Forget groundhogs; toss the tulips; dodge the opening pitch. The first sign of spring for Washington wine folk is surely Taste Washington, the two-day event that caps a grand Washington Wine Month. Resident Washington Wine Report photographer Richard Duval offers this image captured at one of the many wine soirees he covers all year long. “Nothing says spring quite like an open bottle poised above many glasses waiting to be filled,” he said.

Duval has been a busy photographer of late. You will find his 6.5’ x 26’ mural of a vineyard image at the newly refurbished Columbia Winery tasting room; the Spring issue of Washington Tasting Room Magazine carries his story and photographs of three days in the Wenatchee valley; and he photographed the wines for the recent article in Wine Enthusiast magazine on Washington Rhones I co-authored with Paul Gregutt.

Click on this month’s picture for a larger image.