It was so wonderful to hear Carol speak so highly of Washington wines on Thursday. As I have mentioned before, I was living in Seattle prior to coming to the GSB and am a huge fan of Washington wines. Before moving to Seattle, I had no idea that Washington had such a prominent wine industry. I still remember when went to the grocery store in Seattle and noticed a PNW wine section - it was there that my love of Washington red wine began. Many of these wines had "Columbia Valley" written on the labels, a region I was unfamiliar with before moving to the PNW.
As Carol mentioned in class, Washington produces some incredible wine (especially for a reasonable price point). I love Cabernet Sauvignon, which happens to be a very popular grape in Washington. While I was living in Seattle, I almost solely bought PNW wines once I became familiar with the different wineries/producers. I found the quality to be very high for the price point (I usually would spend between $15 - $35 on a bottle for a dinner etc.) and I liked the idea of buying "local".
There is a wine producing area just outside of Seattle, Woodinville, which is home to several well known wineries such as Chateau St Michelle, DeLille Cellars, and Januik Winery. Woodinville is about a 30 minute drive outside of the city and my friends and I would often go wine tasting for the afternoon in the summer months. There is also a bike path that takes you from Seattle proper to Woodinville which is such a fun summer day activity. It is about a 20 mile bike ride (one way).
It will be interesting to see if Washington State wines continue to grow in popularity over the next couple of years.
As a fellow Washingtonian, I loved this post! My older sister lives in Seattle, and for years had been asking for me to come up and visit Woodinville. I recently planned a trip there, and was surprised by how many wineries are in the area.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to put in a plug for Walla Walla, as I'm from Spokane, WA (i.e. the east side of the state).
Perhaps most known for its Syrah, the region not only is well-suited climate-wise (it is over the Cascade Mountains, so it doesn't face the same rain issues as Seattle) but it also comes equipped with a pretty catchy name. When Terry came to our class a few weeks ago, one of the examples she popped up on the board was "Walla Walla Bing Bang." I noticed that this is the example most of our class fixated on.
I believe there's ample opportunity for the region to continue growing, and think there are plenty of marketing lenses (especially with that name!) too. See here for more details: http://winefolly.com/review/get-to-know-walla-walla-wine/
I agree- I think Washington wines are fantastic. My sister lives in Oregon, and over the last few years has brought many bottles home from all over the PNW.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, many are saying that Washington is likely to be a Global Warming 'winner'- some of its regions that have previously been too cold will be more suitable for winegrapes, and existing regions may be able to diversify the types of varietals they are growing. But that being said, warmer weather may change the characteristics people love and look for in wines from Washington... will be interesting to see how this shapes out!