From the article Vintage views awaiting condo owners by Jeanette Knutson for NWNews.com:

The red building adjacent to the Woodinville Village project got a fresh coat of mustard-colored paint. Something’s happening in the wine district.

Indeed. Winemakers, architects, interior designers, realtors, community leaders and interested parties gathered there last week to check out MJR Development’s residential marketing center for the much anticipated Woodinville Village.

“The celebration was to show off the presentation center before we opened it to the public,” said MJR partner Mike McClure. “I was surprised so many actually wanted to talk about reserving appointments to buy a unit.”

The marketing center showcases a model of the European-style village, including the first three residential buildings with 128 condominiums available for presale starting this month. Interested buyers will be able to see everything from condominium facades to floor plans to features to finishes.

ImageArtist’s rendering courtesy of MJR Development The Bacchus building, located in the heart of Woodinville Village, has homes designed to capture views.

The presentation center is co-located with the Brian Carter Cellars tasting room along the Woodinville-Redmond Road, just across from Gathering Fabric.

For tasting room hours access www.briancartercellars.com. The sales center will be open by appointment only.

“If you’re truly interested, you must make an appointment,” said McClure. “We did this on purpose so that the sales team could give full attention to interested buyers. We wanted everyone to be able to ask all their questions – What about pets? Will there be a homeowners association? What are the choices of floor finishes and counter tops? – without feeling rushed, without the distraction of other people standing in the background anxious for a chance to speak.”

The 128 units in Phase I will have 40 different floor plans.

“Each building is uniquely designed and shaped,” said McClure. “There is no such thing as a standard floor plan.”

The condominiums will have between 800 and 2,500 square feet and cost $360,000 at the low end and $1.2 million for the penthouse units.

“The vast majority will be at the lower range,” he said.

In addition to the three condominium buildings, each with private plaza space for condo owners only,

Phase I will include four wineries (DiStefano, DeLille, Washington Wine Co., and Brian Carter Cellars), restaurants, retail space, numerous public spaces and perhaps a hotel.

“Once we hit a certain presale level and complete our building permits,” said McClure, “we will begin construction. The last few months, we have been working on getting permits, finalizing floor plans, choosing finishes and creating a pricing structure – all the things necessary to prepare for presale. There’s a lot to do.”

He said they have permits for two condominium buildings so far and for the remodel of the Redwood Apartments. Brian Carter also has a building permit, he said.

The complete build-out of the wine-themed village will have 1 million square feet of land (about 24 acres), with three-quarters of a million square feet of buildings. There will be many public spaces, including an open-air plaza, a central pedestrian mall, a vintners’ courtyard and an internal trail system that connects to the Sammamish River Trail.

“We’re making good progress,” said McClure. “I’m excited to start construction later this year.”

Woodinville Village is located at the crossroads of Highway 202 and Woodinville-Redmond Road.

Visit the project’s recently updated Web site at http://www.woodinvillevillage.com/WV/ for residential, retail or general inquiry contact information.

August 11, 2007 11am-4pm. Each year, Columbia Winery searches through its extensive library and hand selects cellar-aged older vintages to sell at deep discounts at this annual one-day case sale. Stock your cellar from the more than 750 cases that they have selected for this year’s large format and case sale. Large formats include 1.5, 5, 6 and 9 liter bottles. Many are limited in quantity. Their wine shop will offer special discounts on current releases this weekend only.
Early bird admittance at 9:30 a.m. with $10 donation to Ryther Child Center. C
olumbia Winery, Woodinville, WA

Come celebrate the release of their 2005 red wines and 2006 Lumière Chardonnay. 11 am-4 pm. Please call 425.398.1045 if you have any questions or contact them at wine@sparkmancellars.com.

This from winecountrywashington.org:

Did you know?
Together with the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, The Washington Wine Industry Foundation, released a 2006 Wine Report showing, among other statistics, the top reported varietals in inventory amongst Washington wineries. In first place at 23.7% was still Merlot. Chardonnay was a close second at 22.4% and Cabernet Sauvignon made up 19.4% of the inventory in third.

Source: Washington Wine Commissionn

From the Betz News and Events page: Betz Family Winery has been invited to attend this extraordinary wine event. Held every other year in New York City, theWine Spectator sponsored event attracts the very best of wineries from Europe, California, Australia and South America. This year they’ve included a couple of Washington wineries and we’re thrilled to be among them. We’ll pour our 2005 Syrah La Cote Rousse at two nights of tastings, October 25 and 26. (By the way, the previous vintage of which was recently listed at the top of Washington wines in the July 31 Wine Spectator review of the state’s offerings. See the Acclaim page for details.)