
WOODINVILLE, Wash. — The Auction of Washington Wines, one of the top five charitable wine auctions in the U.S., has named longtime journalist Andy Perdue as its Wine Industry Champion Award winner for 2023.
This year marks the 36th annual Auction of Washington Wines, and the presentation to Perdue will be part of the second annual TOAST! Honoree Celebration on Thursday, Aug. 10 at Château Ste. Michelle.
In 2015, Perdue was named the Honorary Chair of the Auction of Washington Wines.
The festive Winemaker Picnic & Barrel Auction is Friday, Aug. 11 on the winery’s campus, followed by the auction’s signature Gala on Saturday, Aug. 12. The Gala Online Auction begins Tuesday, Aug. 8 and runs through Aug. 12. Money raised helps support Seattle Children’s, the Washington State University viticulture and enology program and grant partner Vital Wines in the Walla Walla Valley.
This week, all of this year’s TOAST! recipients are being announced via GreatNorthwestWine.com.
Previously named honorees for the 2023 Auction of Washington Wines include longtime Costco executive Annette Alvarez-Peters (Honorary Chair), Ben Smith and Gaye McNutt of Cadence Winery (Honorary Vintners) and Miguel Rodriguez of Weinbau Vineyard (Honorary Grower). Co-chairs are Cam & Linda Myhrvold and Ian & Laura MacNeil.
“The mission of the auction is to uplift the Washington wine industry through celebrated events that give back to the industry and community,” says Jamie Peha, executive director of the Auction of Washington Wines since 2019. “With the Washington wine industry as our North Star, the auction can add value to the industry by recognizing past and present icons, emerging leaders and all aspects of the industry including vineyard workers and champions of the industry.”
A third-generation journalist, Perdue spent most of his career at the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash. That’s where he and Eric Degerman started Wine Press Northwest magazine in 1998 for the Herald and its parent company McClatchy News, with Perdue serving as the magazine’s editor-in-chief for 14 years.
They resigned their newsroom positions in 2012 to launch Great Northwest Wine, covering the rapidly growing Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia wine industries by writing features, reviewing wines, staging competitions, serving as judges and educating consumers.
Perdue served as The Seattle Times wine columnist from 2013 through 2019 and has written for numerous other publications. His first book, The Northwest Wine Guide: A Buyer’s Handbook, was published in 2003 by Sasquatch Books.
After surviving serious strokes in 2016 and 2019, Perdue stepped down as a partner in Great Northwest Wine LLC and from most wine writing and judging duties to focus on his medical recovery. He received the Idaho Wine Commission’s Industry Impact Award in 2021.
He grew up in Bremerton and graduated from Western Washington University with a journalism degree. He lives in the heart of Washington wine country with his wife, Melissa, and their daughter, Niranjana.
Auction to reveal all Toast! recipients this week
Last year, the Auction of Washington Wines created the TOAST! program, which helps cast a spotlight on a number of those who have been key to elevating and innovating the state’s wine industry, according to Laura Kleinhofs, business manager for the Auction of Washington Wines.
For the Wine Industry Champion category, the award is for non-industry professionals whose cooperative support has positively influenced the success of the Washington wine industry, including members of the media, retail, wholesale, legislative/regulatory or hospitality sectors. The first recipient of the TOAST! Wine Industry Champion award was Sean Sullivan.
“We feel that the well-established folks get the bulk of recognition — locally and nationally — and we didn’t want the next generation, those newer to the industry, to feel that they weren’t being seen,” Kleinhofs says.
Ste. Michelle Wine Estates is the sponsor for the TOAST! Honoree Celebration dinner and new industry after-party. Tickets and information are available here.
This year also marks the launch of the Allen Shoup Memorial Fellowship, which will award one journalist each year with a two-week research project in Washington wine country. Shoup, who founded world-renowned Long Shadows Vintners in Walla Walla, was the CEO of Stimson Lane and backed the establishment of the Auction of Washington Wines.
Honor roll of 2023 TOAST! recipients
Monday, July 10
9 a.m. — Lifetime Achievement Award: Ted Baseler, retired President/CEO, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates
Noon — Award of Distinction: Marty Clubb, owner/managing winemaker, L’Ecole N° 41, Lowden
2:30 p.m. — Healthy Land, Healthy Communities: Hedges Family Estate, Red Mountain
Tuesday, July 11
8:30 a.m. — Emerging Leader: Becca De Kleine, GM/director of winemaking, Four Feathers Wine Services, Prosser
11:30 a.m. — Emerging Leader: Devyani Isabel Gupta, winemaker/viticulturist, Valdemar Estates, Walla Walla
1:30 p.m. — Emerging Leader: Michelle Moyer, professor, Washington State University, Prosser
3 p.m. — Emerging Leader: Ashley Trout, winemaker, Vital Wines/Brook & Bull Cellars, Walla Walla
Wednesday, July 12 – final day
9 a.m. — Vine to Wine: Eduardo Zaragoza, vineyard manager of Shaw Vineyards, Red Mountain
Noon — Wine Industry Champion: Andy Perdue, journalist, Richland
2:30 p.m. — Auction of Washington Wines Star: Gary McLean, President of GMMD Consulting, Seattle
Congratulations Andy! A very well deserved honor for Team Great Northwest Wine.
So great that Andy is being recognized in this way – a champion for quality in the Northwest Wine Industry!