The Wine Knows

Have you ever visited AppellationAmerica.com? It's a Web site that is a terrific resource for winery information as well as well-written articles.

For the past half-decade, a group known as the Washington Wine Ambassadors has worked diligently to promote Washington wine by volunteering at events. It has been a wonderful program and has operated under the umbrella of the Washington Wine Commission.

Tim Ray, our man in Spokane, attended Sunday night's Taste Washington event at the fabulous Davenport Hotel and took some photos, which we have posted here.

Dusted Valley Vintners of Walla Walla, Wash., known for its superior-quality Syrahs and other reds as well as its value Boomtown label, is opening a tasting room across the Cascade Mountains in Woodinville.

Apparently, our report last week that Ste. Michelle Wine Estates was planning to discontinue its Stimson Estate Cellars line struck a chord with wine lovers.

So much so that the Washington wine giant is reconsidering the move after an outpouring of calls and emails from consumers and retailers alike.

After 29 years of providing a venue for tasting Oregon wines, the Oregon Wine Tasting Room is closing down June 22.

The operation, owned by Myron Redford of Amity Vineyards in Amity, Ore., was the first tasting room owned by a winery that provided samples from competing wines.

We're looking to add recipes with wine-pairing suggestions to the Web site, and I'd like your take on how you'd like it done.

Dear Europe: We realize you have been making wine for a long time. We appreciate that. We also realize that a number of folks here in the New World misappropriated some of your names and perhaps sullied them a bit.

For that, we continue to apologize. But really, get over yourselves already.

Are you looking for a way into the Northwest wine industry? Here's a business opportunity: Napa North, a wine shop in Klamath Falls, Ore., is up for sale. The owners are relocating to the Midwest and are, shall we say, motivated sellers.

Last week, we chatted with Charlie Hoppes, owner/winemaker of Fidelitas Wines on Washington's Red Mountain. He and longtime Yakima Valley grape grower Dick Boushey have planted three acres of Cabernet Sauvignon on his five-acre property on Sunset Road.