Looking for the perfect dog-lovers keepsake of a wine vacation to Walla Walla’s Barb Whatley and photographer, Timothy Hall have compiled a coffee table book that features 77 of valley’s winery dogs and their “tales.”

A portion of the proceeds go to support our local dog park and Humane Society. Look for this book and perhaps get it personally “pawed’ at many of the tasting rooms in the Valley or online at www.winerydogsofwallawalla.com.

Barb, what’s next? Winery Cats?

It was one line in the February edition of Wine Business magazine’s article on the ‘Top 30 U.S. Wine Companies’ that grabbed our attention. “Precept Brands #21 is building a 250,000-case facility in Walla Walla that should be operational for the 2008 harvest.”

CEO Andrew Browne confirmed the story in an email, but said an official announcement would follow after permits and ground had been broken.

This is a significant first for our valley. Up until now, case production was well under 75,000 cases with Canoe Ridge Vineyards the Valley’s largest producer followed by Waterbrook Winery (Precept) and possibly l’Ecole #41. Stay tuned for location, but good bets are for the west side of the valley near the new highway.