The Clos CheValle vineyard covers 50 acres on Lake Chelan's south shore, between 1,250 and 1,600 feet up. Rocky Pond farms Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Syrah, Riesling, Viognier, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer there, with SustainableWA certification. In November the vines go dormant, and a lot of people assume the wineries downhill go quiet with them.
They don't. Winter takes days off the south shore's week, not months off its season. From now through December, Monday through Wednesday comes down to two tasting rooms. Thursday through Sunday, all four south shore rooms on the stretch below the neighborhood are open. If you live up here, the useful thing to know this winter is which day it is.
The neighborhood's own grapes are in this winter's glasses
Fruit from the slope above the road ends up in local bottles. Rocky Pond describes the vineyard's lake-moderated temperatures and glacial till soil, and says those conditions produce the cool-weather Syrah the winery is known for. Vin du Lac lists Clos Chevalle Vineyard as one of its Lake Chelan AVA grape sources. So a bottle opened near the fire this December may well come from the slope you drive past to get home.
Vin du Lac's tasting room is at 105 Highway 150, on the road toward Manson rather than the south shore. Its Friday happy hour still deserves a spot on the calendar. The Lake Chelan Chamber lists Abode Happy Hour every Friday from 3 p.m. to close through December, with $5 glass pours of the Abode White or Red, and part of every bottle sale goes to the Chelan Valley Housing Trust.
How the winter week breaks down
Here's the posted schedule for the four south shore rooms below the neighborhood, put together by day of the week. Every winery here notes in some way that hours can shift by season, so call ahead before a drive in snow.
| Day | South shore rooms open | Worth planning around |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Fielding Hills, Tsillan Cellars | The quietest day of the week |
| Tuesday | Fielding Hills, Tsillan Cellars | Fielding Hills happy hour, 3 to 5 p.m. |
| Wednesday | Fielding Hills, Tsillan Cellars | Fielding Hills happy hour, 3 to 5 p.m. |
| Thursday | All four, adding Karma and Siren Song | Prime Rib Thursdays at Tsillan |
| Friday | All four | Live music at Tsillan; Abode Happy Hour at Vin du Lac on Hwy 150 |
| Saturday | All four | Weekend lunch at Sorrento's |
| Sunday | All four | Fielding Hills Sip & Wrap, every Sunday in December |
Fielding Hills Winery at 565 S. Lakeshore Dr. is the one south shore room in this group that posts the same hours every day, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with covered, heated indoor and outdoor seating. The winery puts the tasting room about five minutes from downtown Chelan. Fielding Hills recommends reservations and doesn't take same-day bookings. Walk-ins are accommodated when there's space, and reservation holders and wine club members get priority seating. If you want a Tuesday spot, book it on Monday.
That Tuesday is worth booking. The Chamber's winter calendar lists Fielding Hills Happy Hour every Tuesday and Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m., with $10 glasses of white and $14 glasses of red, by the firepit or inside with the view.
Karma Vineyards at 1681 S. Lakeshore Rd. is listed Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The winery says its tasting room is open year-round with indoor and outdoor seating and takes table reservations. It also has a 3,000-square-foot underground wine cave, which the restaurant offers for private cave dining.
Siren Song Vineyard Estate & Winery at 635 South Lakeshore Road lists Thursday through Sunday, noon to 8 p.m., on its own site, with a scratch kitchen working from seasonal and local ingredients. Reservations are suggested, and walk-ins are seated as space allows. The Lake Chelan Wine Valley listing shows Wednesday through Sunday instead, so check with the winery before a midweek visit.
Siren Song's noon-to-8 schedule is the biggest change from the early week. Monday through Wednesday, the south shore mostly closes by late afternoon. From Thursday on, it stays open into the evening.
Tsillan's first winter under local owners
The other room open seven days is Tsillan Cellars at 3875 Hwy 97A, and this is its first winter under new owners. A local investor group led by Manson residents Ronan and Gillian Walsh bought the Lake Chelan estate, Sorrento's Restaurant and the Woodinville tasting room, effective June 30, 2026. The Lake Chelan Mirror reported the sale in July. In its announcement, the winery said founder Dr. Bob Jankelson stays on as ambassador, and the winemaking team, tasting rooms, restaurant, events and wine club all continue unchanged.
The November calendar matches that. Prime Rib Thursdays run on Nov. 5, Owen Barnhart plays live on Friday, Nov. 6, and a 2024 Red Vintage Tasting is set for Saturday, Nov. 7. Barnhart's set runs 4 to 6 p.m. The winery says it books live music on Fridays or Saturdays through fall and winter, and that weather decides when performances move off the Island and into the tasting room. As November gets colder, expect the music inside.
The Lake Chelan Wine Valley site shows Tsillan's November tasting room hours as Sunday through Thursday noon to 5, and Friday and Saturday noon to 6. Lunch runs Saturday and Sunday noon to 2, and dinner Thursday through Sunday 5 to 8. The tasting room is closed on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26. The winery's own pages show longer hours and note that they vary by season, so trust a phone call over either schedule. Sorrento's highlights its Italian fireplace and glass-enclosed pavilion as spaces that work in every season.
December adds evenings and Sundays
The weekly pattern holds into December, with a few dated events on top of it.
- Friday, Nov. 27: Small Town Holidays opens in downtown Chelan with Plaid Friday shopping from 6 a.m. That evening there's a mini-concert of holiday carols at 5 p.m., then at 6 p.m. Santa parades through town to light the tree at the corner of Woodin and Emerson. The program runs through Dec. 31.
- Every Sunday in December: Fielding Hills hosts Sip & Wrap. Bring your unwrapped gifts, and the winery provides wrapping supplies and specialty glass pours by the firepits, with reservations through (509) 888-9463 or fieldinghills.com. Counting from Dec. 6, that's four Sundays before the month ends.
- Friday, Dec. 18: Siren Song's Annual Holiday Sing Along, with live music by Mac Potts plus wine, cocktails and food. There's no cover, but you need a free ticket. The Chamber calendar lists a 5 p.m. start and the ticketing page lists 5:30, so go by the time printed on your ticket.
Sip & Wrap is the event that changes the weekly table the most. Sunday afternoons at Fielding Hills turn into a December routine of their own, and the same room is selling $10 whites on Tuesdays.
The road gets its own season in 2027
This winter has one more thing going for it: it's the last one before South Lakeshore Road work begins up-lake. Chelan County's South Lakeshore Road Phase I, project CRP 743, has been in design since 2023, and construction is slated for 2027. The project starts at milepost 6.0 at Lake Chelan State Park and runs 0.68 miles up the road. The county says a half-mile stretch within it will be widened to match the adjoining sections, for both drivers and the cyclists who ride up the lake, and that the roadway will also be resurfaced.
According to the county's project page, the work will need one-lane, flagger-controlled traffic and may involve rock blasting, which could close the work area at times. Expect delays. The budget is about $2.5 million, mostly from a state RAP grant, with county road funds covering the rest. The project received a Determination of Nonsignificance, and the comment period closed Oct. 1, 2026.
Closer to town, WSDOT has proposed a 10-foot shared-use path along US 97A between Johnson Place and South Lakeshore Road. The agency lists construction for late 2026 or early 2027, with lane shifts, restriping, curbing and traffic calming. That timing is a forecast on WSDOT's project page, not a confirmed start date.
For now, the drive from Clos CheValle down to the tasting rooms has no flaggers or blasting, and on any day this week at least two rooms are open.
I've watched the south shore through a lot of off-seasons, and I'm always glad to compare notes on which rooms stay open when the Island goes dark or what next year's road work could mean for your part of South Lakeshore. If you're up here this winter, Nick Bowler would like to hear from you. Let's Connect.
