Gwendolyn Elliott

My latest column was published in the U-B last weekend and I was pleased to see it generate conversation in town—certainly that was the point of the announcement I was writing about, Washington state’s first-ever $800 (!) bottle of wine. Here’s a link to the article and a PDF if you don’t have a subscription (though if you find yourself continually paywalled from the U-B, I humbly ask you to consider an inexpensive digital subscription to support local media and to keep our still mostly rural community from becoming a news desert).

I hope you’ll read the story and come to your own conclusion about what winemakers Billo and Pinto Navarane say they want to do. I tried to approach the story with a clear-eyed view—could it be good, or bad, for Walla Walla, and Washington state?—and lay out the various issues and claims. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but no matter what you think, and whether or not the wine is actually worth $800, I believe the conversation has been good for Washington state, at least from an existential level (my favorite place to think)!

At the tasting room and in casual conversation (and as I observed, on social media, where I spend little time, aka my #sadinstagram), this splashy, is-it-worth-it $800 wine karate-chopped open all kinds of conversations it seemed we weren’t having. I most appreciated the perspectives about the soul of Washington wine—who are we now, and who do we want to be?—and comments many people shared with me about what it means to be “inclusive” these days, and what an $800 wine communicates about that.

One person I spoke with wondered about the threshold between wine as a source of everyday enjoyment and pleasure, and a luxury product or status symbol, and what that says about the wine business, winemakers, and buyers. An $800 bottle isn’t just a new economic curveball here in Washington, it’s a new intellectual frontier, too.

I think the subject of inclusion in wine right now is extremely vital. We all know wine can be intimidating, and filled with gatekeepers, know-it-alls, and snobs. We also know the wine world is struggling, from Washington to California to Europe, for reasons from the threat of tariffs, changing consumer tastes and distribution models, inflation, and beyond. To me, anyone in the wine business genuinely interested in remaining relevant and wanting to adapt must start to contemplate an idea like “inclusion” much more intentionally—and soon.

I’m not talking just about prohibitive pricing, but the elitist jargon, name-dropping, disingenuous hospitality, inauthentic branding, and uncreative traditional foods that often accompany any experience of wine (at tasting rooms, special events, in wine publications, on social media, etc) and act as barriers or curiosity-extinguishers to keep others out or away. (That said, this excellent article in Wine Enthusiast provides some great, real-life examples of somms and other wine professionals offering something different.)

Locally, I continue to find inspiration in the Blood of Gods Merrymaking, now in its 4th year (taking place this month, July 18th and 19th). A heavy metal music, art, and wine fest (producer Stacy Buchanan says it’s the pages of his eponymous metal and wine ‘zine “come to life”), there’s nothing like it anywhere—a place in the wine community for thrashing tunes, tattoos, wine tasting, panel discussions, and great people watching. You don’t need to like heavy metal to attend (if that’s the case, simply skip the after party concert), just an open mind, a love of wine, and a thirst for it—check out who’s pouring!

When I spoke with Buchanan for Visit Walla Walla, I asked him why he is compelled to produce the fest year after year (a herculean feat of logistics, with all net proceeds going to Planned Parenthood), and why anyone should care. I didn’t have room for all his comments in that piece, but here’s more of what he said.

“Wine gives me so much to enjoy and contemplate, and art and music, endless inspiration. When you’re passionate about something that nourishes you, you return the favor, you have to give back to the things that you love.

“For the people who are attending, I hope they have been reminded of the joy that this can bring, and that they take it with them. I can keep doing this all the time, but hopefully I’m pollinating imagination and creativity in others, too, to take this with you now, and you can do it, too.”

You gotta flash Buchanan a set of devil horns for doing something different and inventive, for sharing the joy of wine and spreading his passion for it. With or without a heavy metal soundtrack, when joy, sharing, having fun, and recognizing others becomes the focus of wine, there’s that much more for everyone.