PORT TOWNSEND — It’s a heart-stopping view this time of year.
Rows of leafy vines stretching out; dark-purple and translucent pink grapes descending like garlands; tall evergreens surrounding it all.
At Sailor Vineyard — one of a handful of wineries around Port Townsend — colors are peaking.
The grape harvest is less than two weeks away, Sailor Vineyard co-owner Claire Africa told a visitor last weekend.
There was just enough time for the Jefferson County Farm Tour, on which the winery was one of seven stops.
Between Saturday and Sunday, 231 people came to see the spread on Woodland Avenue, according to Claire’s husband Kit.
The planting, begun in 2009, includes French hybrid grapes, specifically the Marechal Foch, a cold-hardy variety that has flourished here. Since then, Kit and Claire have established 1,200 vines, along with a 200-foot section of red table grapes and a small grove of young olive trees, unusual in Jefferson County.
Last Saturday, Kit’s grandson Eamon, 3, was allowed to sample some of the table grapes while the grown-ups toured the vineyard.
Walking along the edge of the rows, one visitor asked about the absence of the netting other farmers often use to keep birds from feasting on the fruit.
“See that up there?” Kit replied, pointing to a small box on the winery building. It shines a green laser beam onto the vines during the day. While growers around the world are using this tool as a bird deterrent, this is Sailor’s first year with it.
Life has treated Kit and Claire well since they met at a dinner hosted by mutual friends. Both avid sailors, they decided to embark on a new venture: growing grapes organically, making wine without additives.
“We call it ‘no intervention,’ ” Kit said of their practices.
“All this is despite our efforts,” he joked, walking with a few visitors to the eldest side of the vineyard, which is about 13 years old.
On farm-tour weekend, some of the people who stopped by were new to the area, Kit said. They were using the tour to get to know this part of Jefferson County.
In all, the seven farms open for in-person visits drew 1,277 people over the weekend, said farm tour coordinator Megan Claflin.
She said she was pleasantly surprised by the number, which was fairly close to the 2019 total of a little more than 1,400.
“We did make it a masked event. We did require that for everyone’s comfort level,” Claflin said.
People were supportive, she said. None of the farms reported any problems with the rule.
Every stop on the tour, organized by the nonprofit Production Alliance of Port Townsend, saw 200 or more visitors, she said. White Lotus Farm and Space Twins Provisions of Port Ludlow counted 558.
The Red Hen Food Bank Garden, one in a network providing fresh produce to Jefferson County’s food pantries, had 379 people explore its spread, located alongside RainCoast Farms off state Highway 19.
“We’ve added five [gardens] since January,” said coordinator Kathy Ryan.
For information about volunteering at the various food-bank gardens in Port Townsend, Port Hadlock and Chimacum, see ptfoodbankgarden.com or phone 360-531-4955.
As growers turn their attention to the fall harvest, the farm tour promoters note there are still videos showcasing a whole other set of farms.
These properties weren’t on the in-person tour, but they can be visited via GetonTheFarm.org, Claflin said. The website also provides information about where to find locally grown produce.
The Production Alliance took the tour over in 2019 after Washington State University Extension had run it for many years, she said.
“Next year is the 20th annual farm tour. Hopefully we’ll be back to the full tradition” of 10 or more farms open across Jefferson County, Claflin said.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
Eamon Africa, 3, negotiates his face mask while sampling table grapes at Sailor Vineyard in Port Townsend. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)
