Since 2007 Washington’s wine production has doubled from just over 125,000 tons of grapes to a quarter-million tons in 2016. Ste. Michelle CEO Ted Baseler predicts that growth will continue to increase and double again in the next 8 years.
Hundreds of new acres of grapes are planted each year, mostly red varieties such as cabernet sauvignon. Washington currently has nearly 60,000 acres of wine grapes. Baseler believes that number could grow to over 200,000 without much problem.
Source: Walla Walla Union-Bulletin December 2016