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries with a dollop of fresh whipped cream on top. This is so good we'll probably save this for when we have a dinner party -- but on the other hand, we may just have to sart reducing the level in the bottle without the company. Apparently we're not the only ones who feel this way --their Raspberry Bliss has won several Gold Medals from the Grand Harvest Wine Compeition in Sonoma, California.We understand that Harbinger also makes a Blackberry Bliss and have recently introduced a Cranberry Bliss. Neither were available for sampling, but provide two good reasons to visit this wonderful little winery -- and micro-brewery -- on Highway 101. Since this was a "Red Wine and Chocolate" tour, we didn't sample any whites on our visit, but Harbinger does also produce a few whites and a Lemberger Rose. More good reasons to stop and sample the next time we're in the area.As a personal aside, In this review, I have tried to stay away from the "wine speak" and all of the usual over-the-top flowerly, adjective-filled descriptions that wineries and their copy writers, and especially wine writers love to toss around. I've had a couple of syndicated wine writers confess to me that much of what they write about a wine is just finding more and more creative and off-the-wall ways to say the same thing. Do you really want to drink a wine that is "redolent of new saddle leather with hints of iron filings and tobacco gracing the finish"? How appealing is that?I think most adult Americans know at least enough about wines to know whether they prefer red varietals or whites, or blends of grape varities, prefer light bodied reds such as a Gamay or Pinot Noir or heavier bodied reds, such as a Cabernet or Petite Sirah, like a crisp, apple-like Chardonnay or one with a secondary, malolactic fermentation that produces honey, toasty, oakey,buttery flavors. It makes no difference if you like sweet and or fruity wines, or deeper, more complex wines. It's what you like that counts -- not what the winery's description says it is or what a wine writer gushes. And this is by way of saying that we liked what we saw and we liked -- a lot-- what we tasted at the little Harbinger Winery.

Really enjoyed our stop as part of the tour and the snack food with their wine was excellent. They went above and beyond and the beef and mushroom stroganov and apple dessert were restaurant quality. We left with several bottles of wine and a new entry in our GPS to come back in the future.

We went for a 1/2 day family kayak trip and enjoyed a little wine tasting, beer tasting, gourmet chocolate sampling, while snacking on some of the many cheese & cracker selections they have available. Very convenient right next door, with a comfortable, friendly bistro type setting. The wine was excellent with a price range that was nicely varied. I really liked that they also offered beer sampling there too.