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Contents

1. Washington State 2. Washington East of the Cascades 3. Understanding Washington’s Vineyard Geology 4. Wine History in Washington 5. Washington Grape Varieties 6. Washington AVAs 7. Oregon 8. Oregon AVAs 9. Idaho

Washington State

Washington is the country’s second-largest producer of vinifera wines. While still in California’s shadow, Washington State provides 5% of the total US domestic wine output, and production continues to grow in leaps and bounds. State wine grape acreage has doubled in this century, rising from 24,000 acres in 1999 to almost 50,000 acres in 2013. In 1999, then-WA Wine Commission Director Steve Burns announced that a new winery was opening its doors every 13 days in the state, and the growth rate has sustained: by 2013 the number of state wineries had jumped from 160 to over 850. 2014 was a record harvest—227,000 tons of fruit—but with the state adding an average of 2,500 acres of vines each year over the past decade, the record likely won’t last long.

For perspective, compare the entire state of Washington to California’s Napa Valley AVA: http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 1/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm Washington has approximately 5,000 more acres of vineyard land and in 2013 produced about 40,000 more tons of fruit. And Napa Valley produces only 4% of California’s wines! Not only is Washington is a much smaller producer than California overall, but it has a narrower focus: the state lacks the giant bulk wine industry that drives California, instead placing emphasis on premium to luxury production. Washington also has a younger, less developed industry. Vineyards often comprise only a portion of a working farm’s activities, and a small minority of wineries are estate projects. Vineyard Manager Kent Waliser of Columbia Valley’s Sagemoor Vineyards puts it succinctly: “Wineries are not connected to the vineyards.” Many are even located in or around Seattle, far from the fruit itself, and most are small or medium-sized in scale, releasing fewer than 12,000 cases a year. There are, however, a few large wineries in play: Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest, etc.) is the state’s largest producer, accounting for nearly 60% of Washington’s total output, and the world’s largest producer of Riesling. Other big players making wines under their own labels include Hogue Cellars, Hedges Family Estate, K Vintners, and Gallo, which entered the WA business with its purchase of the embattled Columbia Winery in 2012. In 2013, each of these brands sold at least 250,000 gallons, equivalent to more than 100,000 cases of wine. In the same year, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates alone sold over 7 million cases. These few large wineries—and parent corporations like Precept Wines (Canoe Ridge, Waterbrook, Willow Crest)—are the driving forces behind Washington’s current growth.

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WASHINGTON EAST OF THE CASCADES

Water is the limiting thing. -Mike Sauer, Red Willow Vineyard

Most of Washington’s vinifera vineyards are located east of the Cascade Mountains within the broad Columbia Basin, the watershed of the Columbia River. These central and eastern winegrowing regions, which all lie at or above the 46th parallel, share a fairly uniform, arid continental climate, with minor variations from region to region. The region's hot summers—in which average afternoon temperatures can hit 103° F—and additional hours of summer http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 2/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm sunshine promote rapid sugar ripening, while cool nights preserve acid. The average diurnal variation in Columbia Valley is 28° F, but in some low areas nighttime temperatures can drop by 40° F or more. Frigid winters serve to mitigate disease pressures, as many vineyard pests simply cannot survive the cold. Phylloxera, for example, is virtually unknown in the state, kept at bay by the severe winters, inhospitable sandy soils, and the great physical distances from one vineyard to the next. And with annual rainfall hovering in the 6- to 12-inch range, eastern Washington’s dry climate naturally suppresses mildews and other fungal infestations. Winter and the dry climate may stymie pests, but they present their own challenges, too. Despite reasonably abundant irrigation water, water rights can be very difficult for growers to acquire, while dry- farming in most parts of arid eastern Washington is a physical impossibility.

Why is rainfall so scarce in eastern Washington? As Pacific air hits the Cascade Range it is pushed upward, cooled, and condensed into clouds, which quickly unleash their moisture as precipitation. This creates a rain shadow effect for the Columbia River Basin in eastern Washington—the western slopes of the Cascades receive over 80 inches of rainfall annually, yet 50 miles to the east the climate is suddenly desert-like. Yakima Valley, near the eastern foothills of the Cascades, receives 1/10th of the rainfall poured on those western slopes. The Cascades are also responsible for the Columbia Basin’s continental climate, as they block the moderating maritime air from moving further inland. However, winters are not as absolutely bone-chilling as they are further inland: the Rockies to the north and east of the Columbia Basin shelter the region from icy polar air masses. It’s cold—but the vines can survive if the grower is vigilant and the vineyard is situated appropriately. Timing is a critical factor, too: if temperatures plunge too soon, before vines have hardened for the winter, the cold can be much more damaging.

Elevation and aspect play a big role in mitigating cold and maximizing sunlight. In south-central Washington, the low-lying topography of the Columbia Basin is striated by east-west ridgelines— an area known to geologists as the Yakima Fold Belt, encompassing much of Washington’s vineyard acreage. The ridgelines, or anticlines, can rise to 4,000 ft. while the valley floors (synclines) between them rarely exceed 1,000 ft. above sea level. The formations are the result of tectonic compression during the Miocene Epoch: over time, the anticlines folded upward and the synclines buckled between them as the earth’s crust compressed. For a time, ancestral rivers pushed through the rising anticlines, carving water gaps, until their paths were redirected. Today, these anticlinal ridges, pierced by eroded water gaps, constrict airflow and produce a temperature inversion layer as cool air bottlenecks within the syncline basins, unable to escape. Valley floors, such as those in Yakima Valley and Walla Walla Valley, therefore tend to have greater frost pressure, wider diurnal temperature variations, and lower wintertime temperatures. A move upward in elevation, past the 1,000-foot mark, has given vineyards a chance to go the distance—growing degree-day, temperature, and frost-free day averages all http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 3/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm typically increase with elevation in eastern Washington. Aspect compounds its significance: those vineyards on the south side of anticlinal ridges in AVAs like Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope and Horse Heaven Hills are the warmest, and the recipients of the most sunshine, in all of Washington.

Surviving the Winter Vines find shelter from the worst frosts and freezes at higher elevations, while viticultural techniques like dual-trunk training and buried canes also serve as “insurance” in the most brutal winters. If a vine’s canopy dies during a cold snap, own-rooted vines can grow anew but a year’s harvest will be lost. Dual-trunk training and buried canes both mitigate such losses and can potentially give growers uninterrupted harvests. With dual-trunk training, used throughout Washington, growers train two separate trunks on the same vine in parallel, just an inch or two apart, from the ground up. According to winemaker Brian McCormick of Memaloose, “statistically, you can get winter damage to one but not the other, even though they are growing in the same spot.” Vines are particularly susceptible to severe crown gall affliction after a hard freeze—with two trunks one’s chances of losing an entire vine canopy is halved. Alternatively, growers may bury fruiting canes over winter in the soil. If the canopy dies over winter, the grower can pull the fruiting cane up from under the soil and still get a crop the following year. This technique is typically employed with low-trained cordon vines. These training techniques, coupled with the move to higher elevation and post-harvest irrigation, steel Washington’s vinifera vineyards and wine industry through the long winter.

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Red Willow Vineyard, Yakima Valley AVA.

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FIRE AND WATER: UNDERSTANDING WASHINGTON’S VINEYARD GEOLOGY Two major geologic forces have shaped the bedrock material throughout the entire Columbia Basin: a period of frequent and powerful volcanic eruptions occurring millions of years ago, and the much more recent Missoula Floods. First, the volcanoes: from 17 to six million years ago, during the Miocene Epoch, hundreds of basalt lava flows poured forth from fissures throughout eastern Washington and western Idaho, blanketing a 65,000-acre area spanning both states and northern Oregon. The total volume of the period’s volcanic eruption surpassed 700 cubic miles —the largest such flows ever documented—and the ground beneath it sunk under the basalt’s weight. At its deepest point in the Pasco Basin, the basalt layer reaches 12,000 ft. below the surface of the earth, and little is known about the crust beneath it. In an indirect way, the basalt bedrock plays an important role in modern wine quality: it formed the foundation that was later compressed and folded into anticlines through which ancestral rivers tried to pass. One might say the folded, uplifted bedrock of the Columbia Basin actually impacts wine by subtly shifting climate; by creating the right circumstances for temperature inversions, warmth at elevation, and the like! Its strict impact as a contributor of minerals for uptake through the vine is a separate debate, hinging on its depth. Do the vines’ roots extend deep enough to acquire http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 5/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm dissolved minerals directly from basalt bedrock? In some areas soil depth is shallow enough to allow the rooting zone to interact with weathered bedrock, but in many cases it is not. And the basalt is overlaid by sedimentary material resulting from a different geologic event: the post- glacial, cyclical flooding of Lake Missoula.

As the last ice age slowly came to an end, the great glacial Lake Missoula formed in western Montana, penned in by a massive dam of ice that was part of the retreating Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago, the dam repeatedly broke as impounded water behind it overwhelmed and broke the ice, unleashing catastrophic floods two or three times each century. According to geologist Kevin Pogue, the flood discharge “sometimes exceeded 10 times the combined flow of all modern rivers,” and the Missoula Floods raced southwest across Washington. At the Wallula Gap, a water gap in the basalt anticline marking the southern edge of the Pasco Basin, each successive flood hit a bottleneck. As water backed up behind it, submerging large swaths of eastern Washington under hundreds of feet of water, sediment scooped up along the entire pathway of the flood was deposited. The waters slowly drained out the Wallula Gap, spit westward through the Columbia Gorge. This happened over and over again, for thousands of years, carving deep channels into the basalt in some areas while deposits of gravel and other fine flood sediments accumulated in others. These nutrient-rich deposits, known as Touchet beds, are over a hundred feet deep at the lowest points of the Columbia, Walla Walla, and Yakima Valley floors, but they quickly thin along the anticlines’ slopes. Land above 1,200 ft. stayed dry; in such higher-elevation sites basalt will be much nearer the surface.

Above the basalt bedrock and flood-deposited sedimentary layers is windblown loess that forms the region’s silt loam soils. (Loess is a silt-sized particle, and silt loams are textured with high percentages of both silt and sand.) As the flood cycle subsided, winds from the southwest blew across a landscape essentially devoid of vegetation, eroding the flood deposits and creating a layer of post-glacial loess, ranging from several to dozens of feet deep, throughout the Columbia Basin. Thus, vineyard soils in the Columbia Basin are “eolian”—shaped by the force of wind. Commonly comprised of loess-derived silt loams over Missoula Flood sedimentary deposits, they can be very fertile and nutrient-rich. Similar soils in the Willamette Valley are preferred for agricultural purposes other than wine grapes, but Washington’s desert-like climate limits vine vigor. Cement-like hardpans of calcium carbonate are also common, further restricting root depth and nutrient uptake.

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ORIGINS In 1825, the modern-day state of Washington was a jointly occupied territory to which both the British and the American governments laid claim. Early in that year, fur traders established Fort Vancouver as an outpost of the British Hudson’s Bay Company on the north shore of the Columbia River, and on its grounds they planted the region’s first vineyard. These may have even been vinifera grapes, as the vines were likely grown from seed purchased in England. It would be an early, but solitary, blip on the radar. After the US gained sole control over Washington with the Oregon Treaty of 1846, further attempts at viticulture were sporadic. An early foray into commercial winegrowing in Walla Walla Valley occurred in the 1860s, but most grapes grown in the 19th century in Washington were destined for the table, not the glass.

Whatever nascent wine industry Washington may have enjoyed by its admission into statehood in 1889 was shuttered by three successive waves of prohibition. “Local option” prohibitions appeared in various localities from 1909, the state prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol statewide in 1914, and national Prohibition put a final nail in the coffin in 1920. Repeal in 1933 did not create an immediate resurgence in winemaking in the Evergreen State. While there were over three-dozen wineries operating in the state by the end of the 1930s, the wines they produced were uncomplicated, fortified, sweet, and made from native varieties, not vinifera. Most were located on the “wet” side of the Cascades in the Puget Sound area. After two dry decades Washington recovered the ability to produce wine but lost the knowledge to sustain vinifera in its northerly climate. Commercial vinifera vineyards would not reappear until the 1960s.

The WSLCB

As Washington exited Prohibition, its legislature opted to regulate alcoholic beverages as a control state. With its passage in 1934, the Steele Act established the Washington State Liquor Control Board to act as sole wholesaler of all wines and spirits. The bill was modified one year later to allow Washington-made wines to be sold by private distributors, generally at a lower cost. While a modern advocate of “buying local” might applaud the decision, the protectionist measure insulated Washington wines from out- of-state competition and decreased the need for winemaking improvements. Tax breaks for in-state wines followed while quality flat-lined. The WSLCB maintained its

http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 7/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm monopoly over out-of-state wine distribution until 1969, when the privilege of private distribution was finally extended to all wines, regardless of place of origin. The resulting influx of competitively priced wines from other states and countries, coupled with important research in areas suitable for vinifera grape-growing, spurred Washington’s wine industry with an immediate need to improve and the tools to do so.

WASHINGTON’S WINE PIONEERS The late Dr. Walter Clore, formally recognized by the State Legislature as the “Father of Washington Wine,” spearheaded efforts in Washington to prove that vinifera grapevines could withstand the harsh Washington winters. In 1937, Clore accepted a horticultural position at a Washington State University irrigation research station in Prosser, WA. Among other crops, he worked with Concord vines—a major cash crop for eastern Washington—and studied mechanical grape harvesting. At the urging of William Bridgman, who had cultivated Muscat vines on Snipes Mountain since the 1910s, Clore planted an experimental plot of vinifera with cuttings from Bridgman’s vineyard at the Prosser facility in 1940. His interest in European grape varieties grew, and in 1960 he partnered with ex-Napa winemaker Charles Nagel to begin cultivating experimental vinifera vineyards around the state. Previous experiments in the 1950s were mostly unsuccessful—cold snaps every few years would destroy entire vine canopies, and sometimes kill the root systems too—but Clore proved to a young generation of pioneering winegrowers that the vine, if sited appropriately, could survive the deep freezes of Washington winters. His name is invariably linked, as mentor and consultant, to many of today’s old-time growers and most of the state’s oldest vinifera vineyards.

As Clore’s interest in vinifera viticulture began to bear fruit, a small group of university friends and amateur winemakers took interest, amidst the pervasive sweet fortified styles of the time, in dry table wine production. They dabbled in home winemaking in the 1950s and founded Associated Vintners in 1962. In 1963 the enterprise ventured into viticulture, planting the Harrison Hill Vineyard near William Bridgman’s property on Snipes Mountain. (Both plots are currently owned and managed by Upland Estate.) Associated Vintners attracted the attention of legendary California winemaker André Tchelistcheff, who arrived in Washington in 1967 to sample the group’s wines. Associated Vintners, emboldened by his praise, bonded a winery and began to sell their wines commercially, while Tchelistcheff himself began consulting for another http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 8/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm project—American Wine Growers, a conglomeration of two post-Prohibition Puget Sound fruit wineries making a transition to vinifera wine. These two companies represent the first wave of successful modern Washington wineries; today, Associated Vintners is known as Columbia Winery and American Wine Growers is Chateau Ste. Michelle.

Other vinifera vineyards began to appear around the state in the late 1960s and early 1970s—in Yakima Valley, Red Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, the Columbia Gorge, and Walla Walla Valley. And a few more wineries appeared: by 1981 there were 19 in the state. Tchelistcheff continued to consult for Ste. Michelle, and Columbia Winery named British Master of Wine David Lake as head winemaker in 1979. He stayed on through the 2005 vintage, and his name is now revered as one of the state’s great guiding forces in wine. A second MW, Bob Betz, worked for Chateau Ste. Michelle for two decades prior to launching his own eponymous winery in 1997. An almost avuncular figure in Washington today, Betz has witnessed the entire arc of the modern wine industry and is one of Washington’s most prominent spokesmen and advocates.

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Washington Grape Varieties

In Washington, red and white varieties each account for roughly half of the state’s acreage. Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, and Gewürztraminer are the state’s five most planted white varieties; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Cabernet Franc are the state’s most planted reds (in descending order). Overall, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are in the lead —the two grapes comprise about one-third of the state’s total acreage. Unlike Oregon, no single variety completely dominates outsider perceptions about the state’s wine industry, and many different grapes, from ultra-cool climate crossings like Siegerrebe to late-ripening varieties like Petit Verdot, can grow in different corners of the state. The range of mesoclimates available within one AVA, even one vineyard, allows varieties separated by hundreds of miles in Europe to ripen fairly successfully next door to one another in Washington State. Numerous vineyards in eastern Washington have Riesling planted on one end and Cabernet Sauvignon on the other!

In a half-century of winegrowing Washington State has shifted from a commercial reliance on white varieties, borne out of the supposed necessities of climate, to a celebration of its reds. As a young industry in the late 1960s and 1970s grappled with devastating winter freezes every few years, growers were often unwilling to plant anything other than hardy northern European grapevines or hybrids. White varieties ruled. Gewürztraminer, for instance, was the grape that http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 9/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm first piqued Tchelistcheff’s interest in 1967. And Riesling was an obvious choice for the climate as well as the source of the first real infusion of national recognition for the industry. When a 1972 Ste. Michelle Riesling bested its competition in a blind tasting hosted by the Los Angeles Times, it generated much local pride, and growers rushed to plant the grape. The first red variety in Washington State to gain widespread popularity as a varietal wine was Merlot, in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, on the strength of bottlings from Leonetti Cellar and others, Merlot had been anointed as Washington’s signature wine. Today, however, it has taken a backseat to Cabernet Sauvignon, which surged on the strength of ebullient critical reception and 100-point wines in the 2000s. Syrah and Rhône-style blends in the 2010s have begun to perk trade interest, and Riesling is reemerging as a bright spot in the state. Yet as active as today’s sommeliers are in proselytizing for Riesling, much of the general public still expects the wine to be inexpensive and sweet. One Columbia Valley vineyard manager laments: “It’s sad; as well as we grow Riesling and as many different styles as we can make, you just can’t sell it for much. And, frankly, we don’t have as many good white winemakers as red winemakers in the state of Washington.”

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Washington AVAs

COLUMBIA VALLEY

AVAs: Columbia Valley (WA/OR), Yakima Valley, Red Mountain, Rattlesnake Hills, Snipes Mountain, Walla

Walla Valley (WA/OR), The Rocks of Milton-Freewater (OR), Horse Heaven Hills, Wahluke Slope, Lake Chelan,

Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley, Naches Heights Encompassing over 95% of Washington’s vinifera vineyards, the Columbia Valley gained AVA status in 1984, and it, like the Columbia Gorge and Walla Walla Valley AVAs, slips over the Oregon state line. Following the contours of the Columbia Basin, the Columbia Valley AVA is a massive appellation of eleven million total acres—just over one-fourth the size of the entire state of Washington! Its 45,000 acres of vines are mostly located in the valley’s various nested AVAs (listed above). Puget Sound and Columbia Gorge are the only AVAs in WA that are not contained within Columbia Valley.

Most of Columbia Valley’s important vineyard areas are discussed in more detail under subsequent AVA entries below, but 7,000 acres of vines and a few key vineyards remain outside of any nested AVAs. These include Sagemoor, Cold Creek, and Stillwater Creek. Sagemoor http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 10/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm Vineyards, founded in 1968, encompasses four sites and 900 acres of vines just north of the Tri- Cities. All four—Sagemoor itself, Dionysus, Bacchus, and Weinbau—face south or southwest along the banks of the Columbia River. (Only Weinbau actually falls within another nested AVA, Wahluke Slope.) Sagemoor has been a major fruit source for the Washington wine industry for decades, and today the farm sells grapes to 75 different wineries, from Gramercy Cellars and Long Shadows to Gallo and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Chateau Ste. Michelle owns another prominent Columbia Valley AVA property, Cold Creek Vineyard, in its entirety. Located east of Yakima Valley, the 850-acre vineyard lies in one of the state’s warmest areas, and it is a flagship site in the company’s portfolio. Like Sagemoor, it is also a historic site for the state: its oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines date to 1973. Stillwater Creek is a promising newer vineyard, originally planted in 2000. The 245-acre site, located on a steep slope of the south-facing Frenchman Hills just north of Wahluke Slope, is the estate vineyard for Novelty Hill and a supplier to over two-dozen different projects in the state.

YAKIMA VALLEY

AVAs: Yakima Valley, Red Mountain, Snipes Mountain, Rattlesnake Hills Union Gap marks the northern entrance to the broad, desert-like Yakima Valley, which was approved in 1983 as Washington’s first AVA. The Yakima Valley stretches almost 70 miles in length along the course of the Yakima River and encompasses three nested AVAs: Rattlesnake Hills, Snipes Mountain, and Red Mountain. Yakima Valley is the state’s third-largest AVA in total size and home to nearly one-third of the state’s total planted acreage—over 13,500 total acres of vines. Most vineyards are clustered north of the town of Prosser, in an arc stretching between Snipes Mountain and Red Mountain. Yakima Valley is a bountiful agricultural region, with numerous apple and stone fruit orchards, Concord grape vineyards, and hops fields. (Over 70% of the nation’s hops are grown here.) Its vineyard parcels are massive, numbering in the hundreds of acres, yet a single vineyard may constitute only a portion of a grower’s whole farm. In Red Willow Vineyard, where the state’s first Syrah went into the ground in 1986, grower Mark Sauer reserves his upper slopes for wine grapes; in the lower, frost-prone areas he cultivates orchard fruits or Concord grapes for juice and jam. This pattern occurs throughout the valley. Most of the valley’s current vineyard owners are the latest generation in a line of farmers, and land once considered infertile (or planted to another crop) has been repurposed for grapevines. Other top vineyards in Yakima Valley include the neighboring parcels of Boushey and Otis—the latter is home to WA’s first Cabernet Sauvignon vines, planted in 1957. Dick Boushey, one of the state’s most revered viticulturists, sings a familiar refrain in Washington: “Winter damage is the big Achilles heel here. I moved my vineyards up into the hills where it is a little warmer, and the risk of freeze and frost is lessened.” Most vineyards in Yakima now lie along the slopes, from http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 11/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm 1,000-1,400 ft. elevation, rather than in the valley below, where the cold winter air settles. When touring the valley one will see smudge pots and wind machines, but rarely are they used in the vineyards; instead, growers employ these anti-frost devices for fruit trees—cherries and apples can still fetch more money than grapes in Yakima Valley.

Despite Washington’s frequently brutal winters, Yakima Valley is a reasonably warm growing region overall, and Red Mountain, a triangular-shaped AVA on the valley’s eastern end, basks in the state’s hottest growing climate. During the 2013 growing season, Red Mountain measured 1866 (°C) degree days—nearly 200 more than the western sector of Yakima Valley. Red Mountain, rendered a dullish red in the springtime by abundant cheatgrass, is the state’s smallest and most densely cultivated AVA. Over one-quarter of its 4,040 acres are planted to the vine. The area’s first grapevines went into the ground in 1975, when John Williams and Jim Holmes respectively established Kiona and Ciel du Cheval vineyards, just weeks apart from one another. Holmes estimates that Cabernet Sauvignon currently comprises about 70% of the Red Mountain plantings,

and the region is highly regarded for the tannic, Red Mountain AVA. deeply colored styles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and other Bordeaux grapes that it produces. “Red Mountain could be nicknamed Parker Place,” Holmes quips, “We don’t have to fuss to make big, rich, phenolic wines. We have to fuss not to!” Almost sixteen hours of high summer sunshine a day, a windy and arid climate, and high pH, nitrogen-poor soils conspire to create compact clusters, to limit berry size, and to heighten phenolic development. Meanwhile, elevation, significant diurnal shifts, and the moderating influence of the nearby Yakima River promote the retention of acidity in the region’s red wines. Red Mountain’s more acclaimed estate producers include Col Solare (a prestige collaboration between Tuscany’s Antinori and Washington’s Chateau Ste. Michelle), Force Majeure, and Upchurch Vineyards. Producers throughout the state source fruit from celebrated Red Mountain sources like Ciel du Cheval, Kiona, Klipsun, and others.

Snipes Mountain, approved for AVA status in 2009, is a raised fold—an anticline—in the middle of the Yakima Valley, just slightly larger than Red Mountain. The AVA’s boundaries are defined by elevation: 750 ft. on the southern slope and 820 ft. on the northern slope mark the low end of http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 12/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm the growing region, and vines drape the hillsides almost all the way up to the mountain’s summit at 1,310 ft. It's a young AVA, but an old growing region: the oldest vinifera plantings in the state of Washington, William Bridgman’s small plot of 1917 Muscat of Alexandria vines, are located on the Upland Vineyards property on Snipes Mountain. Todd Newhouse, owner of Upland, farms 750 acres of wine grapes in the appellation, including a 1963 block of Cabernet Sauvignon vines known as Harrison Hill, and he drafted the AVA petition. Upland today farms over three-dozen varieties, many of which are machine-harvested and sold to Chateau St. Michelle for value bottlings, but a few “first-tier” blocks are treated with more precision and detail, and wind up in vineyard-designate bottlings from producers like Smasne and Maison Bleue. With 750 of the AVA’s 900 planted acres, Upland forms the core of the appellation, and it is to date the only estate producer in the AVA—Newhouse recently started bottling his own wines under the Upland label.

The Rattlesnake Hills, which earned AVA status in 2006, rise to an elevation of more than 3,000 ft. along the north bank of the Yakima River, fanning north and west of the town of Zillah. Vineyards are planted between 850-1,600 ft. As on Red and Snipes Mountains, vineyards in the Rattlesnake Hills are protected from winter’s icy grip and fall and spring frosts by elevation and the higher, snowcapped Yakima Range to the north, which blocks the full impact of cold Arctic blasts. Like the rest of the Yakima Valley, the Rattlesnake Hills lie in the rain shadow of the Cascades, and annual rainfall may be as little as six inches per year. The region is slightly cooler than Red Mountain and the south slopes of Snipes Mountain, and Riesling has historically been an important variety here. It went into the ground in 1968 alongside Cabernet Sauvignon in Morrison Vineyard, the Hills’ first parcel of vinifera grapes. Top vineyards in the appellation today include Andrew Will’s estate Two Blondes Vineyard and Côte Bonneville’s Dubrul Vineyard. In a residual sign of the rather pronounced local opposition to the creation of this AVA, both producers label their estate wines with the Yakima Valley AVA, not as Rattlesnake Hills.

WALLA WALLA VALLEY

AVAs: Walla Walla Valley, The Rocks of Milton-Freewater Walla Walla Valley AVA is the easternmost of Columbia Valley’s nested AVAs, and one-third of its total acreage lies across the state line in Oregon. Most producers, however, are located in and around the bustling college town of Walla Walla itself, on the Washington side. The valley— whose name means “many waters” in a local native tongue—lies to the east of the confluence of three rivers (the Columbia, Walla Walla, and Snake Rivers) and the Wallula Gap, that bottleneck of the Missoula floods through which the Columbia now flows. Buttressed by the Blue Mountains on its eastern border, the Walla Walla Valley AVA spans from 400 to 2000 ft. above http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 13/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm sea level in elevation—although vineyards are not really feasible below 850 ft. due to frost pressures—and rainfall picks up dramatically as one drives east. Leonetti winemaker Chris Figgins explains “the Blue Mountains act as a rain backdrop,” and locals assert that you gain one inch of annual rainfall for every mile you travel eastward. Two subregions of the valley nearest the Blue Mountains, Mill Creek and the North Fork of Walla Walla Valley, are current hotspots that may one day achieve their own AVA status.

With the exception of The Rocks of Milton-Freewater AVA (see next paragraph) and some of the steepest hillside slopes, the Walla Walla Valley is covered in loess, frequently reaching 25-30 ft. in depth. At Leonetti’s Loess Vineyard in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, the soil extends 50 ft. or more in depth. It’s an arable, fertile soil, but in Washington’s arid to semi-arid environment this does not have to be a drawback. Figgins explains: “Loess can hold up to three inches of water per square foot, but it is still free-draining. The myth that vines need poor soils is just that —a myth. Fertile valley floors may not be great for vineyards, but that’s because the soils are heavy and wet. Reasonable soil nutrition shouldn’t be the limiting factor. Water is.”

Not long ago Walla Walla Valley was more associated with onions than fine wine. Its modern development as a winegrowing region began with Chris’ father, Gary Figgins, who in 1974 was the first to plant vinifera in the valley. In 1977, Figgins founded Leonetti Cellar, and Rick Small planted an acre of Chardonnay—the genesis of Woodward Canyon Winery, established by Small four years later. Figgins and Small, along with L’Ecole founder Baker Ferguson and Waterbrook founder Eric Rindal, are the “founding fathers” of modern viticulture and winemaking in Walla Walla. Official recognition as Washington’s second AVA followed in 1984, yet overall growth was slow. Only a dozen wineries existed in Walla Walla by the mid-1990s, but a second wave of new producers finally emerged by the century’s end, led by Christophe Baron’s Cayuse (est. 1997) and Norm McKibben’s Pepper Bridge (est. 1998). McKibben and his partners worked with Bordeaux varieties on the valley floor, producing some of the valley’s most lauded Bordeaux- style wines in some years but succumbing to frost and winter freeze in others; Baron focused on Rhône varieties and pushed viticulture into a barren, cobblestone-covered, nearly flat area across the Oregon border now known as “the Rocks.” Crediting Cayuse’ reputation and wines, and in recognition of the uniqueness of the area’s cobbly loam, the 3,770-acre Rocks of Milton- Freewater area, located entirely in Oregon’s Umatilla County, received AVA status in early 2015. Old riverbed soils in the young AVA recall the galets of Châteauneuf-du-Pape; today, Rhône-style wines from the Rocks show earthy, savory aromas, often with higher alcohol and lower acidity than those produced elsewhere in the valley.

In the 21st century Walla Walla’s ranks of producers swelled to include notable new projects like Waters Winery, Gramercy Cellars, Va Piano, Buty Winery, àMaurice, Rotie Cellars, Amavi, and http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 14/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm Chris Figgins’ eponymous estate label. Major vineyard sites include the 200-acre Pepper Bridge site on the valley floor and the north-facing, 235-acre Seven Hills Vineyard overlooking the Rocks in Oregon. Development of an adjacent site in Oregon (SeVein) is currently underway; upon completion it will include nearly 2,000 contiguous acres of vines, effectively doubling the AVA’s total acreage. In 2015 the entire valley claims only about 2,000 acres of vines, yet more than 100 producers call the AVA home. Sommeliers should therefore be careful with assertions of Walla Walla character as many of the region’s wineries have to supplement Walla Walla fruit with additional sources throughout the state. Woodward Canyon, for instance, pulls in Cabernet fruit from Sagemoor and Champoux Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills, and Gramercy’s Greg Harrington MS sources Syrah from its Washington birthplace, Red Willow.

Like Yakima Valley, Walla Walla Valley is alive with agriculture, albeit with a little less horticultural diversity. Sweet onions, asparagus, and garbanzo beans are common crops, but wheat is easily the dominant cash crop in the region—and the source of a longstanding, embittered rivalry for grape-growers. Wheat fields have surrounded Walla Walla for over a century; today, plots of grapevines are only infrequent interruptions, bright carpets of green thrown over an otherwise monochromatic, amber late summer landscape. Fourth- and fifth-generation wheat farmers may view winegrowing as a luxury, not a commodity; encroaching vines become an invitation to urbanization and competition for water and land. Sevein, the AVA’s largest new vineyard development, occupies a former wheat field in Oregon, where local farmers unsuccessfully challenged it in court, citing the project’s small parcel sizes (40-acre blocks) as violations of the state’s minimum acreage requirements for farm use. Yet despite fears of increasing traffic and population driven by multiplying wineries and expanded wine tourism, winegrowers have arguably promoted a heightened sense of land stewardship. They have taken more concrete steps toward sustainability and have been understandably intolerant of commercial practices like the aerial application of pesticides or fertilizers. In 2004, a group of Walla Walla wineries founded Vinea, the Winegrowers’ Sustainable Trust, an organization committed to promoting sustainability—if not wholly organic practices—amongst its members. Vinea provides guidelines and guideposts to move toward sustainable, environmentally friendly practices in the vineyard, and the organization collaborates with Oregon’s LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) to conduct certification. In turn, LIVE certification is accredited by the International Organization for Biological Control of Noxious Plants and Animals (IOBC), and its standards embrace those of Salmon-Safe, a group dedicated to the protection of Pacific Northwest watersheds. Over two- thirds of Walla Walla’s wine grape acreage is currently under the Vinea umbrella, if not yet actually certified.

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Walla Walla Valley AVA.

Horse Heaven Hills The boundaries of the Horse Heaven Hills AVA begin at the southern ridgeline of Yakima Valley and extend southward to the banks of the Columbia River. It’s a wind-whipped, almost treeless anticline running westward from the Wallula Gap halfway to the Columbia Gorge—horse heaven, perhaps, but the living wild horses are long gone. It is, however, home to one-quarter of the state’s grapevine acreage, and more is surely on the way. Producers throughout the state cite the warm Horse Heaven Hills as a promising area for future development, and the region’s Cabernet Sauvignon is a regular recipient of effusive critical praise. Champoux Vineyard, first planted by in 1972 Don Mercer in consultation with Walter Clore, is the appellation's standard- bearer for quality fruit, supplying top names like Quilceda Creek and Andrew Will. Other preeminent sites include Alder Ridge, Phinny Hill, Canoe Ridge—which houses Ste. Michelle’s red winemaking facilities and resembles an overturned canoe—and Longshadows’ Benches Vineyard, which hugs the high basalt cliffs overlooking the Columbia itself, a stone’s throw from the Wallula Gap. Ultimately, Horse Heaven Hills is a reminder of the disconnect between vineyard and winery in WA: in 2015 the AVA may have more than 12,000 acres under vine but only a dozen of the state’s 850+ wineries call the region home. http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 16/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm

The region’s climate is overall slightly warmer than the western end of Yakima Valley but slightly cooler than Red Mountain. Many vineyards enjoy southern aspects as elevation rises from 200 ft. at the river’s edge to 1,800 ft. at its northern boundary, soaking up summer sunshine at this northern latitude. Its gentle, unprotected hills are the constant recipient of winds funneled inland through the Columbia Gorge. Wind and low rainfall keep fungal pressures low and berries small and thick-skinned. Proximity to the river moderates the extremes of summer highs and winter lows, but frost can still be a dagger—in 2010 a frost swept the hills at Thanksgiving, eradicating 30 acres alone at Champoux Vineyard and slimming the following year’s yields throughout the appellation.

Wahluke Slope North of Yakima Valley, the Columbia River takes a sharp eastward turn and the gentle grade of the Wahluke Slope AVA (pronounced WAH-luke, without the “e”) rises from 425-1,480 ft. above its banks, cradled within the river’s crescent bend. It is a recently discovered, warm growing region exciting interest for the quality of its red grapes, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. The AVA’s petitioners described the 81,000-acre Wahluke Slope as an “isolated island of wine production,” hemmed in by the Saddle Mountains on the north, the Hanford Ranch National Monument to the east, and the Columbia River on the west and south. Its prime position lends the small AVA a broad, almost uniformly south-facing aspect; soils are also fairly homogenous throughout the AVA, consisting of deep, well-drained, windblown sands. Rainfall here barely scratches six inches a year, necessitating irrigation—Wahluke Slope, which means “watering hole” in a native tongue, is the driest AVA in all of Washington.

The region’s first commercial vineyard was Weinbau, planted in 1981 by Germany’s F.W. Langguth Erben, a company best known today for its “Blue Nun” brand. The company hoped to capitalize on the early interest in Washington Riesling, but sold its shares in the vineyard not long after entry into the state. Today, Weinbau is one of four sites in the Sagemoor portfolio. Milbrandt Vineyards was another early arrival to the Wahluke Slope; grape-growing brothers Butch and Jerry Milbrandt purchased their first vineyard in 1997 and now farm over 700 acres in the AVA. Overall, the Wahluke Slope is home to more than 7,000 vineyard acres, and two-thirds of its acreage is devoted to red varieties.

Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley At the time of the TTB petition, Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley, a rectangular-shaped AVA granted in 2012, contained six wineries, six vineyards, and a total 1,399 acres of vines. Like Wahluke Slope, it is incredibly arid, but despite its proximity it is considerably cooler—its http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 17/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm temperatures are moderated by a series of 35 glacial lakes that knife through the region. Thus, white grapes are the focus here: Riesling is its most planted variety and white varieties altogether account for 80% of the region’s vines. Milbrandt Vineyards is the AVA’s largest operation, farming two of the six original vineyards and almost half of its acreage.

Lake Chelan Lake Chelan AVA is located almost 75 miles due north of Ancient Lakes. Established in 2009, it is the northernmost nested AVA within Columbia Valley and the basin’s only growing region falling outside the area impacted by the Missoula Floods. Lake Chelan, like the Ancient Lakes, is a glacial lake responsible for moderating temperatures in this northerly AVA—summertime highs are blunted and frost and freeze worries are lessened. Average temperatures here are about 4° F less than in Wahluke Slope to the south, while wintertime lows are essentially equal. Pinot Noir and Riesling have emerged as early favorites in the young AVA. The region's first vines appeared in 1998, and as of the early 2010s only a few hundred acres are planted.

Naches Heights Naches Heights AVA, just northwest of Yakima Valley, is the least significant of the Washington appellations east of the Cascades. The first commercial plantings went into the ground in 2002 in Naches Heights, and the region achieved AVA status in 2012. Currently, there are just a few vineyards in the region, and less than 50 acres of vines.

COLUMBIA GORGE Columbia Gorge AVA is, alongside Puget Sound, one of only two AVAs in the state of Washington that does not fall within the larger Columbia Valley region. The AVA, positioned along the Oregon and Washington shorelines of the Columbia River as it cuts through the basalt foothills of the Cascades, is a region of majestic, dramatic scenery with Oregon’s Mount Hood as its backdrop and sentinel. As one moves 25 miles through the Gorge from The Dalles, OR (about five miles outside the AVA’s eastern border) toward Hood River, OR, the landscape shifts abruptly from the dry desert scrub of eastern Washington to the verdant conifer forests, hidden waterfalls, and lush scenery so emblematic of the Pacific Northwest. Unsurprisingly, rainfall quadruples in a forty-mile span from east to west, increasing from eight inches annually to 36 or more at the AVA’s western end—some of the only dry-farmed vineyards in the state of WA are cultivated in Columbia Gorge. The mile-wide Columbia River acts as a moderating influence, suppressing rising springtime temperatures and pushing back budbreak to late April, while simultaneously holding onto warmth in the fall, allowing for grape harvests through Halloween and reducing the worry of early autumn frosts. Apart from Puget Sound, Columbia Gorge is Washington’s (if not Oregon’s) coolest appellation. Temperature and rainfall aside, wind is the http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 18/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm region’s defining climatic feature: Columbia Gorge, the most popular windsurfing destination in North America, is whipped by winds from the west all summer long, as the hot interior pulls cool coastal winds inland through the gap in the Cascades. The constant winds greatly reduce fungal pressure in the otherwise wet climate of the western Gorge.

There is at least one block of century-old Zinfandel vines in The Dalles, but the story of modern viticulture in the Gorge begins, as it does elsewhere in Washington, with Walter Clore and a 1968 experimental planting of Pinot Noir. That dry-farmed vineyard, now known as Atavus, lies at 1,700-ft. elevation on a lower shoulder of Mt. Adams and gives a glimpse of the potential for Pinot Noir north of the Columbia River. Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer also do extremely well in a growing climate that rarely exceeds an average growing season temperature of 60° F. Great examples of all three varieties surface from another old site, the 75-acre Celilo Vineyard. Planted in 1972 on Underwood Mountain—a cool subregion located entirely on the Washington side— Celilo is the Gorge’s most notable fruit source, supplying producers from Woodward Canyon in Walla Walla to Ken Wright in Willamette Valley. Columbia Gorge’s other key subregion, Hood River Valley, lies on the Oregon side. White grapes outnumber reds in the Columbia Gorge, but no single variety has as of yet emerged as the region’s champion. Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Noir are impressive, but Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Gamay, Zinfandel, and others all show promise too. The best wines from the region remain inherently food-friendly; they are usually lighter in style, vibrant, aromatic, bright, and seemingly more akin to those of the Willamette Valley than the eastern AVAs of Washington state. Wineries look equally toward Portland and Seattle for their primary markets. Top current producers to watch include Syncline, Memaloose/Idiot’s Grace, and Analemma. Exciting small projects are emerging with each passing year, as this region, now barely in adolescence, finds its voice.

PUGET SOUND Most of Washington’s modern wine regions lie to the east of the Cascade Mountains, but before irrigation became readily available only western Washington, in and around Puget Sound, could easily support vines. In 1872 Lambert Evans, a homesteader on Puget Sound’s Stretch Island, planted the region’s first notable vineyard. His vines prospered and a favored black labrusca hybrid, Island Belle, became one of Washington’s first commercially successful grapes. Lambert’s widow sold the Stretch Island property to Charles Somers in 1918, and in 1933 his estate became Washington’s first bonded winery, St. Charles. Some of his original vines were still standing a century later, in the 1970s.

Today Puget Sound AVA is Washington’s second-largest but most sparsely planted AVA—its five and a half million acres are home to fewer than 200 acres of vines. The most prominent http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 19/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm vineyard areas are on islands in the sound, including San Juan, Bainbridge, and Lopez. Early- ripening varieties—often Germanic crossings like Madeline Angevine, Müller-Thurgau, and Siegerrebe—fare best in the rainy, cool climate west of the Cascades, and red grapes outnumber whites by a margin of two-to-one. Few producers make wine in the AVA; in fact, the most prominent stop in Puget Sound wine country is Woodinville, a small town just northeast of Seattle—home to Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Winery, and a growing bevy of tasting room outposts for wineries located in the more remote eastern reaches of the state. Woodinville’s Hollywood Schoolhouse and Warehouse districts—two separate clusters of tasting rooms, each hosting dozens of wineries—have revived the fortunes of this small agrarian community, but the town’s few small (AVA) vineyards are just showpieces.

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Oregon

The state of Oregon was, at the close of 2013, home to almost 24,000 acres of vines, with 950 total vineyards and 605 wineries. Oregon wineries crushed 56,239 tons of fruit in 2013, putting the state in third place as a producer of vinifera wines and fourth, behind New York, in total grape acreage. In Oregon, much commercial focus is on Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, which in 2013 accounted for a combined 18,250 acres, or 75% of the state’s vineyards. Pinot Noir alone provided 58% of the state’s total harvest. By early 2015, the state claimed 18 AVAs in whole or in part. Three skirt the borders of Oregon and Idaho in eastern Oregon; the remainder fall along the western side of the Cascade Range, stretching from California to Washington in three nearly parallel growing regions, the Willamette Valley, Umpqua Valley, and Rogue Valley. The Willamette Valley is by far the state’s most important growing region: in 2013 it produced 73% of the state's grape harvest, and in many vintages the figure is closer to 80%. Oregon’s elevator pitch is pretty clear: the state makes Pinot Noir, and lots of it, mostly in the Willamette Valley.

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Oregon AVAs

WILLAMETTE VALLEY

AVAs: Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, McMinnville, Ribbon Ridge, Chehalem Mountain,

Yamhill-Carlton District

Many now believe that the Willamette Valley is the finest location in the United States for the Pinot Noir grape variety. -from “The Winemakers of the Pacific Northwest,” published in 1977.

The Willamette Valley, a broad valley bounded by the Coast Range on the west and the Cascades on the east, was the end of the road for thousands of 19th-century pioneers traveling westward by wagon along the Oregon Trail. A land of promise then, the valley floor and its hillsides today are a patchwork of cropland: farmers grow every type of berry, hops, Christmas firs, hazelnut trees, and—of course—vinifera grapevines. The 3,430,000-acre Willamette Valley AVA itself essentially follows the contours of the V-shaped valley as it stretches 120 miles southward from the suburbs of Portland, through the towns of McMinnville and the state capital of Salem, to its narrowest point south of the city of Eugene. (A 10,000-acre extension southward, principally designed to incorporate the vineyards of King Estates, Oregon’s largest producer, will likely be approved in 2015.) The northern valley between Salem and Portland is home to almost 85% of the AVA’s Pinot Noir, and all six of the Willamette Valley’s smaller, nested AVAs are also located here, roughly encircling McMinnville. While some consumers tend to associate all of Oregon with Pinot Noir—and the grape does show up all over the state—it is this 40-mile-long, half moon-shaped corridor, amidst the foothills of the Coast Range in the northwestern valley, where the state’s reputation for world-class Pinot Noir was forged.

The Willamette Valley was among the first areas of the Pacific Northwest to grow grapes. As fur traders from Fort Vancouver retired, many traveled south across the Columbia and settled in the valley, bringing cuttings from the fort and establishing early vineyards near the Willamette River. There is evidence of a still appearing in the valley in 1835—whose owners professed to turn any good wine into brandy—but these early forays into viticulture, in a remote and lawless region of the world then claimed by both Britain and the young US, are difficult to substantiate. If the original Fort Vancouver vines were vinifera, the composition of the Willamette’s vineyards http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 22/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm

would change substantially with the steady arrival of American settlers in the 1840s. In 1847, amidst a treasure trove of other young fruit and nut trees that laid the foundation for many modern orchards, the settler Henderson Luellen brought a wealth of American vine cuttings to the valley. A horticulturalist named A.R. Shipley imported both American and vinifera grapes into Oregon in the 1860s, and by 1869 the Oregon State Fair was awarding prizes for “foreign” and American grapes. There is evidence of winemaking in the mid-19th century, but it is unclear just how much actual wine was produced from these early American vineyards in the Willamette Valley—the favored grapes were V. labrusca varieties like Concord and Catawba, and the favored use was for the table.

The modern story of the Willamette Valley begins in the mid-1960s with a cast of two: David Lett and Charles Coury. Like Richard Sommer in Umpqua Valley, both men traveled north from California seeking cooler climes for the grapevine. In 1965 Lett brought Pinot Noir to the Willamette Valley, establishing the original Eyrie Vineyard on a south-facing slope in the Dundee Hills in 1966. In 1965 Coury purchased an acreage and established his vineyards in the northernmost reaches of the valley, just northwest of the modern Chehalem Mountains AVA boundary. As patriarchs of winemaking in the Willamette Valley, the two men held divergent perspectives: Coury’s winemaking interests lay in modernizing production and providing everyday appeal, while Lett was seemingly more artisanal and introspective. According to his son (and current Eyrie winemaker) Jason Lett, David’s attraction to the Dundee Hills’ potential followed “years of careful climatic research.” Coury’s founding role has been diminished, perhaps unfairly, by the history books, and his vineyards today are part of David Hill Winery. Lett’s name, on the other hand, has been enshrined: he produced a 1975 Eyrie “South Block” Pinot Noir that entered competitions in Paris in 1979 and Beaune in 1980, finishing in third and second place, respectively. The second tasting, in which Eyrie competed amidst a blind flight of Burgundy grands crus assembled by Robert Drouhin, brought the Beaune négociant closer to purchasing Oregon property. Lett’s response to the sudden spotlight, inexplicably, was to take his “South Block” Pinot Noir off the market—for the next 27 years!

By the mid-1970s, a handful of other early pioneers had joined Coury and Lett in the Willamette Valley. Dick Erath planted his first vineyard in 1969, and Dick Ponzi founded Ponzi Vineyard in 1970. David Adelsheim planted his first vines among the Chehalem Mountains in 1972. Oregon geologist Scott Burns keeps it simple: “In the early days, it was just two Dicks and two Davids.” But interest was growing, and other projects slowly came online. Myron Redford planted the first vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills in 1970 and launched Amity Vineyards in 1974. Oak Knoll, a fruit winery located just 18 miles west of Portland, produced its inaugural vintage of Pinot Noir in 1973. Elk Cove was founded in 1974. Sokol Blosser harvested the estate’s first vintage in 1977 and the Casteel family of Bethel Heights planted their first vines in the same year. In 1984 John http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 23/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm Paul founded Cameron Winery and John Thomas planted his now-legendary, eponymous vineyard. Ken Wright started Panther Creek in 1986. Many of these early pioneers, like Coury and Lett, ventured north from California, dreaming of world-class Pinot Noir. Their early aspirations gained validation in 1987, when Robert Drouhin purchased an estate in the Dundee Hills and declared that his family would grow Pinot Noir in two places—Burgundy and Oregon. His daughter Véronique made Domaine Drouhin’s first Oregon wine the following year. By 1990, there were 70 bonded wineries in Oregon, and most of them broke ground here, in the Willamette Valley.

The original Eyrie Vineyard in Dundee Hills.

Part of the Willamette Valley’s allure, reinforced by the Drouhin family’s Dundee Hills purchase in 1987, is in its climatic similarity to Burgundy. The two regions nearly align in terms of latitude, as the 45th parallel runs right through the northern Willamette Valley. They are broadly similar in both degree-day averages—Burgundy and the Willamette Valley both fall into Region I—and annual growing season temperatures. However, these averages are achieved differently. The http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 24/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm Côte d’Or’s season is compressed and shorter; it sees summer temperature spikes that surpass those of Willamette Valley, and its temperatures rise and fall more sharply in the spring and fall. Data compiled by Greg Jones (Dept. of Environmental Studies, Southern Oregon University) illustrates the point: on average, budbreak in the Willamette Valley occurs one week before budbreak in the Côte d’Or, yet véraison and harvest typically begin later, five to seven days after commencing in Burgundy. Amount and timing of rainfall in Burgundy and Oregon also differ. In Salem, average annual rainfall is approximately 40 inches (1020 mm). Rainfall may dip slightly in the western areas nearest the Coast Range, but overall the Willamette Valley has a wetter climate than Burgundy. Most of its precipitation, however, occurs in the winter months, whereas more than 50% of Burgundy’s annual rains fall during the growing season. Rot therefore becomes less of a worry in Oregon’s dry summers than to the vignerons of Burgundy. Concomitantly, day length in Burgundy and the Willamette Valley are similar, but summer rainfall in Burgundy affects total sunshine hours. And finally, with a run of recent hail-shattered vintages in the Côte de Beaune, Oregon vintners can breathe a sigh of relief—the Willamette Valley might see hail impact a vintage one year out of 50.

LIVE: In 1997, a small group led by Ted Casteel of Bethel Heights and Carmo Vasconcelos of Oregon State University created the Low Input Viticulture and Enology (LIVE) Program. The non-profit organization is committed to a more sustainable future for its member wineries and promotes an overall reduction in the number of raw materials—from water to chemical fertilizers and pesticides— required in the vineyard and winery. LIVE offers third-party sustainability certification for vineyards and wineries in Oregon (since 1999) and Washington (since 2006). Wineries may use the LIVE logo on labels, provided the winery is LIVE-certified and at least 97% of the grapes come from a LIVE-certified vineyard. Wines produced in non- certified wineries may add this phrase instead: “made with LIVE-certified grapes.” Many of Willamette Valley’s top wineries now carry LIVE certification.

About 50% of Oregon’s total vineyard acreage has been certified as sustainable through third- party agencies like LIVE, but the Willamette Valley faces its fair share of pest problems. Bird pressure, for example, is perennially high as the Willamette Valley is positioned in a migratory pathway. If left unchecked, a single flock can peck apart an entire vineyard on its journey south, and birds are particularly damaging in later harvests. Grape rust mites are a nuisance in the http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 25/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm springtime, and rodents like gophers and voles are a constant headache for growers. Below ground, phylloxera made its first recorded appearance in the Willamette Valley in 1990, and many of the Willamette Valley’s most historic, own-rooted vineyards now live with infestation. While its overall spread remains thankfully spotty, most growers choose to replant with resistant rootstocks in precaution. And unlike Burgundy, where soil tilling is usually a necessary part of the sustainable arsenal, tilling has become an unfashionable practice in the Willamette Valley. Here growers don’t need to return life to a dead soil; breaking up the topsoil only contributes to the spread of phylloxera, nematodes, and other undesirable bugs while ruining the water- holding capacity of a soil in Oregon’s dry summers.

How does the Willamette Valley compare to the Columbia Valley, its northeastern neighbor? It shares some climatic features with the western Columbia Gorge, but its growing conditions are markedly different from most of Washington’s wine regions. West of the Cascades, the Willamette Valley does not wrestle with the extremes of hot or cold that characterize the Columbia Valley, nor is it wracked by aridity. Dry-farming is possible, and irrigation is often used sparingly; it is applied principally to establish young plants, to navigate the driest periods in late summer, and to endure those years in which drought conditions manifest. Mold and rot are certainly less pronounced than in Burgundy, but the Willamette Valley faces greater pressure from powdery mildew and botrytis than eastern Washington. Growers must spray vigilantly. One of the clearest distinctions drawn between Washington and the Willamette Valley, however, is a line in the soil. The Missoula Floods that washed through Washington and poured out the Wallula Gap flooded the Willamette Valley as well, and the original AVA boundaries were marked to match the floodwaters’ reach. In Washington, growers rely on the nutrient-rich soils but cope with extreme water stress—they need soil vigor because they are farming a desert. In the Willamette Valley, where soil moisture is rarely a problem, growers instead rely on nutrient- depleted soils to restrain vine vigor. To do this, most vineyards are planted on slopes above 275 ft., raising them up from the flood-deposited soils and frost-prone valley floor. 800-900 ft. is generally the maximum elevation for quality red wine vineyards in the Willamette Valley. In contrast, at that elevation the Columbia Valley’s vineyards would still face a desperate struggle against frosts and freeze!

In the Willamette Valley, there are four major soil types derived from four different underlying geologies. Three of them—uplifted marine sediments, volcanic soils, and loess—are reasonably nutrient-poor and important for quality wine production. Notably, there is no limestone or marl in the Willamette Valley.

Uplifted Marine Sediments: More common on the western side of the valley, these nutrient- poor soils are derived from sandstone and shale that once composed the ocean floor—the http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 26/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm entirety of western Oregon was under the sea until the rise of the Coast Range and Cascades about 15 million years ago. Layered marine sediments thus form the oldest bedrock in the Willamette Valley. The Willakenzie series in the northern Willamette Valley and the Bellpine series in the south are examples of soils derived from uplifted marine sediment. They tend to be sandier and thinner than the volcanic soils. Pinot Noir wines produced on marine sedimentary soils are typically noted as darker in color and fruit profile. Volcanic Soils: As the Cascades rose upward some 15-17 million years ago, lava flows poured westward from the chain’s highly active volcanoes, covering the still-submerged valley floor in basalt. Today’s reddish volcanic soils are depleted and weathered, formed atop this underlying basalt parent rock. The Jory series, named for Jory Hill in Salem, is the best-known volcanic soil type in the Willamette Valley (and the state’s “official” soil, thanks to Scott Burns). The Nekia series, a shallower volcanic soil, is also common in the area. The volcanic soils in the Willamette Valley tend to contain more clay and therefore have a higher water-holding capacity than other soil series in the region. Tasters often ascribe a lighter color and a red fruit profile to Pinot Noir wines produced on volcanic soils here. Loess: A windblown soil, loess swept into the Willamette Valley over the last 2.6 million years and is now anchored onto many of the northeastern-facing hillsides of the northern valley. Unlike the young loess soils of Washington, these reddish silt soils predate the last ice age and are often intermixed with basalt-derived soils and marine sediments rather than the more fertile flood sediments. Examples include the Laurelwood, Cornelius, and Cascade series. Missoula Flood Deposits: These flood-borne sediments arrived as recently as 12,000 years ago, as the cyclical Missoula Floods roared through the Wallula Gap and the Columbia Gorge, spilling out into the valley. Today about 10% of the Willamette Valley’s vineyards are on these low-lying, deep, fertile soils; they compose the valley floor and are best purposed for other forms of agriculture. Woodburn is the primary series.

In the Willamette Valley, growers have borrowed viticultural techniques and plant material from both Burgundy and California, but the result has been to create a distinctive and evolving Pinot Noir culture for Oregon. The valley’s oldest Pinot Noir vineyards were planted by UC Davis grads with the Wädenswil (UCD 1A and 2A) and Pommard (UCD 4 and UCD 5) clones of Pinot Noir— cuttings taken from their alma mater. The Pommard clone was an early favorite, as it seemed to generate lusher, darker fruit and spice flavors, even as Eyrie’s eye-opening “South Block” Pinot Noir was a product of Wädenswil. Ultimately, however, most early planting decisions were based strictly on availability and a clone’s resistance to disease. Understanding of a clone’s impact on final wine character became more widespread with the arrival of the Dijon clones in the 1980s. David Adelsheim had convinced Raymond Bernard to share his new clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with Oregon’s young winemaking scene years earlier during a visit to Burgundy, and his efforts finally bore fruit: Bernard’s clones, nicknamed “Dijon” from the shipping http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 27/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm

container’s return address, made their (legal) debut in the United States in 1984. After a short quarantine at Oregon State University, the new clones—including 113, 114, 115, 667, and 777— were made available for commercial planting in 1988. With the introduction of the Dijon clones, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir producers could significantly expand the winemaking palette for Pinot Noir.

The architecture of the Pinot Noir vineyard in the early days was also borrowed from California: the earliest vineyards were own-rooted, planted at low densities with 10-12 ft. between rows, and trained along high trellises. Nowadays, one sees different approaches. Most new Pinot Noir vineyards are planted on phylloxera-resistant and devigorating rootstocks. Spacing between the vines, while rarely as tight as the 1x1 meter (3x3 ft.) plantings of the Côte d’Or, has shrunk considerably: modern vineyards often leave 3.5-7 ft. between rows and 3-5 ft. from one vine to the next. Canopy height has been reduced as well. As growers seek to limit vigor through density, rootstock choice, cover crops and restricted tillage, older trellising systems designed to control vigor by dividing the canopy become less attractive. Thus, once-common trellising systems like the Lyre or Oregon’s own Scott Henry have been replaced by Guyot training and a vertical trellis in newer plots. Finally, one factor of site selection itself is changing: classic sites— and some of the best Pinot Noir vineyards in the Willamette Valley today—are south- or southeast-facing, but growers are beginning to look more seriously at the north slopes, eyeing an uncertain future climate.

As a wine, it is difficult to pinpoint an exact Willamette Valley style of Pinot Noir, as it is subject to every manner of winemaker interpretation. One can say that Willamette Pinot generally has brighter acidity and lower pH than its cousins in California, yet it exhibits greater fruit ripeness than the wines of Burgundy. Alcohol levels typically fall into the 13-14% range, and in some years and some vineyards chaptalization is required—it is legal in Oregon, unlike in California. Some are more tannic than others, driven in part by a vineyard’s proximity to the windy Van Duzer Corridor (see McMinnville and Eola-Amity Hills, below). As in any other Pinot Noir-growing region, one can find adherents for whole cluster fermentations (e.g. Cristom and White Rose) but the “classic” style is more likely de-stemmed. And while some lavishly oaked high-end wines exist (from producers like Domaine Serene, Antica Terra and the new, ultra-ambitious Chapter 24) many of the region’s most emblematic wines are limited in this regard—an economic reality for some, a stylistic choice for others. What one can say without equivocation is that this was the first great Pinot Noir wine region to emerge in the United States, and likely the first region in the world to prove that great Pinot Noir can be made outside the confines of Burgundy.

http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 28/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm Dundee Hills AVA (est. 2004): The Dundee Hills AVA encompasses a 6,490-acre, vine-covered mass of hills rising above the flat northwestern Willamette Valley floor near the town of Dundee. The AVA’s elevation ranges from 200 ft. to 1,067 ft.—the highest summit in the hills. Originally, the proposal called for a “Red Hills of Dundee” AVA, reflecting the hills’ nearly uniform red Jory series soils. The hills’ elevation limits frost exposure, provides better air drainage to shield against botrytis, and brings the vineyards up and out of the valley floor’s vigorous flood-borne soils. With 2,000 acres under vine, the Dundee Hills is the most densely planted region in Oregon, and the most historic. It is the site of the original Eyrie Vineyard—as well as four newer vineyards in the winery’s portfolio, all tended by the Jason Lett, David’s son—and its neighbors include Sokol Blosser, Domaine Drouhin, Archery Summit, and Domaine Serene. Famed sites include Maresh Vineyard, Abbey Ridge, and the Thomas Vineyard. Pinot Noir in the Dundee Hills has the potential to produce the Willamette Valley’s most delicate and perfumed wines.

Yamhill-Carlton District AVA (est. 2004) The horseshoe-shaped AVA surrounds the communities of Yamhill and Carlton, located north of McMinnville and west of the Dundee Hills AVA. Nestled in the foothills of the Coast Range, the AVA’s soils are derived entirely from uplifted marine sediments, and the appellation ranges from 200-1,000 ft. in elevation. Major wineries within the AVA include Elk Cove, Ken Wright, and Penner-Ash. Shea Vineyard is the AVA’s most important site.

Chehalem Mountains AVA (est. 2006) A 20-mile-long uplifted range of hills and ridges just 19 miles southwest of Portland, the Chehalem Mountains protrude from the foothills of the Coast Range, framed by the Tualatin River and the Willamette Valley floor. The Chehalem Mountains rise in elevation from 200 ft. to 1,633 ft. (the summit of Bald Peak, the highest point in the Willamette Valley) and collect more rain than the lower-lying areas of the valley floor. Capped by madrone forests—which early pioneers mistook for laurel—the northern flanks and hillsides in the range are covered with wind-deposited Laurelwood soils, and experience the coolest average temperatures of any winegrowing hillsides on the western side of the valley. Soils on the southern and western slopes are more typically derived from volcanic or marine sedimentary layers, and grapes tend to ripen earlier. Dick Erath planted the region’s first vineyard in 1968, and Erath’s fellow http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 29/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm

Willamette Valley pioneers Ponzi and Adelsheim are among the producers calling the Chehalem Mountains AVA home today. The Ribbon Ridge AVA is located within the Chehalem Mountains AVA.

Ribbon Ridge AVA (est. 2005) The Ribbon Ridge AVA is a single spur extending southward from the Chehalem Mountains. It reaches 683 ft. in elevation, and at 3,350 acres it is the smallest AVA within the Willamette Valley. Soils on Ribbon Ridge are predominantly Willakenzie series, and rainfall is slightly lower than in the nearby Dundee Hills and Yamhill-Carlton District AVAs. With fewer than 300 acres currently under vine, it is home to only a few producers, including Beaux Frères and Brick House. However, its small size makes it one of the most densely planted areas in the entire Chehalem Mountains AVA.

McMinnville AVA (est. 2005) Named for the town on its northeastern edge, McMinnville is located in Yamhill County and is the westernmost of the Willamette Valley’s nested AVAs. It sits squarely in the mouth of the Van Duzer Corridor, a gap in the Coastal Mountains through which cool, constant Pacific winds blow. One winemaker describes the Van Duzer winds as “catastrophic”; the effect is to denude vines, to reduce berry size and crop load, to produce thicker skins, and to create general stress for the vine and grower. Vineyard sites often occupy east-facing slopes in shelter from the west winds. The constant gusts do reduce fungal issues and create denser, more tannic Pinot Noir wines, loaded with darker fruit flavors and pigment. With open access to the coast’s cooling influence, McMinnville experiences the greatest diurnal shift in the entire Willamette Valley: nighttime temperatures can plummet in the summertime by 40-50° F. Rainfall is also slightly less here than in AVAs further east as the Coast Range creates its own small rain shadow effect, and McMinnville has no defining geology—its vineyards lie on a complicated tangle of marine sedimentary and volcanic layers. With the Van Duzer Corridor's impact recalling Mistral winds, this may be an interesting location for Syrah in the future.

Eola-Amity Hills AVA (est. 2006) The Eola and Amity Hills are clustered between the towns of Amity and Salem and together comprise the southernmost AVA in the Willamette Valley. Eola-Amity Hills was one of the last of the region’s nested AVAs to gain TTB approval—after encountering opposition from Eola Hills Wine Cellars, the petitioners added “Amity” to push it through. The name Eola, however, allows one to more accurately infer the AVA’s chief climatic element: wind. Like windblown “eolian” soils, the name Eola is derived from Aeolus, Greek god of winds, and the AVA itself sits directly east of the Van Duzer Corridor. The winds aren’t as punishing as in McMinnville, but Pinot Noir http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 30/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm

from the region nonetheless tends to exhibit a more rugged tannic structure, deeper color, and more pronounced acidity than in areas further north. As in McMinnville, the coastal winds increase in the afternoons, and the AVA experiences one of the widest diurnal shifts in all of Willamette Valley, with slightly cooler average temperatures than most other areas further north. Thus, despite its hot summer afternoons and southerly location, Pinot Noir often ripens one to two weeks later here than in the Dundee Hills.

Vineyards on the AVA’s eastern hillsides are typically planted on basaltic soils—Nekia series soils are most common—while the western hillsides contain more marine sediment. Only a few vineyards are planted on the extreme western slopes; most lie among the hills or along their far eastern flanks, shielded from the direct battery of wind. Evening Land’s Seven Springs Vineyard, Domaine Serene’s low-elevation Jerusalem Hill, and Roserock, a site purchased in late 2013 by Domaine Drouhin, are important sites fanning along the hills’ eastern edge. The AVA’s densest cluster of vineyards, however, lies in the center of the hills, just north of Spring Valley Creek. Here, Bethel Heights, Justice Vineyard, Temperance Hill, and Argyle’s Spirit Hill—a high-elevation site employed in sparkling wine production—are adjacent to one another, marking the core of the AVA.

White Wines in the Willamette Valley Clearly this is Pinot Noir country, and David Lett receives credit for planting the Willamette Valley’s first Pinot Noir grapes. However, in 1966 he also planted the first commercial plot of Pinot Gris in North America, and an Eyrie 1970 Pinot Gris was the first wine in the United States to carry the name of the now-commonplace variety on the label. Pinot Gris, Oregon’s leading white grape and second most planted variety overall, has continued to experience great success in the marketplace, and is produced in various styles—some fruit-driven, some more textural and spicy, some dry, some finished with a little residual sugar. Still, many wineries view Pinot Gris as an entry-level wine and look to other white varieties to produce wines of contemplation.

For a region so acclimated to Pinot Noir, the Willamette Valley historically has struggled with its usual bedmate Chardonnay. In the 20th century many sought to emulate the tropical flavors and rich textures then popular amongst California Chardonnay producers but lacked the warmth and ripeness to do so successfully. Willamette Valley producers have benefitted from a return to elegance as a preference in Chardonnay style, less reliance on new oak, and a greater diversity and savvier understanding of clonal material. The original Chardonnay material, a Wente selection from Napa’s Spring Mountain Vineyards, came with David Lett in 1965. At David Adelsheim’s behest, Dijon Chardonnay clones arrived in the 1980s and were first released from quarantine at the end of the decade. They were immediately adopted by Argyle, Domaine Drouhin, and others, and have adapted more successfully in the cooler climate of the Willamette http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 31/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm

Valley than in California. Today most new plantings are Dijon clones, but growers are increasingly exploring the potential of massale selections as the clones adapt to their new home in Oregon. Willamette Valley Chardonnay has long been sidelined, but in the 2010s Oregon’s second most planted white variety is experiencing a revival of fortunes.

Riesling and Pinot Blanc are the state’s third and fourth most planted varieties, respectively, and both are capable of generating great wines in the Willamette Valley. As in Washington, Riesling became a popular variety in the 1970s and once accounted for almost one-quarter of the young wine state’s total production. Richard Sommer first planted Riesling in Umpqua Valley in 1961, but today most of the 700-odd acres of the variety are cultivated in the Willamette Valley. The Oregon Riesling Alliance, a trade organization, counts over three-dozen wineries as members; most are likewise located in the northern Willamette Valley. (Brooks Winery, located in the Eola- Amity Hills, is one of the grape’s most passionate advocates in the state, producing numerous single vineyard bottlings across the entire spectrum of sweetness.) Pinot Blanc is also showing promise, despite a total state acreage of fewer than 250 acres in 2014. The grape had a rougher entry into Oregon—the “Pinot Blanc” among David Lett’s original UC Davis cuttings turned out to be Mélon de Bourgogne, and the real thing wasn’t available for commercial planting until the mid-1980s. Cameron Winery produced Oregon’s first Pinot Blanc in 1988.

SOUTHERN OREGON

AVAs: Southern Oregon, Umpqua Valley, Red Hill Douglas County Oregon, Elkton Oregon, Applegate Valley Past Eugene, the southern Willamette Valley tapers to a point and the landscape becomes progressively more mountainous as one nears the California border. The Cascade, Coast, and Klamath Ranges merge and tangle, creating numerous small, sheltered valleys. Amidst these mountains two winegrowing regions, the Umpqua Valley and Rogue Valley, form the 2,285,000- acre Southern Oregon AVA, an aggregate AVA stretching 125 miles from south of Eugene to the California border. Its northern boundary is nearly adjacent to the last southern sliver of the Willamette Valley AVA, yet the two regions are worlds apart in terms of recognition. When wine consumers—and frankly, much of the trade—hear Oregon, they immediately think of Pinot Noir and its home base, Willamette Valley. Wines from the south are unknown. The Southern Oregon AVA thus debuted in 2004 to arm its various winegrowing regions with a cohesive identity in the marketplace, a means of differentiation. It represents a reversal of the typical approach, in which a broad winegrowing region is first delimited and sub-regions gain individual AVA acceptance afterward. Here, the Umpqua Valley and Rogue Valley AVAs were already in place, granted in 1984 and 1991, respectively.

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The climate of Southern Oregon AVA’s valleys has more in common with inland Northern Californian regions—think Lake County—than the Willamette. The growing season here is truncated, with a greater danger of early fall frosts than in the prime vineyards of the Willamette Valley. Diurnal shifts are often greater, and growing degree-day medians across the southern AVAs tend to be 100-300 higher (°C) than in the Willamette Valley’s AVAs. In those smaller areas where most grapes are actually grown, degree-day averages throughout a season can be closer to 1000° higher. Nonetheless, the AVAs of Southern Oregon are generally considered Region I, and Pinot Noir still represents about one-fifth of the total plantings in the southern part of the state—and it’s a poorly kept state secret that a lot of this fruit supplements the production of wineries further north. Syrah, Merlot, and Pinot Gris also enjoy substantial acreage in the south, prodded along by its slightly warmer climate. Greg Jones, who authored the Southern Oregon AVA petition, draws some comparisons between the climates of Ribera del Duero in Spain and the Umpqua Valley; as such Tempranillo shows great promise in Southern Oregon and makes up about 5% of the total vineyard.

UMPQUA VALLEY

AVAs: Umpqua Valley, Elkton Oregon, Red Hill Douglas County, Oregon The Umpqua Valley AVA surrounds the city of Roseburg in Douglas County, at the heart of Oregon’s timber industry. It encompasses the entirety of the Umpqua River watershed and its many interconnected valleys—the “hundred valleys of the Umpqua,” formed by the river and its tributaries as they meander toward the ocean. The AVA is 65 miles long by 25 miles wide, and it contains two nested AVAs: Elkton Oregon AVA, its coolest and wettest sector; and Red Hill Douglas County, Oregon AVA, a remote area with only a small handful of vineyards, where the ground is colored red by Jory soils.

As in other parts of Oregon, winegrowing in the Umpqua Valley has 19th-century roots. In modern-day Red Hill Douglas County, Jesse Applegate planted the region’s first vineyard near the town of Yoncalla in 1876. His grapes were likely destined for the table, but two German immigrants, Edward and John Von Pessl, planted vinifera vines and actually produced wines near Roseburg in the 1880s. Adam Doerner followed suit a decade later. Doerner’s winery survived Prohibition and its founder’s death, remaining in operation through 1965—long enough to witness the beginning of a new age in Umpqua, and Oregon, wine.

In 1961, Richard Sommer discarded his UC Davis colleagues’ criticisms of Oregon’s suitability for quality winegrowing, and bought a farm in Umpqua Valley. Sommer planted Oregon’s first Pinot Noir grapes (right next to a plot of Cabernet Sauvignon) and established what is now the state’s http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 33/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm

oldest estate winery, Hillcrest Vineyards. Spurred by Sommer’s successes, Paul Bjelland founded the now-defunct Bjelland Vineyards in Umpqua Valley in 1968 and the Oregon Winegrowers Association in 1969. Scott Henry, inventor of the double-curtain trellising system that bears his name, founded Henry Estate in Umpqua Valley in 1972. Jonicole Vineyards (now Spangler) broke ground in 1973. In a region known historically for its lumber and cattle, wine grapes slowly gained a new foothold. Today, there are about 1,500 acres of wine grapes in Umpqua Valley and nearly three-dozen producers of wine. Abacela, founded by Greg Jones’ father Earl in the mid- 1990s, is the appellation’s leading producer, making a case for world-class Tempranillo in Oregon. The estate vineyards of King Estates, the largest producer in Oregon and a key early proponent of Pinot Gris, are positioned just outside of the Umpqua Valley AVA boundary, southwest of Eugene.

ROGUE VALLEY

AVAs: Rogue Valley, Applegate Valley Rogue Valley AVA is Oregon’s southernmost winegrowing region, comprising the Valley of the Rogue River itself and those of three tributaries: Illinois Valley, Applegate Valley, and Bear Creek Valley. Overall, the Rogue Valley is the warmest winegrowing region in all of Oregon, with some areas recording Region II heat summation levels comparable to Bordeaux. In warmer years, like 2013 and 2014, the heat summation tallies can even reach levels commensurate with Region III. The region’s most densely planted areas are the hillsides of the Applegate Valley, an independent AVA since 2000; and Bear Creek, the warmest and most inland of Rogue Valley’s sub-regions, stretching between Medford and Ashland. The Illinois Valley is nearest to the coast, where the climate can be cooler and rainy, but the sheer size of the Klamath Range limits maritime influence throughout much of the AVA. The peaks here tower above those of the Coast Range further north, often reaching 7,000-8,000 ft. in elevation and sapping moisture from the Pacific air. In their rain shadow, Applegate Valley and Bear Creek Valley are the driest winegrowing areas west of the Cascades in Oregon, recording as little as 10-18 inches annually in some years. In Applegate Valley vineyard elevations ascend to almost 2,000 ft. above sea level, making it the highest point for viticulture in Oregon as well.

The Rogue River cuts due west through the Klamath Mountains at Grants Pass, making it the only true east-west river system south of the Columbia in Oregon (although its tributary rivers all flow northwest). Its valleys, etched deeply into the surrounding mountains, drew their first wave of white settlers in 1851 with the discovery of gold at Rich Gulch. Peter Britt, a Swiss photographer and horticulturalist, was among them; he settled near Medford and in the mid- 1850s planted the region’s first vineyard with Mission grape cuttings from California. Britt http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/expanded_guides/b/expanded_guides/archive/2015/03/26/oregon 34/37 24/8/2015 Pacific Northwest ­ Expanded Guides ­ Expanded Guides ­ Guildsomm

founded Valley View Winery in the 1870s and planted a wealth of new vinifera grapes, possibly even Pinot Noir. But Prohibition killed the small Rogue Valley wine industry, and in the modern era the Rogue Valley got a slower start than the Umpqua Valley. A smattering of tiny vineyards appeared by the early 1970s, and in 1978 Siskiyou Winery (Illinois Valley) and a new, unrelated Valley View Winery (Applegate Valley) were bonded as the first wineries in the Rogue Valley’s modern rebirth as a winegrowing region.

By the end of the 2000s, the Rogue Valley AVA contained over 40 wineries and more than 110 vineyards. Average vineyard plots tend to be smaller in the Rogue Valley than in the Umpqua Valley—often six or seven acres apiece rather than 18 or 20—but the AVA’s most famous vineyard site, Del Rio, is also its largest, with 375 acres of vines. Several major producers are based in the Rogue Valley, including Bridgeview and Foris, and the smaller biodynamic estate Cowhorn has emerged as a quality leader for Rhône-style white and red wines in the region.

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Idaho

While Washington and Oregon dominate the conversation about Pacific Northwest wines today, some of the region’s most celebrated early wines were actually produced in Idaho. In 1872 the French-born Louis Delsol pioneered commercial grape-growing in Lewiston, a town near the Washington border and today part of the proposed Lewis-Clark Valley AVA. In Hiram Taylor French’s History of Idaho, the early 20th-century historian claims he planted vinifera, such as the Muscat grape Black Hamburg. Inspired by Delsol’s successes, an Alsatian immigrant named Robert Schleicher established a vineyard spanning over 100 acres in the early 1880s. He imported Bordeaux varieties and the resulting wines won awards from Seattle to St. Louis. Such promising beginnings, however, were snuffed out by the years of Prohibition. Wine grapes completely disappeared from Idaho until a Snake River Valley vineyard was planted in 1970.

Today there are soon to be two AVAs in the state, and both cross state lines. The Snake River Valley AVA, approved in 2007 and shared with Oregon, is the heart of Idaho’s modern, nascent wine industry. The proposed Lewis-Clark Valley AVA, Idaho’s historical center of viticulture, is located further north and crosses the Washington border.

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Bibliography

Gregutt, Paul. Washington Wines & Wineries. 2nd Ed. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2010

Pinney, Thomas. A History of Wine in America From the Beginnings to Prohibition. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1989

Purser, J. Elizabeth and Lawrence Allen. The Wines of the Pacific Northwest. Vashon Island, WA: Harbor House Publishing, 1977.

The Guild of Sommeliers would like to thank the following individuals and organizations for their help in reviewing this guide: Washington Wine Commission, Greg Harrington MS, Chris Figgins, Jason Lett, Mimi Casteel, & Greg Jones.

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Travis Hinkle As always, really fantastic resource to have. A huge thanks to everyone involved in putting this together.

Francisco Vargas great job! thanks

Cara Patricia This is quite incredible. WA and OR are so often just summarized in a paragraph or two in even the most thorough sources. Thank you for putting this together.

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