The Wine Knows

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.

Every once in a while, a comment shows up on this site from someone. The comments come from different people, but they all have the same tone.

They always start out sounding like they're part of the conversation, then they turn radically into something else: neo-prohibitionism. They always include links to some anti-alcohol site in the hope that some of you will click on them, see your sinful ways and swear off wine and other agricultural products.

It was 75 years ago Friday that the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by - of all states - Utah, effectively ending national Prohibition in the United States.

While that should be cause for celebration, it is tempered by the fact that Prohibition effectively continues to this day in many regions of the country. Fortunately, those of us on the West Coast live in mostly enlightened states (though why Costco cannot purchase wine directly from producers remains a great mystery of life).

The federal government has moved the Lake Chelan AVA one step closer to reality, as it has opened the proposal for comments, which can be submitted until Oct. 14.

Washington currently has nine AVAs: Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley, Walla Walla Valley, Red Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, Wahluke Slope, Columbia Gorge, Rattlesnake Hills and Puget Sound.

Last week, we brought you the story of AgriVino, a self-serve wine-tasting room in Oregon's Yamhill-Carlton District. How things change quickly. Below is a report from Eric Degerman, Wine Press Northwest managing editor, who is working on a story about it:

The federal government is taking comments (press release, PDF) on the establishment of a new American Viticultural Area in Washington's Yakima Valley.

The Snipes Mountain AVA would be the state's second-smallest appellation at 4,145. About 535 acres of vineyards already are planted in the proposed region, including some of the state's oldest. Included in the region is Harrison Hill.

Up here at Timberline Lodge, we ran into a bit of a mystery over Ste. Chapelle's Sparkling Riesling. On the bottle, it is listed as a nonvintage American wine.

Northwest Wine Summit Director Parks Redwine bet me $1 that it used California grapes, based on the fact that it says in small type on the back of the bottle: "Vinted & bottled by Ste. Chapelle, Madera, Calif."

Have TSA restrictions changed the way you buy wine when you're visiting another wine region?

According to a survey by BottleWise, a company that makes wine carriers, many wine travelers have significantly changed the way they handle wine purchases. Here are the results of a survey conducted last month by BottleWise:

Several weeks back, I wrote an item about a business called Vineyard2Door. It's run out of the Seattle area and is targeted at wineries struggling to sell their products online.

Gary Robertson is the guy behind Vineyard2Door. He saw a need: Wineries sold almost no wine online directly to customers because they couldn't set up their shopping carts and figuring out the state-to-state compliance issues was a nightmare.

A colleague just pointed out something to me:

-- The Washington Department of Natural Resources makes a lot of money by leasing vineyard land, especially on Red Mountain, but also in other areas of the Columbia Valley.