Keyword(s): wsw
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...
Ted Baseler (b. 1954) grew up in Bellevue, graduated from Washington State University (WSU), and studied journalism at Northwestern University in Illinois. From there he worked at a series of advertis...
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...
Jerry Bookwalter (b. 1940) is a pioneer wine grower and winery owner who helped bring the Washington wine industry to prominence. He arrived from California in 1976 to manage Sagemoor Farms, which had...
Martin Lanis (Marty) Clubb (b. 1957) is the co-owner and managing winemaker of the L’Ecole No 41 winery in Lowden, just west of Walla Walla. Marty and his wife Megan Clubb acquired the wine...
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...
Rob Griffin (b. 1953) has been a winemaker in Washington since 1977. He arrived at age 23 from his native California to be the winemaker at Preston Wine Cellars near Pasco. He had a degree f...
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...
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...
Rick Small (b. 1947) is a pioneer Walla Walla Valley winemaker whose Woodward Canyon Winery and Estate Vineyard helped usher in a Walla Walla wine boom. He was raised on his family’s wheat farm ...
On April 19, 1998, the first Taste Washington, a celebration of Washington state wine and food organized by the Washington Wine Commission, is held at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. The inaugural f...
On March 26, 1892, large-scale irrigation of the Yakima Valley commences when water gushes into the Sunnyside Canal for the first time. A throng of spectators are gathered at the canal's headgates aft...
On March 22, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Cullen-Harrision Act, legalizing the manufacture of beer and wine. The U.S. Alcohol Tax Unit -- forerunner of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacc...
In November 1934, William Bridgman starts Upland Winery, one of the first wineries in Washington to take advantage of the December 1933 repeal of Prohibition. Upland is the first bonded winery east of...
In the spring of 1972, Sagemoor manager John Pringle begins planting 280 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling vines on two of Sagemoor's vineyards, Sagemoor and Bacchus, situated...
On October 13, 1974, The Los Angeles Times announces the results of a wine competition sponsored by the newspaper in which a Riesling from Washington – Ste. Michelle Vineyards' 1972 Jo...
On December 14, 1982, Washington red wines burst onto the national scene when a Cabernet Sauvignon from Walla Walla's Leonetti Cellar is named the best in the nation. The award is the result of a blin...
On March 23, 1983, the U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms designates the Yakima Valley as the first federally recognized wine grape growing region in Washington and the first north of Cali...
On April 14, 1983, F. W. Langguth Winery unveils its first vintage of Washington wines at the annual KCTS Festival of Wines in Seattle. Langguth, a German winemaking behemoth, is the first major forei...
On July 25, 1984, Seattle Post-Intelligencer wine columnist Richard Kinssies writes about the newest releases from Columbia Winery. Among them are three 1981 Cabernet Sauvignons, the first W...
On October 5, 1985, the 1983 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Hogue Cellars in Prosser wins Best in Show at the Atlanta International Wine Festival. The award is a stunning achievement for winery owner...
On April 26, 1987, a bill approving creation of the Washington Wine Commission is sent to Governor Booth Gardner for his signature. The bill with its controversial funding plan has passed in the House...
On April 1, 1991, the Columbia Winery releases Washington's first Syrah, inaugurating a new era in the state's red wine industry. Columbia winemaker David Lake (1943-2009) uses Syrah grapes that he an...
On June 21, 2001, the Washington State House of Representatives adopts a resolution declaring Walter Clore (1911-2003) to be the "Father of the Washington Wine Industry." The resolution is sponsored b...