On the (virtual) wine road

Imagine a road actually called the Washington Wine Highway linking Washington's major wine-producing regions, with signs to tell you what wine was all about: it would begin in Puget Sound, meander a bit in Woodinville, cross Snoqualmie Pass and take in the entire Yakima Valley. Or it could cross Stampede Pass and noodle around Lake Chelan, follow the Columbia Valley downstream to the Tri-Cities, and end up in Walla Walla.

A highway, in other words, connecting the state's four wine centers. Great for the wineries, great for tourism. But the state's wine and tourism bureaucracies are too bureaucratic, too politicized to make this happen; just look at the Taste of Washington fiasco earlier this year.

Enter the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce, which counts two dozen winery members. "Let's put on a show," they said. Without asking for permission from the Wine Commission or the Department of Tourism, they invented a whole new festival, Washington Wine Highway, and took it for a spin on the ground of Chateau Ste. Michelle this weekend.

Each regional pavilion clustered winery tables, restaurants and "travel partners" (hotels, tourism bureaus, even local farmers), over 80 participants in all. Tickets were $75; some 1,500 people showed up on Saturday (nice weather). Soggy Sunday didn't fare as well, but there was an optimistic, "just wait until next year" spirit.

Among the exhibitors: Fernando Divina, the brilliant chef at Tendrils (the restaurant attached to the Cave B resort on the Columbia) and culinary historian, author with his wife, Marelene, of the 2005 James-Beard winner Foods of the Americas.

Among the most sought-after plates: mussels flavored with jalapenos, dished up by young Jeremy Anderson of Elliott's Oyster House. Yummy!

Will the Wine Highway become an annual event? Does the Woodinville Chamber's "go it alone" mentality reflect a new maturity on the part of the state's wine industry or a breakdown of the old order? To me, it looked like everyone was having more fun without the Wine Commission looking over their shoulder.

Posted by Ronald Holden at June 4, 2006 8:18 AM

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