Dr. David Muhleman

The-Wine-Educator    WINE & SPIRITS EDUCATION AND CONSULTING SERVICES FOR THE CONSUMER AND THE PROFESSIONAL

Wines of Washington

Exactly how does Washington - a place known best for its rain - make such delicious red wines? (When the sun comes out in Seattle, people look up and ask “What is that round thing in the sky?”)

The answer: the spine-like range of the Cascade Mountains cleaves western and eastern Washington into two, retaining water on one side and letting through precious little onto the other.

Western Washington contains some of the driest farmland in the United States (average 8 inches of rain a year). Lack of water is actually beneficial for growing high-quality wine grapes. (Think of it this way: too much water both makes it easy on vines and literally dilutes the flavors of the grapes.)

Eastern Washington is also one of the sunniest places in the country - an average 300 days a year, 11 percent more than in the winemaking country of northern California.

The combination of cool nighttime temperatures and this extra sunlight lengthens ripening times, preserves acidity levels and develops both color and mature tannins in the grapes. While Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are Washington’s star wines, white grapes still take a stand there. Chardonnay, especially, continues to produce lush, ripe, dependable white wines.  Sémillon shows a lot of promise in Washington, alone or in blends with Chardonnay.

Among red grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon can make for powerhouse reds that are tannic, fragrant and deeply colored. But it is Washington Merlot that takes the medals home. Fat, concentrated, plush, opaque, aromatic - you cannot say enough about the positive qualities of Washington Merlot.