The Wine Knows

For me, wine country is where the wine is made, and where I can go to taste it, buy it, and, hopefully, meet and talk with some of the folks who actually ferment it. I particularly appreciate that more of my dollar goes to the producer when I buy in wine country. If I'm in the back of some industrial park garage tasting next year's release thieved from a barrel, I'm in wine county. But when I'm in some grand palace surrounded by rows and rows of grape vines, and the help behind the bar can only parrot the tasting notes, I'm in "retail" country.

wineO and others hit it on the nail. A winery or two does not make a region "wine country", nor does an AVA designation alone(Puget Sound for example). Nor the fact that the Washington Wine Commission generically states all of Washington is wine country. Wine country is a sense of place, with rolling vineyards where the grapes are grown (without the AVAs in Eastern WA there would be no wine industry in WA) It's about a local culture that embraces, celebrates and develops additional features and products around wine and winemaking, like restaurants, tasting rooms, accommodations, etc.

The region from the Yakima Valley to Walla Walla is truly Washington's wine country. I lived in Bellingham for 14 years. While Mt. Baker Vineyards makes some nice wines (usually using grapes from the Yakima Valley I might add), and Samson Estates produces some great specialty wines, it's not wine country, and the locals there would agree.

Stand in downtown Seattle, Olympia, Mt. Vernon or Portland and ask twenty people "Where is Washington wine country?" We know the answer...

I pretty much agree with what everyone has mentioned here. My perspective comes from living in Western Washington, rain and all. I have been to those wineries mentioned by aperdue, and many more. The really tiny ones tend to elicit the comment "Oh look! They grow grapes!" I have visited Napa, and I have to say, it rained just as hard when I was there as it does here at home. But the sheer numbers of wineries and other establishments add to the ambiance of being "wine country."
I have also been to France and Italy and passed by miles and miles of vinyards..and the Columbia Valley seems most like that area to me...a drier and warmer climate, a bit slower lifestyle than the Big City. Oregon gets rain, but the vinyard areas tend to be much hotter and drier in the summer than Western Washingtn--I lived there before moving to Olympia.
It IS why we from the wet side come visit you as often as possible.

Good questian. I do consider all of our AVAs on the east side of the hills to be "wine country". I think the combo of the vineyards, wineries, and general wine drinking terroir (can I say that?) makes this wine country. I would not consider anywhere on the west side wine country. What's the difference? The aforementioned terroir. The ambiance, the feeling, the instinct that this is the place. People on the west side come over to wine country. People on this side don't go west to go to wine country. Obviously people do go west to Oregons' wine country. Bottom line is that I think wine country is a feeling that you are there. This is where the action is. This is where you go to be in "wine country".