The news about California is pretty bad; layoffs, winery foreclosures and vineyard sales in the midst of a grape glut. But even though Washington wineries are noticing the same buying patterns—restaurants selling from their cellar, customers buying at the $25.00 and under price tier instead of the higher ranges—right now, it doesn't seem quite so drastic in Washington. That doesn't mean Washington wineries are ignoring the recession, by any means. Wineries and grape-growers are both very much cash-dependent businesses. Wineries have to sell last year's wines to make space for this year's, and they have to pay for packaging and shipping, as well as inventory, production and staffing costs. Washington vineyards have the same problems as their California sisters, including the effects of unpredictable weather on the grape harvest.

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Even though the Washington State Liquor Stores have delayed Washington Wine Month until September, other participating businesses have not. Haggen Food, a very community-minded Washington grocery chain, is featuring some pretty amazing deals on cases of Washington wine. These are cases of mixed wine from a single winery, you choose, and include a sale price with a 20% case discount, and a mail in rebate. Here are some specific numbers for you:

Columbia Crest Two Vines and V10 Case
Regularly at 95.88; on sale for $76.70, with an $18.00 mail-in rebate, for a final price of $58.70 (plus taxes, natch)

Columbia Crest Grand Estates
Regularly $95.58; on sale for $76.70, with an $18.00 mail-in rebate, for a final price of $77.90 (plus taxes)

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Every August, the Washington State Liquor stores celebrate Washington wine by having a spectacular month-long sale on Washington wine. This year, because of "computer problems," the State Liquor Commission is postponing the sale a month, until September, 2009.

This will be my first "Washington Wine Month," so I'm eagerly looking forward to it. It's my understanding that the wine on sale is discounted by as much as 50%, in addition to the already often lower prices (the Liquor Commission doesn't tax itself on sales) that there's an additional 10% discount on case sales, even on mixed cases.

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I'm rather fond of mead, as I've noted before. While it's made from fermented honey, mead is very much considered a wine. Honey Moon meadery in Bellingham, Washington makes their mead in a funky refurbished glass factory. They use local Honey moon meadblackberry and fireweed honey. They make their meads (and melomels, traditionally made by infusing mead with fruit or other seasonings) in small batches, so that while there are a number of meads available in bottles, there are also several that are only available in the Bellingham tasting room.

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Covey Run Chardonnay 2006

According to the Web site, the 2006 harvest was allowed to linger on the vine until fully ripe, then the pressed juice was placed in both stainless steel tanks and oak barrels. The stainless steel tanks were cool-fermented, with the goal of protecting the "fruitiness" of the wine, while the rest of the wine was placed in oak barrels (half French, and half American) on the lees, and stirred frequently during the winter. The site then notes "Those lots with higher acidity levels underwent malolactic fermentation," and then the wine from both barrels and tanks were blended before bottling.

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Having resolved to give Chardonnay a second chance, and to specifically try more Washington Chardonnays, I thought it was only fair to start by trying a California Chardonnay. I'm looking at the "budget" category, since I'm quite sure my former employer wouldn't pay more than $10.00 a bottle for staff parties, but given the popularity of Chardonnay, that's not really a huge issue; there are far more "budget" tier Chardonnays locally than there are almost any other varietal.

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Marriott Hotels is offering an interesting Washington wine country weekend package at the Woodinville, WA Marriot. Woodinville is the birthplace of the Washington wine industry, and the headquarters of Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia wineries, not to mention a host of others nearby. In addition to a special room rate, the package includes a welcome gift of your choice of local wines (either red or white), and a complimentary breakfast buffet for two. The special "deluxe" room rates range from $109 to $189 per night, and are good through October 21, 2009. You need to use the special promotional code ARN for the package rate. You can read more about it here.

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chardonnay grapes

Chardonnay is notorious or celebrated, depending on whom you ask, for the grapes' ability to reflect distinct differences in taste based on the terroir, the composition of the soil the vines grow in.

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Columbia Crest's Vineyard 10, a vineyard with mixed red and white grapes planted along the Columbia River, is the largest single estate vineyard in Washington, with some of the very oldest wines. Columbia Crest's Vineyard 10 Two Vines series of wines features varietals as well as a trio of blends; Two Vines White, Two Vines Rosé, and Two Vines Red. These are all fermented in stainless steel fermenters, and the blend is created after

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