We celebrate our 100th episode of the Northwest Winecast by demonstrating how to open a bottle of sparkling wine with a saber. We meet with Harry McWatters of Sumac Ridge Estate Winery in Summerland, B.C., who is famous for his ability - and willingness - to perform the feat, which dates back to Napoleon.
We meet with Gary Robertson, owner of Vineyard2Door, a Seattle-area business that helps wineries fight through compliance issues to sell their products online.
We visit with Pamela Montgomery, owner and founder of Chukar Cherries, a dried fruit company in Washington's Yakima Valley. Chukar Cherries is in the heart of Washington wine country and has a second location in Seattle's Pike Place Market. This year marks Chukar Cherries' 20th anniversary.
We visit with Nicolas Quille, winemaker and general manager for Pacific Rim Winemakers, which has recently completed it first harvest in it new facility near Red Mountain, Wash.
Last fall, we spent a day with "Sugar" Ray Einberger, winemaker for Columbia Crest in Paterson, Wash. He took us through the harvesting and winemaking process for the Northwest's largest winery. This weekend, the winery celebrates its 25th anniversary.
We chat with Bob Bertheau, head winemaker for Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, Wash. Ste. Michelle is the world's largest producer of Riesling, and Bertheau crafts as many as seven different styles annually.
We chat with Wilfred Wong of BevMo in California. Wilfred is one of North America's most sought-after wine judges and provides a global perspective on Northwest wine and its strengths and weaknesses.
We track down Charlie Hoppes, owner/winemaker for Fidelitas Wines, at Goose Ridge Vineyards near Richland, Wash., to talk about the state of the vines and his shift away from Syrah.
We meet with Greg Jones, an expert in global climate change as it relates to viticulture and winemaking. He is a professor at Southern Oregon University and is the son of Earl Jones, owner of Abacela Winery in Roseburg, Ore.
We visit Bill Stowe, owner of Indian Creek Winery in southern Idaho's Snake River Valley. Indian Creek is Wine Press Northwest's 2008 Idaho Winery of the Year.
We chat with Charlie Hoppes, owner/winemaker of Fidelitas Wines on Washington's Red Mountain, about the wine grape harvest that just finished, as well as how traffic is in his new tasting room and even how his son is performing as the starting quarterback for a local high school team.
