While Washington has come a long ways in terms of recognition as a significant wine region, it still has a long ways to go to reach broader awareness.

The most recent case in point comes from a look at the 25th edition of Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Complete Wine Course. Zraly’s book, always an enjoyable, high level read, is devoted to wines from all across the world. The book is 224 pages long. About seventy of these pages are devoted – deservedly – to wines from France. Looking to the south, California receives forty-plus pages. Washington? A mere two pages.

The section on Washington is really nothing more than a brief mention shoehorned in with Oregon and New York (each get two pages) before moving on to California. The section even begins “Before we tackle the exciting world of California wines…”.

Given the book’s ambitious aim to cover the globe between its covers, this is not too much of a disservice. However, a look at Zraly’s list of ‘Favorite Washington State Producers’ – an interesting list as such things always are – shows just how far Washington is from mainstream awareness. The list reads as follows:

Andrew Hill
Betz

Canoe Ridge

Cayuse

Chateau Ste. Michelle

Columbia Winery

DiStefano

Hogue Cellars

L’Ecole No. 41

Leonetti Cellars

McCrea Cellars

Pepper Bridge

Quilceda Creek

Seven Hills

Woodward Canyon Winery

Now one can always debate such lists. But Andrew Hill? That hurts (sorry folks. I’ve already reserved the website). I’ll let them expand Leonetti’s Cellar (it’s singular, not plural but looking at others on the list one can see where the confusion comes from) but…

Make no mistake. Washington will never be California or France taking up 40 or more pages of a book on world wine. Still, Zraly’s book serves as a reminder that Washington remains a small speck upon the wine world and in mainstream consciousness. To truly make its mark in a way that will demand more pages, there’s a lot more work to be done.