Westside Wine Trails Association map
The Westside Wine Trail has made it official; they are now a bone fide association. Tina Slamka, of Little Straw wineries, is the new president of the fledgling group, which has a long history of promoting each other.
"Becoming an association means we end up promoting ourselves as an area destination instead of individual wineries," explained Slamka. "We've been doing it for years unofficially… now we are official. We are always promoting each other, now it is more focused and we can promote the area as a unique and fun destination."
The wineries of the Westside Wine Trail Association range from larger and well-known wineries like Quail's Gate and Mission Hill to smaller established wineries including Little Straw, Mt. Boucherie and Rollingdale and wineries newer to the area like Volcanic, Beaumont and Kalala Wines.
"All the wineries are family owned and run and several are generational wineries," said Slamka. "They vary in size from very large to very small, so there's a huge benefit in having that kind of collective marketing ability."
In the non-tourist season, the wineries will now officially host events for locals and offseason visitors to enjoy. "We have three major ones planned so far," said Slamka. "This year we'll have a Sip into the Holidays theme with holiday food pairings around Christmas time. Then in February, there will be Sip with Your Sweetheart, paired of course the chocolates and a similar themed event in the spring. People often don't know what they have in their back yard, and these events are geared towards the locals."
For more information and for locations of the wineries go to thewestsidewinetrail.com.