Doug Charles, a graduate of the Hotel and Restaurant program at WSU, brings over 20 years of prominent restaurant and consulting experience to the wine industry. As well as stints at several Seattle area establishments, he has also spent time in the San Juans, and most recently 15 years managing restaurants on Chuckanut drive, including both The Oyster Bar, and Oyster Creek Inn. His consulting experience, in both food and wine, has varied from creating a significant personal wine cellar on a yacht based on the east coast, to recipes for a major frozen food manufacturer. He has also produced wine lists for numerous restaurants, provided marketing assistance for Washington wineries and established a food and beverage program for a facility servicing private and corporate jets.

Doug has also been featured in numerous books and publications, and has judged many local and regional wine competitions. His comprehensive public tastings of rare, older Washington wines from such vintages as 1979, 1983 and 1985 have established him as an authority on the premium wines of Washington State.

Doug co-founded Compass Wines, with his business partner Will Parks, in Anacortes in 2001. Their goal is to provide a retail store that offers rare and past vintage Washington wines, controlled wine storage, and difficult to find wines from around the US and the world. They feature current and past vintage wines from such producers as Leonetti, Quilceda Creek, Cayuse and Bunchgrass from Washington; and Silver Oak, Harlan and Opus 1 from California on a regular basis. On any given day you can expect them to have a number of wines from these producers available for sale.

Doug resides with his wife and son on a farm in Skagit County. He may be contacted at doug@compasswines.com