Fall 2023
Briefly noted
Books and podcasts by WSU alumni, faculty, and the WSU Press » More ...
Wine
Summer 2023
The salmon king
Chinook salmon are cherished in the Pacific Northwest, but they are declining. » More ...
Summer 2023
A tour of Spain with Cougar winemakers
When the former executive director of the Washington State University Alumni Association asked Melanie Krause (’00 Spanish, Biol.) and Joe Schnerr (’99 Chem.), founders of Cinder Wines in Garden City, Idaho, near Boise, to design a trip for WSU alumni through northern Spain, they didn’t hesitate.
Not only are they proud Cougs, they’ve already visited the Rioja region, which “grows a lot of tempranillo, one of our focus grapes at Cinder. It’s also close to Basque country, and Boise has a lot of Basque descendants, so it’s a good fit for us on several levels,” says Krause, who “picked out beautiful coastal parts of Basque … » More …
Summer 2023
Cougar X winemaker Cameron Rushton (and his wine tasting tips)
Cameron Rushton is happy to sip other winemakers’ whites. But when it comes to crafting his own wine, he sticks to his specialty: robust reds.
Rushton (’10 Hort.), co-owner and assistant winemaker at Five Star Cellars in Walla Walla and creator of Cougar X, makes the wines he especially enjoys pairing with a juicy steak. Cabernet franc tops his list of varietals. Merlot is right up there, too. He also likes tempranillo, malbec, and sangiovese—big, bold, highly ageable reds.
“I don’t make a lot of white,” he says. “I’d rather drink everybody else’s”—Poet’s Leap by Long Shadows Vintners, for example. “I … » More …
Fall 2022
BEE happy (and more)
Just a few ways to make WSU Cougs’ palates happy » More ...
Summer 2022
Nock, nock
WSU alum Andrew Harding and his friend Stephen Amell turned a side trip into a wine business. » More ...
Summer 2021
Passing it on
The legacy of Rick Small and Darcey Fugman-Small at Woodward Canyon Winery continues to the next generation. » More ...
Fall 2020
Heaven so fine
Rob Mercer and his family have deep roots in winemaking and the Northwest. » More ...
Summer 2019
WSU@Prosser
For a century, Washington State University's research and extension center at Prosser has fostered innovations, such as the Rainier cherry, the wine industry, AgWeatherNet, and automated and robotic agriculture. It all started with irrigation that transformed central Washington. » More ...
Summer 2019
Prosser stories
Over a century, Washington State University’s research and extension center has seen a lot of stories and fostered a lot of innovations. Read some of them at these links:
The Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center at Prosser website
HistoryLink essay on WSU Prosser by Elizabeth Gibson (drawing heavily on the essays by Singleton and Proebsting)
AgWeatherNet is the world’s largest public-access weather system updates every 15 minutes via data collected from over 175 stations.
For years, WSU Prosser was the home of WSU’s wine science research. With … » More …