DALLAS - Washington wines are hitting the road, showing major cities across the United States exactly what the Northwest is all about. It's called Taste Washington, and it's presenting to the nation the best Washington winemakers have to offer.
Taste Washington began as an event in conjunction with the World Vinifera Conference, a trade convention held every other year in Seattle. Last year for the first time, the Washington Wine Commission made Taste Washington a separate event, held in April at Seattle's Paramount Theater. It was an instant success, with better than 50 wineries and 30 restaurants participating and about 1,200 wine and food lovers shelling out $50 each for a fabulous evening at one of Seattle's landmark venues.
With this first great success behind it, the Washington Wine Commission decided to take the concept a step further. Not only did the second Taste Washington take place this April at the Paramount, but the commission also took the show on the road to showcase Washington wine.
The first Taste Washington outside of the Northwest was in March during the Dallas Morning News International Wine Competition. The two others this year are during May in Chicago and Boston.
"This is a great opportunity for the Washington wine industry," Steve Burns, executive director of the Washington Wine Commission, said at the Dallas event.
Dallas is a large wine consumer market, and California wineries from the Napa and Sonoma valleys do well there. Burns wants Washington to have a part of that market, too.
"This is our first road show," Burns said of Dallas. "Our philosophy is we're bringing Northwest wines and Northwest lifestyle to these cities."
That lifestyle includes food. The wine commission flew in 700 pounds of salmon, oysters, cheese, Ellensburg lamb and much more for the 330 representatives from restaurants, liquor distributors and media who attended the affair.
For Joel Tefft of Tefft Cellars in Outlook, near Sunnyside, the Dallas market is starting to pay off. Tefft is a smaller producer looking beyond Washington's borders.
"I started three months ago trying to find somebody in Texas" to sell his wine, Tefft said. In March, he got his first order from Longhorn Liquors. He hopes to build his Texas sales to 1,000 cases a year.
For Marty Clubb of L'Ecole No. 41 in Lowden, near Walla Walla, this was a coming home of sorts. The Texas A&M graduate already is selling about 500 cases of wine a year in Texas of the 15,000 cases he produces annually.
"We're in a lot of really good restaurants here," he said, a slight drawl working its way back into his speech.
John Williams of Kiona Vineyards Winery in Benton City saw this as a first-time opportunity. He doesn't sell any wine yet in Texas, but he hopes this event will spur distributors and restaurants to give him consideration. He likes the way the wine commission is marketing Washington wines as a whole, noting that he, as owner of a smaller winery, could never attempt to pull off such an event by himself.
Kiona certainly got Texas' attention, as it won seven medals at the Dallas competition, more than any other Northwest winery.
Of Washington's 100-plus wineries, perhaps the best known is Columbia Crest in Paterson. It's the largest in Washington and 18th largest in the United States. And parent company Stimson Lane is known for aggressive marketing across the nation. But head winemaker Doug Gore came to Dallas to promote what he terms "a winery within a winery." Amid the millions of bottles of wine he produces, he also is making what he calls "artisan wines," or higher quality - and higher priced - reserve wines, and he wants to introduce them to new markets already familiar with Columbia Crest and its sister winery, Chateau Ste. Michelle.
Burns says this is only the beginning. After this year's four Taste Washington events, Washington's wineries vote on whether to increase the money they give to the commission to promote and market Washington wine. If that passes, Burns sees even more Washington wine being poured around the country as the industry grows.
This is an exciting time for Washington, Burns said, which is the second-largest wine producer in the United States after California. He expects another 50 wineries to open in Washington in the next few years, and he believes the amount of wine grapes being grown in Eastern Washington will surpass Napa Valley's output very soon.
"It's an interesting time," he said. "And a fun time."
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