When most people think about Washington state, they are likely to conjure thoughts of the dreary, rainy confines of Seattle. This makes sense as nearly 75% of the state’s population reside in the Puget Sound Lowlands. However, when talking about winegrowing, 99% of the state’s grape production comes from vineyards east of the Cascade mountains where the climate is arid yielding a paltry 6-9 inches of rain a year. Washington is the second largest premium wine producer, behind only California, and boasts more than 650 wineries and over 165,000 tons of grapes harvested in 2009. The foundation for the state’s accelerated growth of quality grapes and wine can be found in the dirt and the air.
Geography and Geology
While there are many books that can explain the depths of historical geological change in the area, I’ll briefly mention the Missoula floods here as described to me by local growers. Roughly 15,000 years ago glacial dams positioned further north and east near the tip of Idaho and the Canadian border broke dozens of times and each time released powerful raging waters that transported dirt and rock through the region as they hurried southwesterly toward the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River. The results are rocks, silt, silty loam, loamy silt and basalt imparting unique qualities to soils in this region leading to high quality wine grapes. This uniqueness is evident when looking at a map of the American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) where several accumulate in the south-central portion of the state near the Columbia River where the floods travelled.
Washington AVA Map
Rocky Soil
Climate
As mentioned above, the eastern part of the state is pretty much a desert with very little precipitation, therefore, irrigation is absolutely necessary. Grapevines can flourish and produce high quality fruit when a regulated deficit irrigation strategy is implemented. Many find the use of irrigation controversial from a natural, conservation and “green” perspective. While in Walla Walla last week, we were told there was a moratorium on water rights at least to the Red Mountain AVA, though news this week promised the region would receive re-directed water from the Yakima River by an approved $12.5 million project. Currently, only 1,000 of 1,700 plant-able acres are cultivated in Red Mountain.
Lucky for us, the temperatures for this time of year were very tolerable on this trip as highs were only in the mid to upper 80′s and lows in the 60s. While the sun was generally hot at the peak of day, the breeze helped keep us cool. Due to the higher latitude, there are more daylight hours, which we experienced as we awoke to sunshine at a brisk 5:00 am and witnessed sunset around 9:30pm. The combination of more daylight and larger diurnal temperature differences allow grapes to hang longer on the vine, reach optimal ripeness when expected, improve complexity and achieve appropriate acid levels.
Wines
While Washington has historically been known for Riesling and Merlot, many wineries, such as Delille Cellars (and their second label, Doyenne), are going after European style blends emulating regions such as Cote Rotie, Chateneuf-du-Pape and Bordeaux. There are unique white blends that include Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadelle, Muscat Canelli, et al, providing for significant flowery and perfume aromas. But, there are also a few wines that are overdone, manipulated, and single-dimensional. Is it normal to add Syrah to your Sangiovese Rose’ to add color? The leading white grapes produced in Washington are currently Riesling, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc while popular reds are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. The bottom line is that many varieties are being grown successfully here resulting in very high quality wines, and provides a great selection for wine lovers to explore.
What is your experience with wines from Washington?
2007 Delille Chaleur Estate
My experience? Is that they are the best goddamned wines in the world dawg.
My experience is that if you don’t live here, the best way to get access to some of the best small production wines from all over Washington state is to sign up for FullPullWines.com mailing list.
[I don't have any interest in Full Pull other than I think Paul Z. is a great guy and his business model rocks!]
Hey, glad you got to try Delille’s Chaleur white!
Ed, good to meet you at WBC10 and very much enjoyed this post. Keep up the good work!
I am in the midst of a hot, steamy and long lasting love affair with Washington wines. The last three years it has just been getting better and better.
Sure there are some wines where I need a chain saw to get through the oak to find the fruit or wines that are so syrupy they belong over pancakes instead of a glass. But those wines are the exception. There are Washington wines that give me moments of transcendence. I love the diversity of Washington wines and I am sorry that people at #WBC10 didn’t get to try some of our cool climate grapes or more of our Lemberger, Nebbiolio, Barbera etc
Hey Bean, you’ll be happy to know then that I traded, before and during WBC, Lemberger to a CA blogger (her first ever Lemberger), WA Barbera to Texas blogger, and WA Nebbiolo to a Seattle blogger. Oh, wait
Thanks for the comments. I am very impressed and will be trying to get my hands on some of those more unique grapes… I had Lemberger and a Barbera, but they didn’t stand out… will need to check my notes for the producers. No doubt there is a lot going on in WA… this post is just to, pardon the pun, lay the foundation for some subsequent content from the region. Thanks for the link Chris! Enjoy your holiday weekend!