Lexpert magazine features articles and columns on developments in legal practice management, deals and lawsuits of interest in Canada, the law and business issues of interest to legal professionals and businesses that purchase legal services.
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80 LEXPERT MAGAZINE | JUNE 2016 PHOTO: STE. MICHELLE WINE ESTATES WINE LOCATION: Woodinville, Washington WINERY: Chateau Ste. Michelle WASHINGTON MAKES some of the finest wines you've prob- ably never tasted — the state that is, not Washington, D.C. You might wonder how they can grow quality wine grapes out there when last year the city of Seattle's annual rainfall measured just shy of 120 centimetres. While there are urban wineries in South Seattle – 10 of them – the other 880-odd facilities are lo- cated in 12 AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains. Here, in desert conditions, they're lucky if they even get 20 centimetres of rainfall a year, so growers have to rely on water from the Columbia River and its tributaries to ir- rigate their vines. ese barren, windswept AVAs rejoice in some of the most poetic of names – Horse Heaven Hills, Rattlesnake Hills, Red Mountain, Walla Walla Valley … In Washington, the names of the best vineyards are celebrated as much as, if not more than, the wineries that press and ferment their fruit. If your wine has grapes coming from any of these vineyards – Bacchus, Champoux, Ciel du Cheval, DuBrul, Klipsun, Sagemoor, Two Blondes or Weinbau – you're in for a treat. What makes these vineyards and those around them so special are the geological formations created by the Missoula Flood (so im- portant they spell it with a capital F). e way Bob Betz, of Betz Family Winery in Redmond, explained it to me, the flood sounded like the scenario for a movie depicting the end of civilization: "e Missoula Flood is a tale of fire and ice, earthquakes and winds, tec- tonic plate shis, moun- tains created by volcanic eruptions and floods that occurred during the last Ice Age." At 50,000-plus acres, the vineyard surface of all Washington's AVAs is a little larger than Napa Valley. Aer California, the region represents the second-largest premium wine-producing area in the United States. One other statistic that the Charles Smith Winery (one of the South Seattle urban facilities) is proud of is that their Kung Fu Girl Riesling is the largest production from a single vineyard: 230,000 cases. Total wine production for the state is approximately 16 million cases, di- vided almost evenly between white and red.) e largest Washington winery is Chateau Ste. Michelle, found- ed in 1912 and headquartered in an elegant château in Woodin- ville. Under their own label they produce three million cases of white wine and a million red. As a group, Chateau Ste. Michelle and the wineries it owns produce eight million cases in total. ey also host the annual Riesling Rendezvous, which "brings together leading experts and producers to explore the versatility of Rieslings from around the world, discuss issues and opportunities surround- | DETOURS | Washington Rising The state now represents the second-largest premium growing area in the US