In my Review Blogs of April 30 and May 7, I mentioned that there are five tasting rooms that have opened in Downtown Walla Walla before Spring Release Weekend. The June issue of the Review of Washington Wines, which goes on line May 29, will report on these new tasting rooms. A similar proliferation has occurred in Woodinville. I was just there last Friday and noticed more tasting roomns around the vechicular roundabout by the Hollywood School. I visited new tasting rooms for Sparkman Cellars and Lauren Ashton Cellars (reports on these and others will be in the June issue).

This proliferation raises the question, "Can there be too many tasting rooms?" A few months ago, a friend forwarded an article from the Healdsburg California newspaper about locals complaining about too much traffic and too many people teeming around the downtown wine tasting rooms. Similar complaints have been voiced in Walla Walla.

The answer is simply that the wine industry, wherever it is, is a benefit to the local economy. It brings in visitors who spend their dollars, not only on wine, but on lodging and dining. It also creates jobs and grows the real estate market. All this brings in tax revenue that supports the schools, police and fire departments.

Overcrowding and environmental protection may be legitimate concerns, especially in the Woodinville area where county planners has restricted development in the agricultural areas surrounding the city. Another alarm has been sounded in Walla Walla with news of vineyard developers (with some out of state investors, including Chinese) purchasing land north of Highway 12, not far from the Spring Valley Vineyard. Some fear that the little guys might get squeezed out. To all this, I have to say that there's still plenty of room for growth. Walla Walla and Woodinville are still far away from becoming another Napa Valley or Sonoma County.