In the past ten years, Washington’s wine industry has gained substantial recognition world wide for growing premium wines. The Northwest state is now ranking with some of the finest regions of the world. Although it is still early in the farming of grapes in Washington, the Eastern portion of the state has seen tremendous increases in total acreage of wine grapes. This in turn has increased total output of wine itself. Now the wineries must find new and creative ways to sell this wine as growers rush to plant in premium sites and cash in on this promising and lucrative crop.

Many factors contributing to this honor started millions of years ago when magma flows covered nearly all of Central and Eastern Washington. Later a massive glacier pushed southward from Canada to Idaho, damming the Clark Fork River. The waters of the Clark backed up high into the mountain valleys of Western Montana, forming Lake Missoula. Eventually, this glacial dam broke under its own force and created one of the world’s greatest floods. These floods raced across the Columbia Valley and dammed up were Tri-Cities is located at today. This is when the precious sediment settled to

younger drinkers put a reference or memory with the drinking experience. “You have to catch people’s attention but you also have to deliver in the bottle,” says Willie Gluckstern, company CEO of a small import house called WinesForFood (Winebusiness 15 Mar.). Cayuse Vineyards in Walla Walla is using this method of labeling with great success. Operator Christopher Baron says, “Traditional labels are boring. Wineries dress up bottles in gold and heavy colors making themselves too serious. Let’s have fun.” His wines sell out every year in four weeks or less. This is done by a futures program where selected customers order wines ahead of time based on barrel tastings or sneak previous of what’s to come (Winebusiness 15 Mar.).

As far as the wine market goes, right now, it is steady but it needs to be visible to the non-wine drinkers. Most drinkers are upper-middle to upper class citizens. Wines are becoming more affordable and just need to be marketed more strongly with an image a little more down to earth. Just last month, in March 2003, Steve Boone (Wine Market Council member) gave a PowerPoint presentation on the backgrounds and figures about wine drinkers and how the Wine Market Council plans to build the audience for wine consumption. He broke down the key points:

It is the duty of wine industry supporters to try to grow this profession for the good of all those involved from the owner, to the worker, to the buyer. It is very important to learn from the teachings of all that have knowledge on this intriguing subject. Walter Clore was vital for this kind of information. Dr. Clore passed away in Feb. 2003 giving our wine industry perhaps its greatest loss ever. He is officially labeled the “Father of Washington’s Wine Industry,” and rightly so. “His impact was huge,” says Mike Sauer, Clore’s protégé’. “As one of nature’s gentleman, he always showed kindness to whoever was seeking information about growing grapes. He took me seriously, perhaps more seriously than I took myself.” Walter Clore arrived in Washington in 1934 with a vision and helped create something only dreams are made of. Clore was 91 years old and will be dearly missed (Isaac 1-2).

Although Isabella is not as popular as it once was, it is still one out of almost five thousand different varieties in the world. Of these, only about 150 are grown commercially and only nine are considered classics. Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Semillon for whites while reds include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. Washington is very fortunate that all of

Some topics in this essay:
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