I wasn't aware of this 'fact' until I read the article below:
WOODINVILLE, Wash. – Already the world’s largest producer of Riesling, Chateau Ste. Michelle stepped up its game in 2012 to craft more Riesling than ever.
In fact, Washington’s oldest winery made a cool 1.2 million cases of Riesling from last fall’s record harvest.
“That’s a lot of Riesling,” said Bob Bertheau, Chateau Ste. Michelle’s head winemaker.
Here’s how Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Riesling breaks down in 2012:
•Riesling, Columbia Valley: 898,000 cases
•Harvest Select Riesling, Columbia Valley: 210,000 cases
•Dry Riesling, Columbia Valley: 80,000 cases
•Eroica Riesling, Columbia Valley: 31,000
•Cold Creek Riesling, Columbia Valley, 4,600 cases
That’s 1,223,600 cases of Riesling. And this does not include 70,000 cases just released under the nationally distributed Anew Riesling or anything from Snoqualmie Vineyards or Columbia Crest, which last year combined for another 100,000-plus cases of wine.
While it’s a huge amount of wine – and the most Riesling that Chateau Ste. Michelle has ever made – it wasn’t actually a giant increase from 2011, when the team of Bertheau and white winemaker Wendy Stuckey produced 1.16 million cases.
