The Wine Knows

A report by the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers indicates record crop of 155,000 tons of wine grapes this fall. That would be up from 145,000 last year.

That said, the annual "crop estimate" is often on the high side. Based on past years, I would expect the tonnage to come in a little lower but still be a record.

After nearly two weeks of extremely hot weather at the end of July, August temperatures in Washington's Columbia Valley have been just about perfect for wine grapes, with highs in the mid-80s. Temperatures are expected to spike today and the rest of the week to the mid- to high 90s.

Oregon's wine grape crop is expected to be about 37,000 tons, up from 2008 but down from 2007, which was 38,600.

Meanwhile, California's wine grape crop is estimated this year at 3.3 million tons.