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Taste Washington weekend is just ahead, with a full day of seminars on Saturday, and a wine-and-food-a-thon Sunday. It's the unofficial kick-off event to a spring full of new releases and specials in the hundreds of tasting rooms scattered around the state. I urge you to grab whatever you can -- an afternoon, a weekend, or longer -- and get out to wine country.

When you visit a winery tasting room, especially one surrounded by the vines that produce the wines, it changes the way you experience those wines. It is the antithesis of a blind tasting. It might be called an "eyes wide open" tasting. When you see the vineyard, meet the winemaker, and perhaps sample wines right out of the barrel, you dramatically expand the tasting experience, bringing all your senses to play in full force.

Wineries understand this. At any tasting event they are likely to pour not only new releases, but also previews of still younger wines, and wines made in very limited quantities for members of the winery's wine club. More often than not, wineries these days put their most adventurous, interesting and unusual wines up for sale exclusively to tasting room visitors and winery club members. You won't find these wines on retail shelves or in restaurants. And that's a big part of their appeal.

Even the big boys get into the act. Chateau Ste. Michelle's Head Winemaker Bob Bertheau recently sent a note out to wine writers with a selection of wines made exclusively for the tasting room and Vintage Reserve Club.

"There is a different side to Chateau Ste. Michelle winemaking that most people don't get to see," he writes. "This is the world of our small blends, lesser known varietals, 'roll up our sleeves and have fun' winemaking. These club wines are generally a little outside of the box of our normal winemaking parameters."

Boy are they ever! Included among the current releases are some single vineyard, 100 percent varietal gems that equal or even surpass Ste. Michelle's more widely available wines. I especially enjoyed the Chateau Ste. Michelle 2006 Limited Release Marier Sauvignon Blanc ($16), all Cold Creek vineyard fruit, bursting with sweet grassy aromas and bone dry minerality.

Close behind is the Chateau Ste. Michelle 2006 Limited Release Viognier ($25) from the Goose Ridge vineyard - surprisingly soft, beautifully balanced and warm. Among the Vintage Reserve Club reds were a pair of syrahs, a super-ripe grenache, a petit verdot and a most unusual blend of Portuguese varietals, again grown at Cold Creek.

Many smaller wineries also offer mailing list members the opportunity to purchase such limited releases. In most cases, you can sign up for free, and only a handful of wineries require that you purchase wines in order to remain on the list.

In recent weeks I've enjoyed quite a number of these wine-club-only wines that are, in different ways, exploring new directions in Washington winemaking. Here are some highlights:

Balboa 2005 Mith Red Wine ($40) -- grapes from three top-notch Walla Walla vineyards -- Yellow Jacket, Pepper Bridge and LeFore -- go into this outstanding cab/syrah blend.

Beresan 2005 Malbec ($29) -- the first-ever malbec for this Walla Walla boutique.

Camaraderie 2005 Pheasant Vineyard Zinfandel ($20) -- has a pleasing, brambly quality that speaks to the varietal.

* Paul Gregutt is the author of "Washington Wines and Wineries The Essential Guide. He can be reached by e-mail at wine@seattletimes.com.