Why are there not more Washington State Wine Makers/Owners on this board?

[John_Glas]

I’ve always thought of Washington wineries as being more corporate-owned compared to Oregon, so not as much Mom & Pop involvement in them.

Visit Walla Walla

[Dan_Bowman]

I love WW but learned to never fly into their airport after 9:00 pm. The rental car agencies are closed, the cab/uber drivers (I think there are two in town) are already in bed, and unless the lone airport employee takes pity on you, you’re stuck there until morning.

[John_Glas]

We spent a little over a month living in Walla Walla earlier this year. We mentioned the board to many and I would say many are lurkers. We found many exciting new projects…Matt Austin at GroGrain. Peter Devison at Devison (shared spaced with Rasa) and Billo the master at Rasa. I would put these on par with many of the great CA wines. The people were great, food exceptional and we liked it so much we are probably moving there after more than a decade in Napa. With regards to the distance from Seattle…they have a few flights a day from Walla Walla airport…and there are many good wineries when you land.

Let’s get those lurkers as contributors.

[CJ_Wiebe]

Roughly 2/3 of my cellar is WA wine. I’m business adjacent, (not ITB directly), so I support the state industry. Plus I happen to love many of the producers here, so that’s just a bonus. I find WA wines hit a sweet spot between CA and French wines that works really well for me. For instance, I find DeLille’s D2 and Quilceda’s CVR without peer for QPR for my tastes, YMMV.

[John_Glas]

Roughly 2/3 of my cellar is WA wine. I’m business adjacent, (not ITB directly), so I support the state industry. Plus I happen to love many of the producers here, so that’s just a bonus. I find WA wines hit a sweet spot between CA and French wines that works really well for me. For instance, I find DeLille’s D2 and Quilceda’s CVR without peer for QPR for my tastes, YMMV.

I support MN’s state apple industry. Wine not so much.

[Joel_Pulver]

Third … The Walla Walla region is far removed from Sea-Tac and the distance does not lend itself to “day” trips.

There is a whole lot of really good wine being made on the west side of the cascades, between Woodinville and Seattle. It isn’t like Walla Walla is the only place that makes wine in WA.

Absolutely true. I mentioned Walla Walla since it is the one place people are most familiar with. I stand corrected.

[larry_schaffer]

We spent a little over a month living in Walla Walla earlier this year. We mentioned the board to many and I would say many are lurkers. We found many exciting new projects…Matt Austin at GroGrain. Peter Devison at Devison (shared spaced with Rasa) and Billo the master at Rasa. I would put these on par with many of the great CA wines. The people were great, food exceptional and we liked it so much we are probably moving there after more than a decade in Napa. With regards to the distance from Seattle…they have a few flights a day from Walla Walla airport…and there are many good wineries when you land.

Let’s get those lurkers as contributors.

In all honesty, the same could be said for most California winemakers

[John_Glas]

We spent a little over a month living in Walla Walla earlier this year. We mentioned the board to many and I would say many are lurkers. We found many exciting new projects…Matt Austin at GroGrain. Peter Devison at Devison (shared spaced with Rasa) and Billo the master at Rasa. I would put these on par with many of the great CA wines. The people were great, food exceptional and we liked it so much we are probably moving there after more than a decade in Napa. With regards to the distance from Seattle…they have a few flights a day from Walla Walla airport…and there are many good wineries when you land.

Let’s get those lurkers as contributors.

In all honesty, the same could be said for most California winemakers

True. If I was up and coming and wanted to get the word out I would be on this site!

[john_stimson]

I love WW but learned to never fly into their airport after 9:00 pm. The rental car agencies are closed, the cab/uber drivers (I think there are two in town) are already in bed, and unless the lone airport employee takes pity on you, you’re stuck there until morning.

Don’t know if they still do, but they used to turn the traffic lights off at night. I think at 10 PM, all the lights used to switch to flashing yellow.

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

I collect Washington wine moreso than any other region. My love for the wine coming out of this state is deep. That said, I rarely take the time to post much about WA wines because, largely, the posts are ignored or discussed very lightly. This is a decidedly Euro-centric board and, as mentioned above, I see posts about Washington largely passed over or not taken seriously. Part of the fun of a discussion board is conversation, so that could explain it and, at least for me, that’s why I hesitate.

Don’t give up, Brandon - maybe there are others lurking in the shadows.

I recall the early years of WB where the complaint was that we were too domestic-centric, and NOBODY talked about Burgundy. That has changed, fads (on WB) come and go. Remember also early on Bob Wood was probably the only person consistently talking about Oregon wine. Now it’s a huge part of every conversation.

There’s a huge variety being discussed here - adding Washington to it, if there are enough WA-centric Berserkers - would fit right in

+1.

I post nearly all of my TNs on this board, and I am sometimes very surprised at which ones do (and do not) gain traction. Ya just never know …

[Andrew_K]

Don’t know if they still do, but they used to turn the traffic lights off at night. I think at 10 PM, all the lights used to switch to flashing yellow.

They used to do that all over. And it wasn’t all yellow, the main road was flashing yellow and the side roads were flashing red - a stop sign.

[Mike_Maguire]

We spent a little over a month living in Walla Walla earlier this year. We mentioned the board to many and I would say many are lurkers. We found many exciting new projects…Matt Austin at GroGrain. Peter Devison at Devison (shared spaced with Rasa) and Billo the master at Rasa. I would put these on par with many of the great CA wines. The people were great, food exceptional and we liked it so much we are probably moving there after more than a decade in Napa. With regards to the distance from Seattle…they have a few flights a day from Walla Walla airport…and there are many good wineries when you land.

Curious as to why you would want to go to Seattle.

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

Seems to me this is a recipe for success for a new winery/winemaker:

1. Participate here, both as a winemaker/winery owner and as a wine geek.
2. Participate in Berserkerday, and have an offer(s) that represents a huge discount off normal pricing. The less they do number 1 the bigger the discount needs to be.
   3. Make excellent, soulful wines; not just “solid, well-made” wines that are otherwise boring.
3. Do 1 through 3 for – what? – maybe three consecutive years, and watch things take-off.
   
   
   Based on some of what I’ve heard, this board has the purchasing power, and word-of-mouth power, to keep a winery in business, and also to launch them into success.

[Jeff_Lindsay-Thorsen]

At the prompting of Erica Orr I’ve joined your ranks. It’s been a looooong time since I’ve been in the mix here, the ebob days. I’ll try to stay connected and provide relevant banter when I’ve got value to add.

Harvest starts Monday with Stoney Vine Syrah. I have no idea what my bandwidth will be, but I look forward to learning and sharing with this robust community.

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

I’m looking fwd to drinking some WA St Syrah tonight after a lesser Margaux three of us didn’t even finish last night.

[Steve_Costigan]

At the prompting of Erica Orr I’ve joined your ranks. It’s been a looooong time since I’ve been in the mix here, the ebob days. I’ll try to stay connected and provide relevant banter when I’ve got value to add.

Harvest starts Monday with Stoney Vine Syrah. I have no idea what my bandwidth will be, but I look forward to learning and sharing with this robust community.

Great. Love your wines! I’m wondering if you’re willing to share any thoughts on how 2021 is looking. I saw a while back GDDs in most WA locations weren’t that far behind super hot 2015. I’m also wondering if GDDs were skewed by the heat dome event or if it’s really been that hot on average. Thanks.

[Brian_Curtis]

Hi Jeff, it is great to see you here. We were drinking a WT Vintners Syrah just last night. As always, we enjoyed it very much.

[John_Glas]

Hi Jeff, it is great to see you here. We were drinking a WT Vintners Syrah just last night. As always, we enjoyed it very much.

Need to get to WT next summer when visiting my brother. Enjoyed the visit and wines a few years ago.

[John_Peacock]

Seems to me this is a recipe for success for a new winery/winemaker:

1. Participate here, both as a winemaker/winery owner and as a wine geek.
2. Participate in Berserkerday, and have an offer(s) that represents a huge discount off normal pricing. The less they do number 1 the bigger the discount needs to be.
   3. Make excellent, soulful wines; not just “solid, well-made” wines that are otherwise boring.
3. Do 1 through 3 for – what? – maybe three consecutive years, and watch things take-off.
   
   
   Based on some of what I’ve heard, this board has the purchasing power, and word-of-mouth power, to keep a winery in business, and also to launch them into success.

It isn’t as easy as you spell it out. I’ve been participating on this board for years, have participated in BD a couple times, and I make (what I consider) really good, soulful, interesting wines that compete with any Grenache coming from Washington, but that has not resulted in much traffic at all from this site (online or in person). Maybe if you’re the newest Pinot/Chardonnay darling that will work, or maybe I haven’t been active enough, but I think your steps above only work when lightning also strikes.

[John_Peacock]

At the prompting of Erica Orr I’ve joined your ranks. It’s been a looooong time since I’ve been in the mix here, the ebob days. I’ll try to stay connected and provide relevant banter when I’ve got value to add.

Harvest starts Monday with Stoney Vine Syrah. I have no idea what my bandwidth will be, but I look forward to learning and sharing with this robust community.

Great. Love your wines! I’m wondering if you’re willing to share any thoughts on how 2021 is looking. I saw a while back GDDs in most WA locations weren’t that far behind super hot 2015. I’m also wondering if GDDs were skewed by the heat dome event or if it’s really been that hot on average. Thanks.

I’ll share what I know so far. For my vineyards, which are in Yakima Valley, GDDs are actually slightly higher than 2015. Current expectation is that harvest will be 10-14 days earlier than last year, which was about a week earlier than 2019. Compared to 2020, acids are staying higher as the brix goes up, which is good for me. I might be picking next week, depending on what happens in the vineyards this week.