​Wine drinkers nationwide--including a group of enthusiastic oenophiles who last night gathered at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center for an annual tasting event celebrating blended wines--are rethinking their stance on the sanctity of single-varietal wines.

A generation of shoppers schooled in California's cabernets and merlots have lately begun to appreciate how various grapes can be used to counteract flaws and add complexity to a wine. "Blending can be an extraordinarily useful winemaking technique," Food & Wine's Ray Isle this month explains in a column chronicling a D.I.Y San Francisco wine bar where patrons order varietals by the beaker.

The wines at Vinyl are designed for customers' craft projects. But can an oenophile who doesn't have access to raw materials replicate the experiment by mixing finished wines?

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​A Washington winery's proposal to do away with the 100-point rating system that's used by leading wine publications has drawn support from importer Kermit Lynch and Michael Mina wine director Rajat Parr, but few Washington wineries have signed the "score revolution manifesto."

Hedges Family Estate's Christophe Hedges, who launched the movement, isn't surprised by his fellow winemakers' reluctance to endorse the proposal. The boutique operations which have sprung up statewide in recent years rely on wine scores to distinguish themselves from their competitors, he says.

"I don't mean to sound like an esoteric, radical asshole, but what I'm talking about is groundbreaking in Washington state," Hedges says.

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​New York restaurateur Paul Grieco has again declared a "Summer of Riesling," defying the trendsters who've made rosé this season's "it" drink.

"That rosé is trendy is positive in so many ways," says Terry Theise, perhaps the best-known importer of German and Austrian Rieslings. Theise's decades of work promoting the neglected varietal have made him a hero to oenophiles, and earned him a James Beard Foundation medal.

The recent embrace of rosé proves "there's a place even in serious people's wine worlds for frivolity," says Theise, who was in town this weekend to kick off Wild Ginger's observance of the Riesling holiday. Theise further credits the crisp, pink drink with weaning wine drinkers off oak and high alcohol levels, and demonstrating the value of a refreshing wine.

"It's only baby steps from rosé to the virtues of a great Riesling," Theise says. "The best rosé that can be made is about as good as an adequate Riesling."

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​An attendee at this weekend's Kirkland Uncorked, where 20 Washington wineries were offering samples of nearly 100 different wines, was so puzzled by my tasting behavior that she tapped my elbow to inquire.

"Why are you moving your glass around?" she asked.

I quickly explained the importance of swirling, sniffing, and sipping, but I realized she probably wasn't the only drinker wondering. Like most of the tasting events I've attended, Kirkland Uncorked didn't provide its patrons with any guidelines to help them properly assess--and enjoy--the wines being poured.

"The wine industry has done a hideous job of teaching people how to enjoy wine," says Steven Brown, owner of 12th & Olive Wine Company and a member of the Society of Wine Educators. "They drag people to Walla Walla, they drag them to Woodinville, they drag them to the Sculpture Garden, and no one is telling them how to enjoy this."

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​While Washington's wine industry dodged many of the devastating state budget cuts that are now threatening to cripple less-established grape-growing regions, winemakers are wondering what this month's permanent closure of the state's tourism office means for them.

"It's probably too soon to tell what the full impact will be," says Robin Pollard, executive director of the Washington State Wine Commission. "We'll be working very closely with local tourism organizations."

According to Pollard, 1.7 million wine tourists visited Washington wineries in 2006, the last year for which good data is available. The wine commission expects to release updated statistics in September which should reflect the industry's massive growth: The number of wineries statewide has nearly doubled over the past five years.

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Friends of local glass artist Allysa Thompson brought her animal-themed glasses to the zoo.

​"Bring your own wine glass" events may reduce waste and logistical hassles, but local winemakers worry the practice isn't doing any favors for their products.

At a Woodland Park Zoo fund-raiser last Friday, wine glasses were available for a $5 rental fee, but the vast majority of attendees arrived armed with their own receptacles. Tim Narby, owner of Seattle's Nota Bene Cellars--one of more than two dozen wineries offering tastings--was stunned by the range of glasses thrust beneath his bottles.

"I was appalled," Narby says. "I saw terrible things. I saw plastic cups. I saw jam jars. I saw wee little shot glasses."

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​Woodinville bills itself as a venue for Washington wine discovery, but the latest winery to set up shop there is an Oregon operation.

Lachini Vineyards is the first winery not bonded in Washington to open a Woodinville tasting room. While Woodinville Wine Country executive director Cynthia Dasté says in-state wineries haven't yet made much of a fuss about Lachini's arrival, she concedes the Oregon winery's foray into Woodinville could signal a retail-shop grab by wineries with roots elsewhere.

"It's certainly a possibility," Dasté says when asked about the potential incursion of wineries from California and other winemaking regions. "It will be interesting to see what happens."

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Credit: @wineexpedition

​Last week, a map of Twitter usage around the country made the rounds on . . . well, Twitter. Washington neared the top of the list with a 64% growth rate per capita. That won't come as a surprise to the hordes of people in Seattle and the surrounding areas who are addicted to the microblogging service. Of course, what better way to use all your newfound connections than to talk about booze and how to get the best libations? After all, that's something people have been doing long before they were glued to their iPhones.

To make your alcohol search more productive and enjoyable, I'm rounding up the top 10 Tweeters in wine, beer and liquor. This week I'm tackling everyone's favorite form of grape juice: vino.

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Don't be fooled by the headline. Sommeliers don't really hate you (well, maybe they do), rather, they wish they could simply tweak the way some customers behave in order to enhance their wine experience. A good sommelier is there to make your dinner date a memorable one, not to make you feel inferior. They love nothing more than to encounter an adventurous drinker -- someone who lets them drive the booze boat for a night. After all, they've tasted everything on the menu and know what's good, right?

Follow these little morsels of goodwill and you and your sommelier will be on the path to Happybuzzville, USA. Who wouldn't want to visit that place? Know that we have nothing but your best interests in mind when you read the following seven reasons why your sommelier hates you.

​7. You don't ask for help. "It's like people who don't pull over and ask for directions when they're lost. I think there's a level of not knowing about wine that some customers want to disguise. Some people kind of disregard what I may or may not know about wine because I work in a restaurant. It's the opposite of the snooty sommelier -- it's the snooty customer. My favorite customers are those that ask what I think is really good; what I've tried lately that I really like." - Jason Crume, wine buyer for Toulouse Petite.

6. You kill your tastebuds. "I hate it when people ask for a huge, meaty red like a California Cabernet or a Southern Rhone to go with something delicate like fish; it just kills any chance that they have of enjoying either component of their meal. Totally depressing. But the thing that annoys me the most is when customers ask for my advice or guidance and then the first thing they do is start setting up all these rules, like: 'We only like wine from California' or 'I hate sweet wine.' If you already have all these ideas, what the hell do you need my help for? As a sommelier, I want to be able to enhance your meal and open your mind to new wines the same way a chef hopes to open your mind to new food. It's very hard to do when people are unwilling to go out of their comfort zones." - Niki Parrish, certified sommelier and server extraordinaire at Tilth.

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Boxed wine's never looked so refreshing

​Not everyone in Kirkland wears white pants, drives a Lexus SUV, and sips chardonnay. No, some Kirklanders wear tube tops, drive convertible Beetles, and guzzle chardonnay.

It's this breed that'll largely populate Kirkland Uncorked , the tony Eastside suburb's annual summer salute to wining and dining, this weekend (Fri-Sun) at Marina Park (25 Lakeshore Plaza Drive).

As for the dining, there'll be a grilling competition on Saturday at 5. Being a strident supporter of the carnivorous arts, I'll be judging. It'll be delicious. It'll be fun. So come away with me, in the night.