Topic: Wine
The U.S. government officially recognizes more than 250 wine-growing regions, known as American Viticultural Areas (AVAs). Twentyu of those AVAs are located partially or entirely within Washingto...
Joy Andersen had no idea that a career in the wine industry was awaiting her as she completed her chemistry degree at the University of Washington. It wasn’t until she started her first job at C...
Associated Vintners (AV) was a Seattle winemaking firm formed primarily by a group of University of Washington faculty members. Its backstory is perhaps the classic local instance of home garage-based...
Bob Betz (b. 1948) is a leader and pioneer in the Washington wine industry. After growing up in Seattle, he took several trips to Europe and fell in love with the culture of winemaking. He abandoned h...
The Boeing Employees' Winemakers Club (BEWC) originally took flight as a hobbyist organization in 1971 when a small group of Seattle-based aeronautics coworkers, who were also amateur wine enthusiasts...
Chateau Ste. Michelle is a Woodinville-based winery that is Washington's largest fine-wine producer. The business was built upon the foundation of the state's most successful winemaking firm, Seattle'...
Wine grapes were one of the first cultivated fruits grown in the Pacific Northwest. Now wines made from Washington-grown grapes are among the best in the world. There are more than 750 wineries in Was...
Alex Golitzin (b. 1939) is a revered figure in Washington winemaking. Born in France, raised in California, and trained as an engineer, Golitzin was living in Snohomish and working at Scott Paper Comp...
Jim Holmes may be the quintessential example of the type of person whose professional background prepared him to help found a successful vineyard and winery in a previously untested, and even unpromis...
Washington State College (later WSU) established the Irrigation Experiment Station at Prosser in 1919. The Washington Irrigation Institute recommended such a program to study problems faced by farmers...
Irrigation has been the single most crucial element in the Walla Walla Valley's agriculture since 1836, when pioneer missionary Marcus Whitman (1802-1847) dug the first irrigation ditch near his Walla...
Since the 1980s, the area around Walla Walla in Southeastern Washington has become noted for its wine industry, with more than 100 wineries and nearly 2,000 acres of vineyards now flourishing in the W...
An Oregon boy who came up working construction and studied civil engineering in college, Norm McKibben became a can-do serial entrepreneur in the wine business. After retiring as president of a nation...
The visionary behind Washington's esteemed Red Willow Vineyard is Mike Sauer (b. 1947), a farmboy from Toppenish who studied agricultural economics at Washington State University. After marrying fello...
Allen Shoup (1943-2022) played a leading role in developing Washington’s wine industry as the longtime head of the state’s biggest winery, Chateau Ste. Michelle, and later as the owner of ...
The dynamic married team of Kay Simon and Clay Mackey founded Chinook Wines in the Yakima Valley. Both grew up in California, Simon on a small farm where her father made a bit of wine, and Mackey on a...
Alex Golitzin (b. 1939) and son Paul Golitzin (b. 1970) have been central figures in bringing national and international recognition to Washington wines. They are owners and operators of Quilceda Cree...
Allen Shoup (1943-2022) was a Washington wine industry pioneer who helped create a national market for Washington wines, and for Chateau Ste. Michelle wines in particular. Shoup was a top business exe...
Bob Betz (b. 1948) grew up in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood with designs on becoming a doctor. When that didn't work out, he transitioned quickly to find his calling in the wine industry. He and ...
California native Jim Holmes (b. 1936) moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1959 to work as a scientist at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Eastern Washington. In 1972, he and fellow engineer John Will...
Three generations of the Williams family have presided over the growth of Kiona Vineyards into one of Washington's leading growers and wineries. The venture began with an investment by John Williams (...
Joy Andersen (b. 1957) was born in Pocatello, Idaho, where she lived for 15 years before the family moved to Snohomish. After graduating from Snohomish High School, Joy attended the University of Wash...
Kay Simon (b. 1953) and Clay Mackey (b. 1949) grew up on farms in California and studied at the University of California at Davis, but it wasn't until both were employed by Chateau Ste. Michelle in Wa...
Mike Sauer (b. 1947) was a farm boy from Toppenish who became the founder and guiding force behind Red Willow Vineyard, near Wapato and White Swan in the Yakima Valley. He graduated from Washington St...