Climate, Soil, and Wine in Washington State
Faculty Mentor
Richard Orndorff
Document Type
Poster
Start Date
10-5-2023 9:00 AM
End Date
10-5-2023 10:45 AM
Location
PUB NCR
Department
Geology
Abstract
The Columbia River and its tributaries flow through a series of arid to semi-arid basins in Eastern and Central Washington state. This geographically broad area, which includes Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities of Pasco, Richland, and Kennewick, has grown into a primary producer of world-class wine in the last several decades. No one is more surprised, or proud, of the national and international acclaim than the locals. In this, and other premier wine-producing regions, climate, soil, and water work together to create an optimal environment for growing grapes; however, Eastern Washington is a bit of a conundrum. Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grapes have been successfully grown in the Badger Mountain and Red Mountain American Viticultural Areas (AVA), while Pinot Noir grapes have proven to be a failure thus far, even though geologically and meteorologically similar areas have had great success with all three varietals. I discuss both the successes and failures of this relatively new enterprise that has forced the oenological world to rethink some of its long-held beliefs about the importance of geographic location in wine production.
Recommended Citation
Gamache, Katlin, "Climate, Soil, and Wine in Washington State" (2023). 2023 Symposium. 53.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2023/res_2023/p1_2023/53
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Climate, Soil, and Wine in Washington State
PUB NCR
The Columbia River and its tributaries flow through a series of arid to semi-arid basins in Eastern and Central Washington state. This geographically broad area, which includes Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities of Pasco, Richland, and Kennewick, has grown into a primary producer of world-class wine in the last several decades. No one is more surprised, or proud, of the national and international acclaim than the locals. In this, and other premier wine-producing regions, climate, soil, and water work together to create an optimal environment for growing grapes; however, Eastern Washington is a bit of a conundrum. Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grapes have been successfully grown in the Badger Mountain and Red Mountain American Viticultural Areas (AVA), while Pinot Noir grapes have proven to be a failure thus far, even though geologically and meteorologically similar areas have had great success with all three varietals. I discuss both the successes and failures of this relatively new enterprise that has forced the oenological world to rethink some of its long-held beliefs about the importance of geographic location in wine production.
