The State of Washington Wines - 2011

The State of Washington went from about 6 wineries to over 600 in roughly 30 years, the equivalent of  zero to sixty in six seconds I would say. This summer I checked out Washington wines at Red mountain, Yakima and Woodinville , to say nothing of several tastings in Seattle. Even though ratings such as 89 from Robert Parker would appear to suggest a pretty decent year, in fact, Washington Wines were in a sorry state in 2011.

Even though there are so many fabulous wineries now, many,including some of the best, struggled in 2011. To some degree this can be traced to frost in 2010. There were a surprising number of disappointing wines from many good wineries. A few, such as Long Shadows escaped and made outstanding wines.

Caveat emptor. Unless you can taste the wine first, you might be better off buying 2011 Columbia Crest Chardonnay at your local convenience store, or big bottles at Costco for $9.99. Not to worry! Generally speaking 2012 was a much better year.