In the past, at the beginning of a new year, I wrote my predictions for Washington Wines for the coming months. For this year, I can safely predict that Washington wines will gain in importance, that more investments will be in wineries and vineyards and so on. This time, I'm going to write about what I'd like to see more of in 2019.

Wineries that Dare to be Different

I few months ago, I saw an article on the Walla Walla Union Bulletin that Fiona Mak, who is a lab technician at Artifex, was starting a new winery called SMAK Wines which will specialize in producing Rosé wines, not just for summer, but for year around. This is what we need more of, wineries that make something besides the usual Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah.

Creativity in Wine Blending 

Recently, I have been tasting some entry level red wine blends and found a discouraging sameness to many of them. I found them to be respectable wines, but not exciting. One exception that I ran across was the Mercer Estates 2016 Reserve Heritage Red Blend from the Horse Heaven Hills. A blend of 42% Syrah, 38% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Malbec. It showed engaging aromas and a lot of ripe, chewy, vigorous flavors. It scored 18.5/20 points and will be a Best Buy in the February issue of the Review of Washington Wines. The MSRP is $25 and I bought it for 21.99.

Interesting Grape Varieties

Have you heard of Tannat? It's a red variety grown in Southwest France. Very little is produced in the U.S., but the Bartholomew Winery in Kennewick makes one. It's robust and packs a lot of interesting flavors. Check the January issue for a review (18.5/20 points).

American Viticultural Areas in Washington

Since terroir is an important component of wine production, there should be more identification of where wines come from. Establishing AVAs, however is the domain of the Tax Trade Division of the U.S. Department of Treasury. There are applications for new AVAs such as The Royal Slope, The Burn of the Columbia River, and others. Hopefully, action will be taken on these this year. 

This will be an interesting year for Washington wine! Stay tuned!