Think of it as the next shower of the North Olympic Peninsula’s purple rain.
Already famed for its fragrant fields of lavender, Clallam County could find a place on the map for its vineyards.
Some small wine-growing operations already flourish in the county’s warmer valleys and vales, but there could be many more suitable spots, says Kathy Charlton of Olympic Cellars, 255410 W. U.S. Highway 101.
Charlton, majority owner and manager of the winery, said she is trying to raise about $8,500 that she’s short for a $15,000 study of Clallam County by a Southern Oregon University geologist and climatologist.
The study would show whether “grape growing on the Olympic Peninsula is viable or if we are just going to have a few vineyards here and there,” she said.
Olympic Cellars, housed in a century-old barn east of Port Angeles, has chipped in $1,500, and the Clallam County Economic Development Council has added $3,500, Charlton told the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce last week.
The Washington State University Extension Service has contributed $500.
The Southern Oregon professor, Greg Jones, would answer the question of what grape varieties to plant and where to plant them. The study would eliminate the risk of trial-and-error growing.
Jones’ study would take six months to complete.
