A WORLD APART
The Columbia Gorge looks like a postcard: The mighty Columbia River shimmers in the sun as windsurfers knife up into the air. Thousand-foot basalt cliffs tower above. Vineyards and orchards dot the landscape. To the north and south, glacier-clad volcanoes stand like sentinels.
“The place is raw with elemental energy,” says James Mantone, cofounder of Syncline Winery. “The earth, wind, fire, water thing is just laid as bare as possible here in the Gorge.”
While most of Washington’s winegrowing regions are
