YAKIMA — Desperately seeking a mate: Hopeless romantic seeks mature, well-rounded, traditional partner. Must be bold, yet not too sweet.
OK, so the request isn’t that flashy, and it’s not a personal ad. But small wineries and home winemakers are increasingly turning to the Internet in search of grapes — that’s right, it’s a grape dating site — and Washington grape growers are finding a steady stream of business heading into the harvest season.
“When people call us looking for grapes, they’re delighted when they find out we have the site,” said Vicky Scharlau, executive director of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers. “We try desperately not to get in the middle of buying and selling relationships, but that is one way we can post that need without getting entangled or ensnared in any business deals. It’s really a service to the industry.”
Washington state is the second-leading producer of premium wine, behind California, with an industry valued at $3 billion. More than 31,000 acres of wine grapes have been planted, ranking them No. 11 among the state’s crops in 2006.
Growers expect to exceed last year’s record crop of 127,150 tons crushed, but a cool, late spring has pushed harvest anywhere from five days to two weeks behind schedule, depending on location.
Warm days and cool nights have resulted in daily temperature shifts as great as 40 degrees in some areas — ideal conditions for fruit with well-balanced sugar and acid levels.
Wineries already are comparing the harvest to 1999, which has always been held up as a stellar year for wine, Scharlau said.
“The growers are looking at harvesting fruit that will have great flavor but at lower alcohol levels, which is great,” she said.
Many growers sign contracts to sell their grapes to larger, commercial wineries, but plenty still want to sell to small wineries and hobbyists. That may be one reason the Washington growers’ grape dating site is drawing more interest.
“They’re both fun. The demands are different, but they all want quality, so that’s not a problem,” said Patricia O’Brien, a third-generation farmer who’s been growing wine grapes since 1991 and sells online any grapes she hasn’t already sold by contract.
“That site is just very good, I’ve found, for the small wineries and home winemakers that want to make a little wine but not a whole lot,” she said. “They’re often city-folk, but it’s wonderful.”
The grape dating site brings results. Last week, O’Brien received two telephone calls from home winemakers, one in Spokane and the other in Mount Vernon. The latter bought 800 pounds of red grapes — lemberger, cabernet sauvignon and syrah — for six different hobbyists.
Her 15 varieties, grown on 56 acres, sell out every year.
“Selling the grapes is not a problem,” she said.
Doyle Hughes of Gig Harbor, a facilities manager at McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, makes about 100 cases a year for family and friends as a hobby. He freely admits he enjoys the “romance” of the industry, as well as being able to participate in the harvest.
This will be the first year his Stampede Cellars produces white wine, after he trolled online for pinot gris and viognier grapes.
“We came close on some pinot gris, but we couldn’t dance fast enough after (the grower) found us. We had already committed to some chardonnay,” Hughes said.
Twenty-two hundreds pounds, in fact, from another grower.
“We want to move from variety to variety every couple of years, and you often have to change grape growers to do that,” he said.
Ted Judd, 64, of Vin du Bois Winery in Boise, Idaho, is still searching for his perfect match.
Judd has been making wine for 15 years. It’s not just his full-time job, but his passion, “my whole life,” he said.
Which explains why he was crushed to learn the local vineyard from which he’d been buying grapes for years had been purchased by another winery.
“I love big, thick, rich Bordeaux blends. They can make such great wines, but not if you don’t have the grapes,” Judd said.
He turned to Washington’s grape dating service in search of reds, to no avail. He’s had seven replies — with no matches — but he says he’ll keep looking until he finds exactly what he covets.
“I want somebody who already knows what she’s looking for,” Judd said. “I’m an older guy, so I want some mature grapes.”
The service
Find the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers’ dating service online at www.wawgg.org under “Industry Info.”
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