Seattle Weekly
March 29, 2017

The 20th year of Taste Washington has come and gone, leaving purple tongues and empty bottles in its wake—at least in my house. As a chance to celebrate how far the industry has come, it was an unparalleled success, and as a chance to learn more about where we might be going, it was fascinating.

During the “Breaking Barriers” seminar at the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle on Sunday morning, discussion raged about the right way to make syrah, the best sites for grenache and whether or not extended maceration for cabernet sauvignon is the future of winemaking. Most interesting to me was the assertion by Javier Alfonso, winemaker at Idilico and Pomum, that “Washington is more like central Spain than any other wine region.” While Alfonso, a Spaniard by birth, might be biased, his call for more Spanish varietals had a certain logic to it: Like central Spain, much of Washington wine country is defined by dry heat and elevation. Given that, whites like albariño and viura and reds like tempranillo and garnacha (also known as grenache) should flourish.>>>Read entire article on Seattle Weekly