15 Sep Pacific Northwest Wines
Oregon is growing fantastic representations of cool climate varietals such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris. Importations of French clones have made for unique wines from mostly small, family-owned, artisan wineries.
Washington is rich with soil from ancient explosions of Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier on the west side of the state. The east side, on the other hand, has arid, hot summers (like in Yakima Valley!) with 300 days of sunshine each year, and long summer days due to the high latitude. This does mean that the wine region requires quite a bit of irrigation, but that gives viniculturalists greater control over the consistent quality of their grapes. Both red & white grapes are able to thrive. Washington State is the 2nd great largest producer of wine in the U.S., after California.