Maryhill Winery [September 2021]

I’ve always felt like I’m so lucky to meet and know so many wonderful people due to my travels. Let me introduce another travel nurse friend, Natalie Marr!! I actually met Natalie for the first time back in 2019 when I was on assignment at University of Washington. She was part of the permanent staff, but we worked different shifts, so we were kind of more like acquaintances back then. When I got to Spokane and started working at MultiCare Deaconess Hospital we were [re]introduced and you know how you get that feeling that you know you know someone from somewhere else?

Well, it didn’t take us long to realize that we knew each other form UW!! Natalie was now a traveler [I knew she had that “travel nurse” vibe… IYKYK] and on assignment at Deaconess!! I know that I don’t have to tell you how nice it is when you start somewhere new and you see a sweet friendly face in the crowd!! It was fun actually working together on the same shift and getting to know each other a little better. When we realized that we were both wine lovers we made a wine date to catch up and reminisced over our shared history. Enter stage left... Maryhill winery!! LOL

Maryhill Winery began back in 1999 by Craig and Vicki Leuthold. Craig is Spokane native and graduated from Washington State University with a business degree. Vicki, originally from Hawaii moved to Washington in the 70’s. She has a background in sales and marketing. They make a dynamic duo when it comes to wine and wine making, as evidenced by the 4,000 + awards they have earned since opening their doors. They built their first winery, tasting room and production facility in Maryhill, Washington; up on a bluff overlooking the third generation Gunkle Vineyard, one of Washingtons oldest vineyards.

Maryhill has deep roots and a lot of history attached. Founded by Sam Hill who named the town after his wife, Mary. Maryhill… get it? In honor the Leuthold’s named their winery upon the story of how the town got its beginnings, almost a century later!! Did you notice I mentioned that their “first” tasting room was built in Maryhill? That is because now they have four tasting rooms in Washington and three satellite locations!! Natalie [pictured below] and I met at the Spokane tasting room, [seen in the above photo] which was opened in 2018.

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to sit on the patio and enjoy the 180 degree views of the Spokane River!! You can probably see from our wine flights above that "enjoy" was exactly what we did!! Haha!! You see Maryhill Winery is known as one of Washington’s largest and most visited wineries. With offerings of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Sangiovese, and Grenache, Maryhill provides high quality, yet affordable wines to temp even the “snobbiest” of palates. They see over 75,000 wine tasters annually and they are always looking for ways to make their wines more accessible.

More then 25 years later, Craig and Vicki are still just as excited about making wine as they were way back when and they are looking forward to the see what the next 25 years may bring!! If their statement… “to discover serendipitous connections, inspirational moments and tasting experiences…" was the motto, I’d have to say they #nailedit!! Natalie was pretty busy planning her wedding this summer, but were able to meet up at-least one more time before we moved on to our next location!! Both being travelers at heart, there is no telling where we might meet up again in the future!!

Next week Wine with Wixy will be visiting Albuquerque and meeting up with a local wine friend, one whom you may remember from a few wine blogs in the past!! Tune in next week to find out who this mystery guest could be!!

Cheers to you my wine loving friends, and TTFN!!