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Washington State's Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is perhaps the most famous red grape. Its home is Bordeaux where it is was created as a cross between Cabernet Franc (red grape) and Sauvignon Blanc (white grape). Since then its popularity has spread and it is grown all around the world. It prefers warmer climates to ripen fully and even in Bordeaux some years it does not ripen. That is why Cabernet Franc is also used in Bordeaux blends as it ripens faster. What makes Cabernet so popular is not its bouquet, which can range from blackcurrants to cigar box, but its structure, typically having both tannins and acidity to create a smooth feeling in the mouth. The structure allows the blending with other grapes, perhaps the most famous pairing is Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot where the Cabernet provides the structure and the Merlot gives the wine the soft, rounded feel in the mouth. Recently Cabernet has been mixed with Sangiovese (Chianti's grape) to create the SuperTuscans.
Chardonnay
Jancis Robinson described Chardonnay as the tart of the grape world, as it would lie down anywhere and do what the winemaker told it to do! In other words it will grow almost anywhere and produce decent and quite stylistically different wines ranging from minerally Chablis, Champagne, buttery fruit wines, tropical fruit wines or oaky vanilla wines. During the late 1990's Chardonnay was the drink of choice for many. However people became bored with the oaky wines found in so many bars and the term, 'ABC' (Anything but Chardonnay) came about. The ubiquitous yet noble Chardonnay grape has virtually become a brand name. From its homeland in Burgundy, its fame and fortune have taken it all over the world. It�s grown on different soils in varying climates to be used either as a single varietal or in blends, for still and sparkling wines, and with or without oak ageing to create a wide range of wines with diverse personalities. As a result, it�s impossible to describe a typical Chardonnay. For a start, the grape can make anything from an everyday glugger to a high-quality wine deserved of ageing. Its popularity in the vineyard stems from the fact that it�s easy to grow, consistently yielding generously with relatively high sugars (and, therefore, alcohol). In the winery its advantages are obvious � it�s difficult to make a poor wine from it, unless it�s been picked too late, because then its acid levels fall quickly, which make it flabby. Chardonnay isn�t strongly aromatic: some detect anything from apples (or barely ripe apples in Chablis) and melon in Maconnais Chardonnay to tropical fruit flavours in New World examples. Common descriptives, however, tend to refer to texture and weight rather than flavour � buttery for broader styles, such as Meursault from the Cote de Beaune; steely for Montrachets and nutty for Corton-Charlemagne. There�s an attractive leanness to fine Cote d�Or white burgundy, that sets it apart from Chardonnays from the rest of the world, but this can be emulated further south in the Cote Chalonnaise and Maconnais in good vintages with clever winemaking.
Merlot
Merlot makes luscious, smooth and fruity wines. In spite of this, it�s still perceived as one of the vine world�s great underdogs, most often being unfavourably compared to prized Cabernet Sauvignon, its more austere and frequent blending partner. Planted throughout South West France and much of the rest of the world, Merlot means �little blackbird� in Bordeaux patois, and was so-called because it was said that it�s the grape the blackbird guzzles first and that the bird�s colour resembles the grapes. It produces its most glorious wines in St-Emilion and Pomerol, on the right bank of the Gironde, including Bordeaux�s most expensive wine, Chateau Petrus. Chile's soft plum aromas are a favourite to many consumers. Merlot can adapt to a wide range of soils and microclimates, but it buds, flowers and ripens relatively early, so spring frosts are a danger. Its thin-skinned grapes are also liable to rot in wet vintages. However, Merlot�s lowish fruit tannins make it an excellent early-drinking wine.
Riesling
Riesling is probably the most misunderstood and mispronounced grape variety, despite being widely acknowledged by wine critics as one of the world's greatest grapes. Riesling is the noble grape variety of Germany, known there as the King of Grapes! Riesling ripens early and is best fermented cool. It should be bottled early with as little interference as possible in the processing - no oak-ageing or malolactic fermentation is required. As well as delicate dry to off-dry wines, Riesling produces some fine late harvest wines.
Wine Regions for Washington State
- Columbia Valley
- Yakima Valley
Washington State
Key Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling
Washington State is a premium wine-producing region in the northwest corner of the United States. Although it’s still a relatively young wine industry (there were only two wineries there in 1969 when California’s wine industry was pretty much booming), it is the country’s second largest wine producer.
The state has over 16,000 hectares of vines and pretty much ideal geography and conditions for growing premium wine grapes. Growers focus on Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, though other varieties are planted too, primarily on their own rootstocks thanks to the sandy soils which stop pests like phylloxera.
Eastern Washington is viticulturally much more important than mild and damp western Washington, where plantings are less than one per cent of the state’s total. The climate in the western part is down to the proximity of the Pacific Ocean and the inland sea, the Puget Sound, overlooked by Seattle.
Eastern Washington, meanwhile, is protected by the Cascade Mountains and has hot, dry summers and cold to freezing winters. That aside, the area does get a couple more hours of sunlight each day during the growing season than California and the cool nights help maintain a fresh acidity in the grapes despite the heat of the days. Irrigation is necessary though and most vineyards are on south- and southwest-facing slopes for warmth in the winter rather than the summer. Nevertheless, the climate can still be severe here. However, the lack of moisture means that mould and mildew is much lower than on most vineyard regions and a positive of the colder winters is that it stops pests like sharpshooters spreading.
Virtually all the vineyards in the eastern part of the state fall within the 4.5 million hectare Columbia Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area). Within that is the important Yakima Valley appellation, which has about 40% of the state’s vineyards, as well as several other AVAs. These are: Walla Walla Valley, Red Mountain (strangely named as it is neither red nor a mountain!), Wahluke Slope, Columbia Gorge, Rattlesnake Hills, Horse Heaven Hills, Snipes Mountain and Lake Chelan.