|
|
Visitor information about
Washington State’s Wine Country, south-central Washington. Did you know that Washington’s wine
country has great terroir?
We believe the French
invented the word. It means the
combination of climate, geography, and soil that goes together to make a
wonderful and unique wine grape growing area. The terroir can completely change within
a few miles hence the many different appellations of the region.
Eastern Washington’s 300
hot sunny days and cool nights combined with its unique terrain and soils
simply make world class wine grapes, no matter what you call it.
Over 80 percent of all
the grapes grown in Washington State are grown in Wine Country.
|
|
Wine Country consists of four
counties in south central Washington State; Yakima, Benton, Franklin, and
Walla Walla counties. They are shown
in red on the Washington State map above.
Yakima Valley
AVA
Washington’s first
appellation, established in 1983, was the Yakima Valley AVA (American
Viticulture Area) AVA’s are
registered by the US Government. On
Interstate-82 you enter the AVA just south of Yakima after you go through
Union Gap and the AVA runs clear to just north of the Tri-Cities. About one-third of the grapes grown in
Washington are grown in the Yakima Valley AVA.
|
The Eastern Cascades
The hills of the eastern foothills of the Cascade
Mountains lack the Douglas Fir forests of the wetter west side foothills.
|
|
The Cable Bridge
This bridge, with an older technology railroad
bridge in the background, is one of the bridges over the Columbia River in
the Tri-Cities.
|
Columbia
Valley AVA
The Columbia Valley AVA,
established in 1984, is Washington’s largest AVA. In general it is made up of all of the
land on the hills and along the valley of the Columbia River and its
tributaries. This includes the Snake
River to the Washington Idaho state line.
The entire Yakima Valley AVA is contained inside the Columbia Valley
AVA. For more information visit our Washington Wine Page.
The Economy
of the region
Most of this area is the
high desert area that has little rainfall.
The wine grape is the fourth
most abundant fruit crop
in Washington State. Wheat, apples,
pears, peaches, corn, and hops are also major factors in the local economy.
|
|
Because this area is high
desert the economy of the region is dependent on irrigation. The most important factor in the local
economy is not the crops but the irrigation that makes the crops possible.
Interstate-82
I-82 is the main road
through the region on its way from Ellensburg, WA to link up with
Interstate-84 in northeast Oregon just west of Pendleton, OR.
In its northern beginning
it runs over the barron mountains at the west end of the
|
The Murals of
Toppenish
|
|
Walla Walla
Its Historic Downtown
and many attractions
|
Yakima Military Training
Center before it drops down into the Yakima River Valley and the City of
Yakima.
The highway roughly
follows the Yakima River to its confluence with the Columbia River in the
Tri-Cities area. This portion of the
highway runs right through the center of the Yakima Valley Appellation.
At the Tri-Cities the
highway swings south to cross the Columbia River and link with
Interstate-84 west of Pendleton, OR.
|
