In Washington, the silver lining to the overall decline in demand for wine is an increase in attention to quality, spawning a new generation of wineries focused on carefully farmed, long-lived reds. Above, Valdemar Estates' owner Jesús Martínez Bujanda and winemaker/viticulturist Devyani Gupta stand in their newly acquired V2 vineyard (photo courtesy of Valdemar Estates).
Washington State is given heaps of credit for good-quality, commercial-production wines which, due to economies of scale, relatively reasonable land prices and precise technical winemaking, are some of the better-value wines on offer in the US. However, the state is rarely given its due for...