Hank Sauer has helped run wine competitions for Wine Press Northwest for the past decade. He runs the backroom, which means he oversees every bottle that is opened and every glass that is washed. His job is to ensure the judgings are run fairly - and he does it all as a volunteer. In this week’s podcast, Hank talks about how a judging is run and how anyone can put on wine event at their homes.

Myles Anderson, co-founder of Walla Walla Vintners and founder of Walla Walla Community College’s wine program, was honored Friday as this year’s inductee into the Legends of Washington Wine Hall of Fame in Prosser. In this week’s podcast, Bob Woehler sits down with Myles to talk about his wines and the award.

Jessica Munnell is a former Chateau Ste. Michelle winemaker who also happens to be married to Columbia Crest head winemaker Juan Munoz Oca. She now works for a winery in Walla Walla and is starting her own boutique operation. This week, Bob Woehler chats with Jessica.

Bargain Bob Woehler loves August. Not only because he gets birthday presents, but it’s also Washington Wine Month, which means he can head to a state liquor store and get some terrific deals. Old Bargain Bob has been studying Washington Wine Month lists for years, and he’s able to zero in on some great wines. This week, Bob focuses on what he will look for this month.

Braiden Rex-Johnson lives so close to Seattle's Pike Place Market, she can nearly catch a flying salmon if she leans out her window. In this week's audio podcast, she chats with Bob Woehler about the dozen or so places in and around the Market where wine can be sampled. Live in Seattle - or planning to visit? Give this a listen.

The Tucker family has been farming in Washington's Yakima Valley since the end of Prohibition in 1933 and opened Tucker Cellars in Sunnyside some 30 years ago. Third-generation Yakima Valley farmer Randy Tucker runs the operation today, and he chatted with Bob Woehler about the past three decades in this week's audio podcast.

Mike Hogue began Hogue Cellars in the early 1980s, and now is heavily involved in Mercer Estate Wines in Prosser, Wash. In this week's audio podcast, Bob Woehler gets Hogue on the phone to chat about this history of the Yakima Valley and the Washington wine industry.

Fat Olives is a restaurant with two locations in Washington's Tri-Cities, and the Alaska-based eatery is making a name for itself with its wine program, which focuses on regional producers. Fat Olives also is friendly to wine lovers by offering low corkage fees - and corkage-free nights. In this week's audio podcast, Bob Woehler chats with the manager of Fat Olives in Kennewick about his wine program.

Today marks the first anniversary of Bob Woehler creating and producing his weekly podcast. We turn the tables on the dean of Northwest wine writers and interview him about how the first year went, and he reminisces about some of his favorite shows.

David Forsyth joined Hogue Cellars in its early days in 1984 and left the Yakima Valley giant in 2006 to rejoin Mike Hogue to start up Mercer Estates, not far away in Prosser. In this week's audio podcast, Bob Woehler chats with Forsyth about his long history of winemaking in Washington. He also talks a bit about a small winery he and his wife have started as a side project.

In this week's audio podcast, Bob Woehler and I chat about the Summer issue of Wine Press Northwest, which has a giant feature called "The Ultimate Guide to Pacific Northwest Wine Country." We also talk about a big change to the magazine, in which we pull out the Recent Releases and turn them into a more timely online-only publication.

Rick Small comes from a farming family in the Walla Walla Valley, and he began planting wine grapes on his property in the northwest corner of the appellation in the 1970s. In 1981, he launched Woodward Canyon Winery in the town of Lowden, and his Cabernet Sauvignons are considered some of the best in the United States. In this week's Bobcast, Bob Woehler sits down with Small to talk about viticulture, his family's history in farming, some older vintages and newer wines, as well as Small's winemaker, Kevin Mott.

Jay Drysdale grew up in the Lower Mainland, became a chef, then moved to the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia to follow his passion for wine. This week, Bob Woehler chats with Jay about B.C. wine and how difficult it is to get outside of the province.

Greg Martinez crushed his first grapes in 1996 and now makes a broad range of wines at Holmes Harbor Cellars on Washington's Whidbey Island near the town of Greenbank. Martinez grew up in California and was a Navy pilot for many years. He and wife Theresa released their first wines in 2008.

Portrait Cellars is a fairly new and small producer on Washington’s Red Mountain, owned by Ed and Eve Shaw, who use fruit from their 12-acre vineyard. Last fall, its 2005 Merlot earned a Platinum in our best-of-the-best competition. In this week’s podcast, Bob chats with co-owner Eve Shaw during Taste Washington.

Leala Cramer, owner and winemaker at Marcus Sophia Winery near Orting, Wash., in the shadow of Mount Rainier. Cramer is a chef who once cooked for Shirley MacLaine. The winery focuses on red wines, including Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and a blend.

Kevin Correll is the owner and winemaker for Barrage Cellars. His first winery was in a garage, and his second was in a barn, so he combined the words to come up with "Barrage" Cellars. Today, his winery is in the Woodinville warehouse district. In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler chats with Kevin at Taste Washington in Seattle.

Memaloose is one of Washington's newer wineries - its first vintage was in 2006 - and it is in the growing Columbia Gorge region of the Northwest. Winemaker Brian McCormick graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in religion and philosophy, then earned his master's degree in enology and viticulture from U.C. Davis. The family winery is in the Gorge town of Lyle, Wash.

In this week's audio podcast, Bob Woehler catches up with Michael Haig, who runs Whitestone Winery. Whitestone has tasting rooms in Spokane and the Columbia Basin town of Wilbur, not far from its vineyards on the shores of Lake Roosevelt.

In this week's audio podcast, Bob Woehler chats with the owner of Eagle Harbor Wine Co., a small producer on Washington's Bainbridge Island. If you're in the Seattle area, it's a short, 30-minute ferry ride to Bainbridge Island and its more than a half-dozen wineries.

Tanya Woodley and Elaine Jomwe run SuLei Cellars, a boutique winery in the Walla Walla Valley. Tanya is the winemaker. She graduated from Walla Walla Community College's vaunted V&E program, then worked with Steve Lessard at Whitman Cellars for three years. Elaine runs the business side of the operation. In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler catches up with Elaine at Taste Washington in Seattle to talk about SuLei's wines, including its wildly popular Roller Girl Red.

In the heart of Washington wine country, Tagaris has created a wonderful destination with its winery and restaurant near Richland. Winemaker Frank Roth and executive chef Frank Chullino recently combined on a superb dinner, and Bob Woehler was there to talk to them about their operation.

One of the hottest young wineries in Washington is Airfield Estates in the Yakima Valley town of Prosser. The Miller family is crafting wines of superb quality and value prices. This week, Bob Woehler chats with Marcus Miller, the winery's young winemaker.

Each year, the Spring issue of Wine Press Northwest honors nine wineries from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho in its Wineries of the Year feature.

The Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser commemorates the life of Dr. Walter Clore, the father of Washington wine. An outdoor event facility is being built and will be home to this year's Prosser Wine & Food Festival, which is Aug. 13.

In October, Pete Hedges, winemaker for Hedges Family Estate on Red Mountain, fell into a press during harvest. The accident broke his back and several ribs and punctured both lungs. By Christmas, he was back on the job, and last week, he sat down with our Bob Woehler to talk about the accident as well as his wines.

Karen Ward, director of sales for Washington Wine & Beverage Co., is the person behind Girly Girl Wines in Woodinville, a brand that combines clever labels with delicious and affordable wine. This week, Bob Woehler chats with Karen about how she came up with the idea and how she has successfully marketed it.

Last week, the annual convention for the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers drew a record crowd of 2,124 growers, winemakers and other members of the wine industry. Bob Woehler sat down with Vicky Scharlau, executive director of WAWGG to chat about the group's history, the industry's growth and some of the sessions that were held.

A month ago, Barnard Griffin's Sangiovese rosé won a gold medal or better for the sixth consecutive year at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. How does winemaker Rob Griffin manage to craft such a superb pink wine each year?

One of the most talked-about new wineries in Washington is Swiftwater Cellars. The Watts family has built a stunning facility at Suncadia near Cle Elum that combines a wine-tasting experience, restaurant and pro shop for the adjacent Rope Rider Golf Course. The Watts family has hired Tony Rynder, formerly of Domaine Serene in Oregon's Dundee Hills, as its director of winemaking.

Juergen Grieb is a longtime Washington winemaker who now focuses on sparkling wine for his own Treveri Cellars in Yakima. This week, Bob Woehler talks with Juergen about his wine and his history in the Washington wine industry.

Robin Pollard, executive director of the Washington Wine Commission, oversees the country's second-largest wine-producing state. With about 700 wineries and more than 40,000 acres of wine grapes, Pollard and her staff in Seattle are managing an industry with explosive growth. In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler talks with Pollard about the burgeoning wine industry and the challenges associated with marketing Washington wines at home, nationwide and overseas.

Last year, Joel Tefft opened one of the first distilleries in Washington. The longtime Washington winemaker sold his eponymous Yakima Valley winery so he could refocus his efforts on crafting gin, whiskey, vodka and other spirits. This week, Bob Woehler sits down with Tefft to talk about the operation near Red Mountain, including how to taste spirits.

This week, Bob Woehler looks through his extensive tasting notes and reminisces about some of his favorite wines of 2010.

Each year, Wine Press Northwest conducts the Platinum Judging, in which we try to determine many of the best of the best in the Great Northwest. In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler and Andy Perdue sit down to chat about the judging and reveal the top winners.

Ken Robertson, a longtime newspaperman and Wine Press Northwest columnist, is a great lover of sparkling wines. In fact, he even has made his own for several years.

Mike Wallace owns and operates one of Washington's oldest wineries, Hinzerling in Prosser. He and his father moved to the Yakima Valley in the early 1970s to plant a vineyard and opened Hinzerling in 1976, when fewer than 10 wineries existed in the state. Today, Wallace makes some of the Northwest's finest Port-style wines.

Parks Redwine - yes, that is his real name - lives in Atlanta, Ga., but his love for Northwest wine moved him to launch the Northwest Wine Summit more than a decade ago. With more than 1,100 entries, it is now the largest judging of Northwest wines.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler sits down with Dan Berger of Santa Rosa, Calif. For more than 30 years, Dan has written about wine and is considered one of the world's top wine judges. This week, Dan talks about what he loves (and doesn't like) about wines from the Pacific Northwest.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler talks with Kori Voorhees, who runs the popular Wine Peeps blog. For Voorhees, Wine Peeps is a family affair, written by her, her husband and her parents, all of whom live in the Seattle area.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler travels to Oregon's Yamhill County to sit down with Adam Campbell, second-generation owner and winemaker for Elk Cove Vineyards. Elk Cove was Wine Press Northwest's 2007 Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year, thanks to its dedication to superb wines and great visitor experiences.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler chats with John Williams, owner of Kiona Vineyards Winery and the original pioneer of wine grape growing on Washington's Red Mountain. They talk about the history of Red Mountain as well as Kiona's longtime dedication to Lemberger, an obscure red grape Williams has been growing for more than three decades.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler talks to Moya Schatz, executive director of the Idaho Wine Commission. They chat about the state of the industry, the direction it is going, the growth it is experiencing and the challenges ahead of it. They also go over the top wines from the 2010 Idaho Wine Competition.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler chats with Myles Anderson, who co-founded Walla Walla Vintners some 15 years ago. Myles, who helped found the wine program at Walla Walla Community College, provides some fascinating background on the history and current affairs of the Walla Walla Valley wine scene.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler talks with John Sarich, culinary director of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, and his new book, "Chef in the Vineyard."

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler sits down with Tom Arthur, general manager of Elliott's Oyster House in Seattle. They chat about which wines pair well with oysters, as well as the various styles of oysters.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler meets with John Bookwalter, owner of Bookwalter Winery in Richland, Wash. The winery recently invited customers to bring their tents so they could sleep amid the vines after a release party.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler chats with Wade Wolfe, longtime Washington winemaker and viticulturist who has worked for Chateau Ste. Michelle and Hogue Cellars since arriving in the state in the mid-1970s. He and wife Becky Yeaman started Thurston Wolfe Winery in Prosser in 1987. In this conversation, Wade and Bob talk about the history of the Washington wine industry, the current vintage and some of the unusual grape varieties Wade works with, including Lemberger and Petite Sirah.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler sits down with Co Dinn, director of winemaking for Hogue Cellars in Prosser, Wash. Five years ago, Hogue switched the vast majority of its half-million-case production to screwcaps, a pioneering move a half-decade ago. Co and Bob recently sat down to taste through a number of Hogue wines aging under threads and to talk about how it has affected business.

In this week's podcast, Bob Woehler chats with Bob Betz, owner/winemaker of Betz Family Winery near Woodinville, Wash. Betz, a Master of Wine, began working for Chateau Ste. Michelle before the chateau, so he provides some fascinating insights on the early years of the modern Washington wine industry and the role his former employer played in the development of Woodinville's growth as a wine destination.