As far as we know, the history of viticulture in the state of Washington goes back to 1825, but it's unclear if those vines were used for winemaking. The first people to be recorded making wine in Washington were German and Italian immigrants in the 1860's. That only lasted about 60 years because of the United States prohibition.
(This article was written for GrapeBunch, our weekly wine periodical. Click here to read the original!)
(This article was written for GrapeBunch, our weekly wine periodical. Click here to read the original!)
After prohibition, the Washington wine industry was mostly producing a fortified dessert wine made from the Concord grape. The Concord variety is of the vitis labrusca grape species, which are native to America and mainly used for table grapes and grape juice. Vitis vinifera is native to Europe and is mainly used for wine, and those plantings started to increase in Washingon in the 1950's.
In 1967 legendary Napa Valley winemaker André Tchelistcheff was hired as a consultant for Chateau Ste. Michelle. He became a big advocate of Washington wine as a whole, and a winery boom began. Another big moment for Washington wine's growth was when a 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon from Walla Walla won the best American Cabernet of the vintage. Today Washington is the second biggest producer of wine in the US, behind California.
If you take a look at Wine Folly's map of Washington's wine regions, you'll see there are two major regions: In green is Pudget Sound to the west and in orange is Columbia Valley to the east. Between them is the Cascade mountain range, which plays an enormous part of the climate for both. Everybody knows Seattle's reputation for rain, and that's because the Cascades get in the way of the clouds and they drop their moisture. Just south of Washington, Oregon's main wine growing regions are on this side of the Cascades.
For Washington, however, the really good stuff is planted on the east side of the Cascades. Columbia Valley is literally a desert because the rain was left on the other side of the mountain range! Many vineyards actually need to have water trucked in from over the mountains to irrigate them. Subregions within Columbia Valley to note are Walla Walla, Horse Heaven Hills, Red Mountain, and Yakima Valley.
This dry and continental climate, combined with its unique soil, make the red wines of Columbia Valley and its subregion's have big, juicy concentrated fruit with a lush mouthfeel and silky tannins. The big three red varieties planted in Washington are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. I myself am absolutely in love with Washington Merlot. For white wines, Washington State does produce very good Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, but Riesling is the flagship. From dry to sweet and everywhere in the middle, Washington Riesling is fantastic. And don't forget about Gewürztraminer as well!
This article was written for The GrapeBunch Wine Periodical.
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Joey Casco
Beverage Marketer
Certified Specialist of Wine
Certified Specialist of Spirits
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