The Red Mountain AVA

We make no secret about our fondness for Washington State wines.  That's been the case since the late '80s when Washington seemed to come of age over night as a fine wine venue.  Columbia Valley was hailed as Washington's Napa Valley and everything coming out of there seemed to validate the claim.  

At the time we didn't know anything about Washington except that the wine country was on the other side of the mountains from the great coastal urban centers.  The wine country was, in fact, very desert-like compared to the coast but more importantly, it was at the same latitude as Bordeaux and Burgundy, the two finest wine appellations in the world.  That latitude meant a longer growing season with two more hours of sun daily than what California could get.  The diurnal effect of warm days and cool nights meant a balance of acidity and sugars in grapes resulting in rich ripe wine flavors.  Columbia Valley's nutrient poor sandy loam and volcanic soils were also ideal for wine grapes, forcing tap roots deeper for sustenance, taking up mineral trace elements in the process. 

What we didn't know at the time was just how large the Columbia Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) is.   The Columbia Valley AVA encompasses eleven million acres including a border overlap into Oregon.  Fifty thousand acres are currently in vines and 99% of Washington's wine production calls Columbia Valley home.  Basically Columbia Valley is Washington State in wine terms.

The AVA was created in 1984 at the insistence of Chateau Saint Michelle Winery just as they were discovering the potential quality of their product.  By the time we discovered the greatness of Washington in the late 80s one carveout had already happened.  That was the Yakima Valley AVA.  Since then eight others have been legislated including Red Mountain which was carved out of Yakima in 2001.  

The Red Mountain AVA is the smallest fine wine district in the state.  It encompasses 4,000 acres with 2,000 currently in vines.  It is Cabernet Sauvignon-focused with fifteen wineries currently making award winning wines there.  Hedges Family Estate and Kiona Vineyards are a couple Red Mountain properties that we tasted decades ago and still remember today.  Their hedonistic Cabs are powerful and complex and yet, elegant.  

Our current favorite Washington State winery is Matthews in Walla Walla.  We think their wines are as good as anything coming out of Washington.  At their website matthewswinery.com they are proudly announcing their new Red Mountain wines.  And we can hardly wait.