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Tucked inside the tidy bounds of a walnut orchard, the little garden shed ahead has been transformed into a produce stand. Cut flowers, fruits and vegetables, jams and jellies, honey and nuts, beckon—but since we’re riding by on bikes, we’re not exactly equipped for a shopping expedition. We pull in for a moment nonetheless. It’s just a few minutes back to our hotel, so maybe if we hold an apple in one hand, steer with the other…

Until recently, this was the impossible moment in Northwest wine country.

Until recently, we’d have been slogging miles back to a prefab chain motel along the highway. The Okanagan, Yakima, Columbia, Walla Walla and Willamette valleys have achieved international fame for their vineyards and wineries, not to mention their general agricultural abundance, from asparagus to zucchini; Yakima is sometimes second among U.S. counties in total value of its crops. Surrounded by splendid scenery, blessed by balmy weather, Northwest wine country suffered just one huge shortcoming—no destination resorts for visitors to enjoy while touring these lovely climes. Napa Valley has two of the top resorts in the U.S.; Sonoma has two more; for years, in the Northwest’s wine-growing regions—none.

Now our region claims its own destination lodgings: The Willamette Valley’s Allison Inn, Columbia Valley’s Cave B Inn, and Okanagan Valley’s Spirit Ridge Resort all are worth the trip on their own merits, places you can lounge by the pool, stroll across the courtyard for dinner, be scrubbed, pummeled and aromized in the spa. All are deluxe accommodations, and all are off-highway places where you can hop on a bike and cruise country back roads.

That’s what we’d done at the Allison, a brand-new (fall 2009) complex in Newberg, Oregon. Perched astride a flank of the Chehalem hills, the Allison is an elegant 85-room boutique property whose design (lots of wood and stone) harks to traditional Northwest lodge style, but whose LEED-certified outlook is thoroughly modern: solar energy heats the water and supplies a portion of its electric power; there isn’t a plastic bottle to be found at the place; runoff-absorbing sedum covers part of the roof; the surrounding meadow is native grasses and flowers; the restaurant serves up divine hand-made crab-and-pea ravioli; biking and strolling are not only possible, but perfect.

At Cave B, next to the Gorge in George, Washington, one need not even leave the resort grounds for a long, leisurely ride among the vineyards, which curl up the slope from the cliff edge, 900 feet over the river, to well above the inn’s 15 marvelously spacious villas. More than 600 acres surrounding the inn include 103 acres of vineyards; 50 acres of fruit orchards; grassland and undisturbed basalt headland; in the western distance the Cascades rise above the Columbia uplands. The spa makes extravagant use of truly local materials—basalt, chardonnay oil, fruit seeds—and the pool benefits from 300 days of sunshine.

Like Cave B, Spirit Ridge is a desert resort. Just over the Canadian border in Osoyoos, B.C., the 200-villa complex is a project by the local First Nations band and thus abuts a wonderful interpretive center describing indigenous life in the Columbia Basin. The key attraction here for most visitors is the modest chance of seeing an exotic local denizen, the Okanagan rattlesnake, only such in Canada. Wander or ride the trails winding through the sage and adjacent vineyards and you might get lucky enough to encounter one of these shy, harmless creatures. Or not. In which case, you can take in the view of Lake Osoyoos from the pool, practice target golf on the links-style course, or sample one of the best beaches on the warmest lake in Canada.

Each of these resorts is different, but they all share one key distinction: You’d want to visit even if they weren’t in the heart of Northwest wine country.

Eric Lucas lives in Seattle; visit him online at www.TrailNot4Sissies.com.