The Wine Knows

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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.

Veraison - the term for when wine grapes change color - has arrived in Northwest wine country.

If you had plans to show up at your local Washington state liquor store in August to find the usual great deals available during Washington Wine Month, you'll need to wait a month.

I chatted Tuesday with Paul Champoux, owner and manager of famed Champoux Vineyards in Washington's Horse Heaven Hills.

For the past half-decade, a group known as the Washington Wine Ambassadors has worked diligently to promote Washington wine by volunteering at events. It has been a wonderful program and has operated under the umbrella of the Washington Wine Commission.

Dusted Valley Vintners of Walla Walla, Wash., known for its superior-quality Syrahs and other reds as well as its value Boomtown label, is opening a tasting room across the Cascade Mountains in Woodinville.

Apparently, our report last week that Ste. Michelle Wine Estates was planning to discontinue its Stimson Estate Cellars line struck a chord with wine lovers.

So much so that the Washington wine giant is reconsidering the move after an outpouring of calls and emails from consumers and retailers alike.

After 29 years of providing a venue for tasting Oregon wines, the Oregon Wine Tasting Room is closing down June 22.

The operation, owned by Myron Redford of Amity Vineyards in Amity, Ore., was the first tasting room owned by a winery that provided samples from competing wines.

Cal Knudsen, a Northwest forest-products exec, lawyer and Oregon wine pioneer, passed away April 24 in California after a battle with cancer. He was 85.

Knudsen planted a vineyard in 1971 and became partners with Dick Erath in the early 1970s, and Erath Vineyards' winery even changed to Knudsen-Erath from 1975 through the early 1990s. It changed back to Erath Vineyards after Erath bought out Knudsen's interest in the business.