Global InformationWashington wine information
| Wine region | |
 An assortment of Washington wines from Walla Walla and Red Mountain AVAs | |
| Official name | State of Washington |
|---|---|
| Type | U.S. State Appellation[1] |
| Years of wine industry | 153[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Sub-regions | Ancient Lakes of the Columbia Valley AVA, Candy Mountain AVA, Columbia Gorge AVA, Columbia Valley AVA, Goose Gap AVA, Lake Chelan AVA, Horse Heaven Hills AVA, Mt. St. Helens AVA, Naches Heights AVA, Lewis-Clark Valley AVA, Puget Sound AVA, Rattlesnake Hills AVA, Red Mountain AVA, Rocky Reach AVA, Royal Slope AVA, Snipes Mountain AVA, The Burn of Columbia Valley AVA, Wahluke Slope AVA, Walla Walla Valley AVA, White Bluffs AVA, Yakima Valley AVA |
| Total area | 66,456 square miles (42,531,840 acres)[3] |
| Size of planted vineyards | 31,000 acres (12,545 ha)[4] |
| Grapes produced | Aligoté, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Chardonnay, Chenin blanc, Gewürztraminer, Grenache, Lemberger, Léon Millot, Madeleine Angevine, Madeleine Sylvaner, Malbec, Marechal Foch, Merlot, Müller-Thurgau, Muscat Canelli, Muscat Ottonel, Petit Verdot, Pinot blanc, Pinot gris, Pinot noir, Riesling, Roussanne, Sangiovese, Sauvignon blanc, Sémillon, Siegerrebe, Syrah, Viognier, Zinfandel[1] |
Washington wine is a wine produced from grape varieties grown in the U.S. state of Washington. Washington ranks second in the United States (behind California) in the production of wine.[5] By 2017, the state had over 55,000 acres (220 km2) of vineyards, a harvest of 229,000 short tons (208,000 t) of grapes, and exports going to over 40 countries around the world from the 940+ wineries located in the state.[6] While there are some viticultural activities in the cooler, wetter western half of the state, the majority (99.9%) of wine grape production takes place in the shrub-steppe eastern half.[7] The rain shadow of the Cascade Range leaves the Columbia River Basin with around 8 inches (200 mm) of annual rain fall, making irrigation and water rights of paramount interest to the Washington wine industry. Viticulture in the state is also influenced by long sunlight hours (on average, two more hours a day than in California during the growing season) and consistent temperatures.[8]
The early history of the Washington wine industry can be traced to the introduction of Cinsault grapes by Italian immigrants to the Walla Walla region. Grapes are not indigenous to the Columbia Valley viticultural area, but both Vinifera and Labruscavines are grown. The oldest planted Vinifera vines still in existence were planted by German immigrants in the Tampico vicinity, west of Union Gap, in 1871.[9] Others were planted in the Kennewick area in 1895, and in the Walla Walla area by 1899.[2] Planting of premium Vinifera grapes began in the Columbia Valley in the mid-1960s. By 1981 there were over 6,610 acres (2,675 ha) of Vinifera grapes including 2,700 acres (1,093 ha) of cultivated vineyards. In the 1950s and 1960s, the precursors of the state's biggest wineries (Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Winery) were founded. Throughout the rest of the 20th century, the wine world discovered a new aspect of Washington wines with each passing decade – starting with Rieslings and Chardonnays in the 1970s, the Merlot craze of the 1980s and the emergence of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah in the 1990s.[8] Washington has twenty federally defined American Viticultural Area (AVA)s with all but one located in Eastern Washington.[10] The largest is the Columbia Valley AVA, which extends into a small portion of northern Oregon and encompasses most of the states's AVAs. They are Lewis-Clark Valley AVA, the Ancient Lakes AVA, Walla Walla Valley AVA, which encompasses Oregon's The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater AVA, Horse Heaven Hills AVA, the Wahluke Slope AVA, Lake Chelan AVA, Naches Heights AVA, and the Yakima Valley AVA, which in turn also encompasses the Rattlesnake Hills AVA, Snipes Mountain AVA, the Red Mountain AVA, Goose Gap AVA and the Candy Mountain AVA. The Columbia Gorge AVA is west of the Columbia Valley AVA. As of 2023, Washington's only AVA located west of the Cascades is the Puget Sound AVA[7] and a petition has been submitted to Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposing a new American Viticultural Area named "Mount St. Helens" covering parts of Clark County, Cowlitz County, Skamania County and Lewis County.[11][12][13]
- ^ a b "Washington: Appellation Profile". Appellation America. 2007. Archived from the original on July 13, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2007.
- ^ a b "Columbia Valley Viticultural Area" (27 CFR 9 [T.D. ATF-190; Re: Notice No. 483] Final rule). Federal Register. 49 (220). Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Treasury: 44895–44899. November 13, 1984.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates". United States Census Bureau. U.S. Department of Commerce. 2010. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
- ^ Columbia Valley Winery Association (2007). "Washington Grape Acreage and Winery Survey Results Final: April, 2007". Retrieved November 16, 2007.
- ^ Domine, Andre (September 5, 2008). Wine. Ullmann Publishing. pp. 798–800. ISBN 978-0841602977.
- ^ "Washington State Wine". Retrieved June 14, 2019.
- ^ a b Robinson, Jancis, ed. (October 1, 2006). The Oxford Companion to Wine (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 761-762. ISBN 0-19-860990-6."TTB Approves New AVA: The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater" (Media Relations). Oregon Wine Board. February 5, 2015.
- ^ a b Fallis, Catherine (January 1, 2004). The Encyclopedic Atlas of Wine. Global Book Publishing. p. 50. ISBN 1-74048-050-3.
- ^ Parker, Tom (September 1, 2002). Discovering Washington Wines: An Introduction to One of the Most Exciting Premium Wine Regions. Seattle, Wash: Raconteurs Press. pp. 20-21, 39-44, 92. ISBN 0-9719258-5-2.
- ^ "Regions & AVAs". Washington State Wine Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
- ^ "List of Pending AVA Petitions". Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau.
- ^ "Proposed St Helens AVA". Sip Magazine.
- ^ "List of Pending American Viticultural Areas Petitions". TTB.gov. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Retrieved March 4, 2024.
