What makes Washington Wine, Washington

A deep dive into how Washington’s unique climate, geology and winemakers produce great tasting wine.

In the very old world of wine, Washington is considered a new wine region with an enormous capacity to prove itself more than worthy of world-class recognition. The innovative and collaborative grape growers, winemakers, geologists, as well as the climate, soils, and grapes all come together to make the Washington wine community unique and capable of producing amazing wines.

Washington’s Climate

Let’s break it down. Looking at a map of Washington you’ll see two completely different stories. To the west the Olympic Mountain range creating a first break against the Pacific Ocean’s cold windy influence. Continuing west you reach the Puget Sound, where mostly hybrid varietals are grown that can withstand large amounts of rain and humidity. This is where the majority of the state’s population lives.

As you begin to travel east, you’ll encounter the Cascade Mountain range and this changes everything! You now have your second barrier in place which creates a “rain shadow effect,” keeping the wind and rain to the west (35-38 inches per year) and creating a dry, almost desert-like continental climate in the east (6-8 inches per year). This is where Washington State’s premium wine grapes (vitis vinifera) are grown.

Washington’s Geology

The Missoula floods were a series of glacial dam breaks that roared through eastern Washington with enormous power back at the end of the ice age, clearing out everything in its path. The importance of this is that when the water retreated, it deposited river rock and alluvial soils that are vital to the success of premium grape vines.

What makes this soil important is that it is low in nutrients. This sounds odd, but a vine mirrors itself to a weed and given all the nutrients it needs, it will just sprawl and grow, losing focus on the importance of concentrating its energy on the grapes themselves. But planted in nutrient poor soil, the vines will delve deeper, establish a strong root system, find water, and access the limited amount of nutrients required to make it thrive.

Washington’s winemakers

In combination with the geological and climatic factors that make Washington wine so special are the forward-thinkers and doers of the Washington wine industry. These early pioneers recognized the potential to grow grapes in eastern Washington. They started with a blank canvas and planted a handful of international varieties in the hopes that they would grow well in the climate, aspects, and soils of eastern Washington. Come harvest they would load the grapes onto trucks, head west, and begin the winemaking process, starting with fermentation and leading to full production and aging. This is an extremely unusual practice for both old world (Europe) and new world (everyone but Europe) wine industries. Even to this day, there’s nowhere else in the world that does this or is quite like Washington.

This forward-thinking movement started what has become our working warehouse wine district—winemakers working in close quarters and sharing not only their forklifts, but their special knowledge with each other. These things seem simple to the outside world – such as which yeast strands do well with certain grape varietals, or where to access extra grapes, or who knows of a good cooper – but are typically tightly kept secrets in most wine communities.

This open and generous sharing of knowledge has propelled the Washington wine industry forward even with its stunted start time due to Prohibition, which was taken seriously in the state. It was implemented early and ended late, leaving Washington a bit behind the rest of the new world wine communities such as California. But with collaboration, the Washington wine community caught itself up quickly and is now valued for high quality wine at incredible price points.

To help wine lovers gain a better understanding of the 20 grape growing regions in Washington, the American Viticulture Area (AVA) system was established. An AVA is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the TTB (the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau). The AVA system gives a “sense of place” to the consumer. With a stated AVA on a bottle of wine that represents more than 80 percent of the grapes being sourced from that region, the consumer can start to taste the flavor profile that distinguishes that viticulture area.

There are hundreds of wine estates and tasting rooms located in eastern Washington, but because of the larger population in the west, wineries often have tasting rooms for the public in western Washington. The Washington wine community from grape to glass is amazing. Open-minded, innovative, and excited for what the future holds. Grab a glass and enjoy the journey!