A Web site for Washington winery tourists

Crushing on crushes: Come fall, wineries across Washington harvest their vines and hold celebratory crushes, smashing the grapes.

Now you can get a taste of those crushes and more at a Seattle-based Web site, www.winetrailsnw.com.

Creator Steve Roberts launched the comprehensive site in 2007, hoping to appeal to casual wine tourists like himself. Now, along with updating street addresses, phone numbers and Internet links to wineries, he blends in upcoming events, such as information on the fall crushes in Chelan this month.

The site is surprisingly easy to navigate, letting visitors search for wineries by name, individual city, across three states -- Washington, Oregon and Idaho -- or in broader regions, such as Puget Sound.

Roberts said the site includes info on more than 850 Northwest wineries. He offers travel tips to major destinations and mom-and-pop spots alike, helping a vinophile know when a tasting room requires an appointment, for instance.

"It's forever changing," said Roberts, who also published a "Wine Trails of Washington" guidebook available at his site. "It is so organic. Every week, there's a new winery in Washington springing up it seems."

And now there's a way to keep track of them all.























Andy Rathbun arathbun@heraldnet.com 425-339-3455