From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Washington's original wine grape is once again the state's most dominant variety, both in quality and quantity.
While this might seem like old news — great Riesling has been growing in the Columbia Valley for more than a half-century — Washington growers and winemakers continue to find exciting new areas to grow the grape.
In the past couple of years, we've seen two of the state's newest viticultural areas emerge as Riesling country, much to the delight of wine drinkers. Lake Chelan, in the northwestern corner of the Columbia Valley, is a warm, high-elevation region that is showing tremendous promise. And Naches Heights, near the city of Yakima, is the state's newest appellation, and even though it has just a few acres of grapes so far, our recent judging of 130 Northwest Rieslings shows the potential is amazing.
In the past decade, the tonnage of Riesling in Washington has tripled from about 10,000 tons to more than 31,000, surpassing Chardonnay as the state's top wine grape.
For more, see: Riesling, the greatest of the grapes?
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