Beverlee Deardorff and Kathy Perry
Bernadette Fideli
Washington State has the wealthiest person in the United States in Bill Gates with 82 billion. It also has the 2014 Super Bowl Champions in the Seattle Seahawks. However, Texas has the richest woman in the United States in Alice Walton, 38.5 billion, who lives in Fort Worth. And the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Seahawks October 12 in Seattle. Finally, Robson Ranch has the Wine Stewards who celebrated fall sipping and tasting the wines of Washington State at the home of Frank and Beverlee Deardorff. Surrounded by vintage wine crates and artfully crafted fall centerpieces, the Wine Stewards spent the evening enjoying the history of Washington State wines, glassful by glassful.
Washington State is the number two producer of wine in the United States, California being first. The state has 600 wineries, creating a two million dollar wine-tourism industry, and attracting annually two million visitors to the Washington wine country. It is located on the same latitude as some of the great French wine regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy. The wine world discovered a new aspect of Washington wines with each passing decade: Riesling and Chardonnay in the 1970s, the Merlot craze in the 1980s and the emergence of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah in the 1990s. The roots of the modern Washington wine industry can be traced to the middle of the 20th Century when a group of professors from the University of Washington turned their home winemaking operation into a commercial endeavor and founded Columbia Winery and Chateau Ste Michelle, the state’s biggest winery. Now Washington State has 13 official AVAs/appellations, many with colorful and intriguing names: Yakima Valley, Rattlesnake Hills, Walla Walla Valley, Horse Heaven Hills and Snipes Mountain. The trend started by a few home winemakers and visionary farmers has become a respected and influential industry, one which the Wine Stewards totally appreciated.