The Wine Knows

One item of note as we prep for our Riesling competition this weekend: The noble white wine grape of Germany and Alsace is produced throughout the Pacific Northwest. In fact, I'm a bit amazed at how many various appellations are represented on wine bottles.

So far, we have 89 different Rieslings in the database (with perhaps two dozen more to add this morning). Here are the different appellations represented:

Washington
-- Columbia Gorge (Washington side)
-- Columbia Valley
-- Rattlesnake Hills
-- Red Mountain
-- Wahluke Slope
-- Yakima Valley
-- Horse Heaven Hills
-- Washington

Oregon
-- Columbia Gorge (Oregon side)
-- Yamhill-Carlton District
-- Willamette Valley
-- Chehalem Mountains
-- Dundee Hills
-- Umpqua Valley
-- Eola-Amity Hills
-- Oregon

British Columbia
-- Okanagan Valley

Idaho
-- Snake River Valley
-- Idaho

We also have one listed as "Washington/Oregon."

Which areas are missing that might seem to be good places to grow Riesling? Puget Sound, Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands.

I've seen none from Walla Walla, either, though I'm not terribly surprised, as much of that valley is dedicated to red wine grapes.

Of the 67 wines that provided case production numbers for us, they add up to 908,570 cases. That will increase considerably, as we haven't yet entered the wines for Pacific Rim, Hogue, Covey Run and Columbia. These three wineries account for nearly a half-million cases of Riesling.