By Scott Ronalds

My wife and I love wine. While we try to support local Okanagan producers as much as possible, we’ve found that our neighbors in Washington also make some great juice, and at good prices. We hit the road last month to explore Washington wine country with Walla Walla as our base camp. Here are a few random observations from our trip.

Wind Farms

Driving through the Columbia Valley, we had our first up-close experience with wind farms. It felt a little like we took a wrong turn and were in some weird military zone; yet, it was eerily majestic. These huge turbines were a reminder that sources of clean, alternative energy are growing and technology will play an increasing role in a more energy efficient world going forward. Cool stuff.

Walmart

East of the mountains (Cascades), we could drive several kilometers without seeing another car. But Walmart trucks seemed to be everywhere, and the stores were a fixture in every mid-sized town. Sam Walton’s company is one powerful retailer (Disclosure: I own the stock through my holding in the Global Equity Fund).

Real Estate

Real estate is still a big topic of discussion. At the B&B we stayed at, it was a frequent point of conversation over bacon and eggs. As other guests from Seattle and Portland opined that the U.S. market has bottomed and swapped stories about housing prices and conditions in their fair cities, my wife and I were reminded that Vancouver is a different beast altogether. When we threw out some numbers on lotusland prices, jaws dropped. “Wow, that’s crazy!” was the common response. Hmmm.

Climate Change

In my opinion, Washington makes fabulous red wines. The cabernets, merlots, and syrahs are big and bold. Southeastern Washington gets plenty of sunshine and days where the mercury hovers around 100°F, with cooler nights to balance the fruit. Many winemakers told us it’s become the ideal climate for growing these grapes. In fact, climate change came up as one reason why Walla Walla is being touted the “new Napa” and some vintners opine that California’s famous wine region will eventually become too hot to produce good grapes (do they have an axe to grind or are they on to something?). Washington (and B.C.) will flourish, we were told. Stay tuned.

Free Trade

Tasting the wine was a lot of fun. Bringing it home, not so much. Canadians visiting the U.S. are only allowed to bring back two bottles of wine each (without penalty). Anything beyond is subject to duty, taxes and a “liquor mark up fee”. We brought back a case and were hit with a nasty bill. Whatever happened to free trade?

I’ll spare the clichés about wine and investing, but suffice to say you can learn a lot on a wine trip. Turns out that I wasn’t completely lost in the vocabulary either. Value hunting, technical analysis, verticals, and corkscrews are common to both industries.