Recent vineyard acreage and winery surveys show that Washington has 31,000 acres of wine grapes—less than what industry analysts expected. The first-ever winery survey found that 427 wineries crushed 120,500 tons of wine grapes last year. Though grape production has increased threefold since 1993, when there were only 11,100 acres in the state, plantings have slowed down dramatically in recent years. Since the last survey in 2002, growers have only increased acreage by 11 percent. “The survey results actually surprised me as they were less than I expected in terms of acreage,” said Vicky Scharlau, executive director of the Washington […]