Wine village

Woodinville is in the heart of one of Washington state's wine producing areas, and the folks there are looking to attract more visitors through creation of a "wine village" on the edge of the town.

Developers plan a 24-acre $170 million tourist center that will look like an Italian village with a public square and will have four wineries, half a dozen restaurants, a 100-plus-room hotel, a spa, retail stores and 275 condominiums, according to the Seattle Times Web site.

It all started when the two developer partners talked about establishing a tasting room.

(Imagine if they started out with grandiose ideas.)

Fifty Buck Chuck

Charles Shaw isn't the only Shaw name in the wine business. Philip Shaw, who had been a winemaker at Southcorp in Australia and made such brands as Penfolds, Lindemans and Rosemount Estate during a 40-year career, is now making wine under his own name, according to an article by wine writer Laurie Daniel on sanluisobispo.com.

Philip Shaw's sauvignon blanc sells for about $25, while his shiraz is $50.

He's also making two brands for another company called Cumulus -- "Rolling" and "Climbing." While flying over the area, he was impressed with the rolling terrain. Nothing was said about the origin of "Climbing."

(They may be the first wines to come out of Australia in years that don't have an animal name. And if they are exported to the U.S., folks may think that other Shaw raised his prices.)

More screw cap fallout

Using screw caps on wine is hazardous to the health of the Iberian lynx, the Barbary deer, the black vulture and the imperial Iberian eagle.

Those species live in the cork oak forests in the Mediterranean area, and an environmental group said the popularity of screw caps could lead to the demise of up to 75 percent of the cork trees, according to an item on the British Independent's online edition.

The WWF (no, not the World Wrestling Federation -- the World Wildlife Fund), said the decline in cork usage will cause many of the family-owned businesses in Portugal, Spain and other cork-growing countries in the area to either abandon or uproot the trees. Once the trees have been abandoned, bringing them back will be difficult or even impossible, the WWF said.

(That means the cork isn't the only endangered species.)

An historic wine

The drive to make zinfandel California's official state wine didn't make it through the legislature because producers of other varietals felt it was discrimination in favor of one of many grape varietals grown in the state.

Instead, the Senate approved a bill that will make zinfandel ah "historic California wine."

The original bill was introduced by Sen. Carole Midgen, of San Francisco -- not known as a major winegrape producing area. But Sen. Wes Chesbro, D-Arcata, who represents Napa County and most of the North Coast wine country, was among the chief protestors, and was quoted as saying, 'The problem with the bill is that it singles out one variety. We produce many fine wines from many fine grapes."

(How about identifying the 12 varietals with the largest production and having a month for each -- January can be cabernet sauvignon historic California wine month, and so on.)

Border crossing

Jennifer Chotzi Rosen is a wine writer who distributes an occasional newsletter and one of her recent e-mails contained the following:

"A truck driver waited 10 hours to cross the Swiss border while customs officials puzzled over a suspicious word in his documents. The driver spoke no Italian, and the guards, no German. Finally, someone pointed out that 'Laden' is German for 'load.' The truck was "Laden mit wein" and had nothing to do with Osama.

(They should know that Osama doesn't make wine.)

Napa's Doo-Dah Parade

One of the least exclusive parties held during Auction Napa Valley week will occur next Wednesday when the fourth annual Half Bottle Party will be held at Taylor's Refresher in St. Helena, beginning at noon.

The party was created by Scott Tracy, sommelier at La Toque, who was joking with some friends about the exclusivity of the Bring-Your-Own-Magnum Party sponsored by Wine Spectator, where advertisers and invited VIPs bring a 1.5 liter bottle of their best wine.

Out of that conversation grew the idea for a Half-Bottle Party that would be open to anyone who would bring a .375 bottle. It's not hosted, in that everyone buys their own hamburgers at Taylor's, and it's not formal. There's no ending time, except that many of the "guests" also attend the Magnum Party, which is held the evening of the same day. And some people have to go back to work, Tracy said.

It's been called the Doo-Dah Parade of the wine industry, and it's been termed the BYOBB -- Bring Your Own Baby Bottle -- party.

(For folks who work for wineries that don't produce wine in half bottles, Tracy has this advice: Open a 750ml. Drink half of it and bring the other half.)

Reach Jack Heeger at jheeger@napanews.com