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Pacific Northwest

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 more than doubled in this century, rising from 24,000 acres in 1999 to over 60,000 acres in 2019. 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 2020 the number of state wineries had jumped from 160 to over 1,000. 2016 was a record harvest—272,000 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.
Map of Washington State with wine regions labeled

For perspective, compare the entire state of Washington to California’s Napa Valley AVA: Washington has approximately 14,000 more acres of vineyard land and in 2019 produced about 42,000 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.
Anonymous
  • over 3 years ago in reply to Skyler Ring

    To continue being a huge geek: There is still a sentence above that lists Red Mountain as Washington's smallest AVA that should be removed. That distinction is correctly awarded to the Candy Mountain AVA a few sentences later.

  • over 3 years ago

    Small note: The passage on the Eola-Amity Hills AVA still lists it as the southernmost of the Willamette Valley nested AVAs. That sentence should now be removed as this distinction is correctly awarded to the Lower Long Tom AVA a few paragraphs later!

  • over 3 years ago in reply to Hugo Duchesne

    Hi Hugo, Goose Gap is there, nest under Yakima Valley AVAs. Please note that we haven't updated the WA map yet, but it's on our list to do!

  • over 3 years ago

    Hi. Is there any reason why you don't mention Goose Gap as a new AVA since June 2021?

  • over 3 years ago

    Note that two new AVAs were approved this week in Washington - White Bluffs and The Burn of Columbia Valley. We'll update the guide shortly.

  • over 3 years ago in reply to Keith Mattrick

    Thanks, Keith! Updated.

  • over 3 years ago

    "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." Wouldn't Lewis-Clark Valley AVA be a third, as reports indicate the TTB changed the boundaries of the Columbia Valley AVA so it wouldn't overlap the new Lewis-Clark Valley AVA? And remove the word "proposed" in reference to the Lewis-Clark Valley AVA in the Idaho section?

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