The Wine Knows

We have launched a new wine events calendar on winepressnw.com.

We'd like your help testing it out.

Our old system consisted of wineries, wine shops and organizations submitting their items on a form, then us adding them to a page in chronological order. When an event passed, we had to manually remove it. It was an arduous system that wasn't exactly friendly to us or to you.

Maryhill, our 2009 Washington Winery of the Year, has announced its summer concert series:

The always anticipated Chateau Ste. Michelle summer concert schedule has been released:

I enjoy Northwest seafood - and there's little I love more than clam chowder.

This is a bit of a departure for a wine writer, but here are my thoughts on four chowders I've tasted in the past two days on the northern Oregon Coast. All were delicious in their own ways, but just like wine, I have put this in order of preference.

The Olympic Peninsula Wineries Association is putting on a great event this weekend, and I wish I could be there.

The wineries around Port Townsend and Port Angeles are playing host to the Northwest Wine & Cheese Tour. Each winery is pairing up with a regional artisan cheese producer.

Pacific Rim Winemakers, the Randall Grahm-owned winery in the shadow of Washington's Red Mountain, has plans to be more than just a Riesling producer.

Nicolas Quille, Pacific Rim's winemaker and general manager, revealed that the winery will release an Italian-inspired red wine this summer. This will be a first for the winery, which relocated from Santa Cruz, Calif., to Washington's Columbia Valley in 2007 (the year it bumped its production to 135,000 cases - mostly Riesling).

Hey Everyone!

I know there are a lot of wine industry people reading this forum on a regular basis, so I wanted to ask how local wineries are doing during the recession. I have spent 21 years in real estate, and have never seen my industry this slow. I have had to cut back on my wine purchases, and have stuck to buying wines I know and love versus taking chances with new wineries or wines I have never had before. Am I alone in this?

Spring has been a bit late throughout the Pacific Northwest, and that goes for here in Washington's Columbia Valley, too. Normally, bud break will occur around April 10, but we are about a week or two behind.

Last week, we created a Facebook fan page for Wine Press Northwest.

If you're on Facebook, you can get to it here or by searching for "Wine Press Northwest" once you're on Facebook.

For as long as I can recall, the Tri-Cities Wine Festival has been at the Red Lion Hotel in Pasco, Wash. For the 31st edition of the Northwest's longest-running wine fest, this post-harvest celebration will move across the Columbia River to the magnificent Three Rivers Convention Center.