Grape Varietals | VinoVerve

Meadowbrook (Michigan) Wine and Food Festival

By MTB | August 23, 2015 - 9:06 am |August 23, 2015 Cabernet Franc, Festivals, ice wine, Marechal Foch, Meadowbrook Wine and Food Festival, Merlot, Michigan, pinot noir, Riesling, Shiraz / Syrah, Vidal Blanc, wine

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Saturday, August 22

Picture perfect weather and a gorgeous location among the lawns and gardens of the Meadowbrook Music Festival north of Detroit, the 2015 Meadowbrook Wine and Food Festival didn’t disappoint… at least not with the wines.

With five large tents housing more than 150 wines from 18 regions and featuring 9 Michigan wineries there was something for everyone.

I spent my drink tickets principally on the Michigan wines. As expected I found a few that were sweeter than I prefer but on the whole Michigan made a strong showing.

St. Julian Winery
Late Harvest Riesling
Established shortly after the repeal of Prohibition, St. Julian is one of Michigan’s oldest and most well-known wineries. The Late Harvest Riesling is a sweet wine yet crisp and very approachable even for those, like me, who prefer dryer table wines. The wine is smooth on the palate with notes of peach and honey.

Fieldstone Winery
Motor City Dry Red – Syrah
The most “local” of the local wineries pouring at the festival, Fieldstone is located in downtown Rochester Hills, about 30 minutes north of Detroit and a few miles from the festival site. A local winery in that they make their wines here in southeast Michigan, Fieldstone sources their grapes from “all over,” including bringing the syrah in from California. A new line, the Motor City Red is lovely: soft, dry and medium-bodied, with notes of black cherry and a pleasant minerally finish. Locapour purists will argue this doesn’t classify as a local wine, and I agree. But with results like this I’m more than happy to support local winemakers.

Warner Vineyards Winery
2 Cab Merlot
A Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend, this wine has nice notes of dark berries without being overly jammy. Full-bodied with medium tannins, the wine has a nice, slightly “dusty” finish.

Vidal Blanc Ice Wine
I am a sucker for a good ice wine, and Warner’s didn’t disappoint. The wine had a silky, rather than satiny, mouth feel and lovely notes of pear and honeysuckle.

Bel Lago
Pinot Noir “North”
Located in the northwest corner of the Lower Peninsula, not far from Traverse City, Bel Lago grows a number of cool climate grapes including Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Riesling and Gewurztraminer. Their Pinot Noir was my choice for pairing with lunch. Smooth, with soft notes of raspberry and cherry, medium-tannins, and a nice finish. The wine held up well against the beef brisket BBQ nachos I had for lunch, balancing the smoky sweetness of the BBQ sauce.

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And speaking of food, for a festival advertised as a “Wine and Food Festival,” the food options were very slim. Kroger, the largest grocery chain in Michigan and a sponsor of the event, had a large tent at the entrance to the event featuring a sampling of standard grocery-store deli fare: Boar’s Head turkey or ham sandwiches, cheese and coleslaw. There were two food trucks: The Pistons Maplewood BBQ and Chick-A-Dee. The Maplewood BBQ beef brisket nachos were very good, but there’s no question this is NOT a food festival.

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Seven Lakes Vineyard
Cappricio
I started my day with the Seven Lakes Capriccio, and at the end of the day this remained my favorite of all the wines sampled. Nice nose with light notes of cherry blossoms. In the mouth, the wine is juicy rather than jammy with bright notes of cherry. The finish has a very light pepper which balances the fruitiness, yielding a very nice wine. Looking forward to opening the bottle I brought home.

Cabernet Franc
I finished out the afternoon with samples of two grapes I had come to love during my time exploring Connecticut Wineries. Seven Lakes’ Cab Franc was surprisingly earthy – surprising to me who had grown so accustomed to the very fruit-forward cherry I found in Connecticut Cab Francs. Full-bodied with lovely notes of grass and well-balanced tannins and a smooth finish.

Dizzy Daisy
Marechal Foch
Dizzy Daisy’s Marechal Foch, like the Cab Franc which I sampled shortly afterward, came as a surprise – in this case a shock… it was sweet! I had my first encounter with Marechal Foch almost seven years ago when I first started traveling the CT Wine Trail. Finding the grape to come across as very young and green, it took me quite a few samplings before I came to appreciate it, and even longer before I became a fan. Like so many other CT reds it was very fruit forward, but it was always a dry wine. As a semi-sweet wine, the fruit notes were much stronger and also smoother than in other Marechal Foch’s I’ve tried. The additional sugars balanced out the “greenness” I often detected, and as a result I suspect Dizzy Daisy’s is more approachable to a majority of wine drinkers. But as my preference leans towards dry wines, I found this to be less interesting.

It’s hard to glean a lot about wines and winemakers from 1 oz samples, especially when you are sampling across a range of wineries. With people lined up behind you, there’s not much time to chat. But as a small introduction to the wines of my new home state it was a great afternoon.

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Qorkz.com – For Hidden Wine Gems

By admin | July 27, 2015 - 2:01 am |July 26, 2015 Antelope Valley of the California High Desert, AVA, Cabernet Franc, cabernet sauvignon, Chardonnay, Grenache, Harvest Hosts, Malbec, Marsanne, Moon Mountain District Sonoma, Mourvedre, Napa, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, pinot grigio, Pinot Gris, pinot noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Sonoma, tempranillo, wine, zinfandel

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Do you wish you were in Napa or Sonoma right now? (Don ‘t we all?)

Want to find that winery that is a hidden gem that is off the beaten path? The ones that have such a small production you have the upper hand with your friends and family? Especially when they rave about the wine you are serving?

Well, I, your VinoVerve Editrix has been working secretly to bring these kinds of wines to you. Welcome to Qorkz Wine.

These wines are made by passionate winemakers who want to share their craft with you.

We are scouring California (for now and eventually around the country and maybe even the world) to find these treats for you!

You all know how much I enjoy looking for these treats… so please, enjoy!

We will have more choices to come!

Cherry Creek Winery @ The Old Schoolhouse – Brooklyn, MI

By MTB | July 26, 2015 - 8:00 am |July 26, 2015 cabernet sauvignon, Chancellor, Frontenac, Gewurtztraminer, local wines, Marguerite Barrett, Merlot, Michigan, Riesling, Southeast Michigan, Wineding Roads

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After seven years in New England, I relocated to southeast Michigan in December 2014. Despite having been born and raised in Detroit (proud graduate of Cass Tech High School!), Michigan hasn’t been home for more years than I am willing to admit to.

Relocating in winter while also working 100% from home is not conducive to exploration – my first several months’ experiences were limited to weekly grocery store runs, babysitting for my sister, and an occasional weekend movie with cousins.

So with a few days vacation in late May I decided it was time to learn my new home state of Michigan the way I learned my last – one winery at a time. With a full tank of gas and a randomly chosen winery on Michigan’s Pioneer Wine Trail, I headed out for what turned out to be an auspicious start to my latest Win(e)ding Roads adventures.

Cherry Creek Winery @ the Old Schoolhouse, Brooklyn, MI

Housed in a beautifully restored 1870s schoolhouse in the heart of the Irish Hills, only a few short miles from the Michigan International Speedway, Cherry Creek Winery and Vineyards is a great find – neither the winery nor the wines disappoint.

Founded more than 15 years ago by Denise and John Burtkas, Cherry Creek Winery has two locations, the original in Albion, MI and the Old Schoolhouse, which opened about 10 years ago. All wines are 100% Michigan grapes sourced from the Burtkas’s vineyards in southeast Michigan and through partnerships with vineyards along the Lake Michigan coastline.

With a menu that includes reds, whites, rosés and a fruit wine (Michigan Cherry, of course), picking only five for this first tasting was the hard part…

Wood Duck White (Dry Riesling)
I’ve found myself more interested in Rieslings recently, particularly as I’m finding more local wineries making a dry Riesling, instead of the often too sweet versions that seemed to be everywhere only a few short years ago.

The Wood Duck White is a really nice wine. Light, crisp, with just a hint of grapefruit on the finish, I found it soft in the mouth and very drinkable. The fruit and acid are nicely balanced, and the wine has a nice full body which gives it structure. A great wine for a lazy summer afternoon.

It was one of the bottles I brought home with me, and we uncorked it last night pairing it with grilled Lake Superior whitefish and fresh Michigan corn. The wine complimented the fish beautifully, and the corn’s sweetness brought out some of the wine’s lightly floral notes.

Gewürztraminer
I loved the nose on this wine – notes of citrus, honeysuckle (perhaps? I am not as good differentiating florals as I should be), the nose evoked light spring breezes. In the mouth, the wine was sharp, but not tart, with citrus notes that hit the edges of my tongue. The wine also evolved in the mouth, starting out smooth and somewhat quiet in the front of the mouth only to open up on the finish.

Tasting Room bar was made from reclaimed wood from the original structure. Jenna, my host for the afternoon, is an enthusiastic ambassador for the winery.

Merlot
Moving on to the Reds, I started with the Merlot, which came highly recommended by my tasting room host, Jenna, as one of her personal favorites. The nose was fruity, predominately cherry, very reminiscent of the red wines I found in Connecticut (in fact, I once participated in a blind tasting of Merlots at McLaughlin Vineyards in Connecticut and was the only person to correctly identify the McLaughlin Merlot, which I did solely from the nose).

In the mouth, the wine is more subtle than I expected – I think the nose misled me, and I expected a more fruit-forward wine such as the ones I had been drinking in Connecticut. I found this wine to be more herbaceous than fruity, medium-bodied with mineral notes and an interesting slight chalky finish.

Montage
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chancellor Noir, this was my favorite of the afternoon. Deeper nose than the Merlot but with similar notes of cherry, the wine is smooth and rich. In the mouth, the wine has notes of stone fruits but not so strong that the wine becomes “jammy.” Brought a bottle of this home as well, and am looking forward to opening it later this summer, perhaps paired with grilled steaks or lamb chops.

Frontenac
100% estate grown at the Old Schoolhouse location, the Frontenac was the most interesting wine of my visit. Served chilled, the wine had strong notes of cranberry – which I admit, I don’t come across often. Fruit forward with a strong but smooth finish. The wine wasn’t available for sale the day I was there, but it’s definitely worth a return visit later in the year for another taste.

In addition to the wines, Cherry Creek also has a small gift shop featuring locally made sauces, jams and jellies and a Michigan cherry salsa which is highly addictive! The winery hosts local musicians from 5-8pm Saturdays through mid-September and will be opening a cafe sometime this summer. The Burtkas have also recently launched the Grand River Brewery, in Jackson, Michigan featuring local craft beers, handcrafted spirits, and Cherry Creek wines.

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Moon Mountain District Sonoma County

By GMN | July 23, 2015 - 2:05 pm |July 23, 2015 American, California, Moon Mountain District Sonoma, Sonoma, wine, zinfandel

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Frontispiece of Jack London’s, “Valley of the Moon”, 1913, The Macmillan Company, Ny

Now that I am out and about again, I wasted no time high tailing it out of town to visit some new wineries. The first on the list was Repris Wines in the Moon Mountain District. This post will explore this eerie landscape and I will discuss the winery in the next.

Moon Mountain District is located within Sonoma Valley across the eastern ridge from the Mt. Veeder AVA (or the Sonoma-Napa border, if you will…). The name of the area is based on the mistaken belief that the local indigenous peoples referred to Sonoma Valley as the “Valley of the Moon”. At least the last Mexican governor of the area did, as well as Jack London, who wrote a book with that title. While there was a “valley” of the moon, there was no associated mountain. That has all changed. After asking the USGS nicely to designate a “Moon Mountain”, the people were finally rewarded (57 years later). The peak is located east of Mt. Pisgah and south of Bismark Knob.

The appellation ranges from 400-2,200 feet above sea level and is known for its series of medium sloped hills that build upon one another. This leaves the terrain with little pockets of terroir that receive different amounts of sunlight and different airflows. The majority of the region faces the west to maximize the amount of sunlight that the vines receive as well as maximizing the intensity. Cool day time temperatures from the Pacific have warmed up by the time they reach Moon Mountain and night time fogs roll down the mountain to keep the vines from freezing. The temperatures in the area provide almost double the growing degree days in the area making it a perfect location for growing Zinfandel and other long hanging grapes.

image of lava outcrop, Moon Mountain The geology of the area is a mixture of andesite and basalt lava flows from the Sonoma volcanics that have been mixed with gravels. The resulting soils are brown and shallow and very well drained allowing the grapes to grow deeply into the hillside. This gives the area a sometimes eerie look from these flows that are visible in places at the surface (thus the name Moon Mountain, perhaps?). The brown soils are largely of the Goulding series are volcanic and very well drained.

There are currently 11 bonded wineries and 40 commercial vineyards operating around Moon Mountain.

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Arkansas. Wine.

By admin | July 12, 2014 - 4:19 pm |July 15, 2014 Adventures, Altus, American, Arkansas Mountain, cabernet sauvignon, Chambourcin, Cynthiana (Norton), Edelweiss, Merlot, muscadine, Niagara, Norton, Ozark Mountain, Pink Catawba, Traminette, viticulture, wine

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After years of telling me that they were going to retire to Arkansas, my parents have finally done so. Kevin and I tried to talk them into moving to Oregon, but they weren’t going for it.

The Arkansas state flag was designed by Willie Kavanaugh Hocker.

So, Arkansas it is. In the middle of the Walmartian capitol.
Luckily, like almost every place in the country, there is wine nearby. Yup. wine. Located in three American Viticultural Areas. Twenty-four wineries.

California it is not. But that isn’t a bad thing. After all, variety is the spice of life. So what’s the deal with Arkansas wine?
Officially, viticulture began in Arkansas in the 1870s when German and Swiss immigrants settled in Altus, Arkansas. Unofficially, there was wine in Arkansas before that. In A Journal of Travels into the Arkansa Territory During the Year 1819 With Occasional Observation on the Manners of the Aborigines by Thomas Nuttall, F.L.S. (I have no idea what F.L.S. means), the author describes the vineyards and wine encountered along the way. Tales of wine being produced at local taverns like the Hinderliter Grog Shop in Little Rock circa 1827 are likely to be true. And prior to American settlement? Well, Arkansas was once officially part of France after all.
In addition to the Altus wineries, Italian immigrants have made their mark in Arkansas’s wine history. The city of Tontitown was founded by the followers of Father Pietro Bandini in 1898. The residents, mostly from northern Italy brought their traditions with them including wine making. Even today, the sign welcoming you to town features grape vines. Unfortunately, for most American’s the town is more commonly known as the home as the Duggar family.

What kinds of wines are being produced? Well, a lot of sweet wines. Muscadine grapes grow naturally in the state and have long been used to produce. Muscadine is a type of grape known as Vitis rotundifolia that is native to the United States. But Muscadine doesn’t have to produce a sweet wine and there are dry options as well.

Map produced by Gretchen Neuman using a USGS basemap.

Other grapes producing wine in Arkansas include Niagara, Concord and Delaware which are park of the Vitis labrusca family. French-American Hybrids such as Chambourcin and Vidal are common as is Cynthiana, a Norton clone is thought to be created in the Arkansas. There are even folks producing Chardonnay and Merlot… though most of them get that fruit from California.
There are three viticultural areas in the Arkansas. Altus is located around the German Swiss town of the same name in the Boston Mountains. Altus is the only appellation found completely within the state. Altus is also located within the Arkansas Mountain appellation but extends in the area from Fort Smith to Conway (another place my folks thought about moving to… but thought better of as the town is dry). Ozark Mountain contains the Altus and Arkansas Mountain regions and is crosses into Missouri and Oklahoma as well.
Getting your hands on Arkansas wine is tricky. The state does not play well with others, i.e. does not allow direct shipping and because of that can’t ship out of state either. So you kinda have to go there and taste it there.

But since I am about to be spending more time in the Ozarks, I guess I will have time to explore.

The Big Woods

By admin | July 30, 2013 - 3:18 pm |July 30, 2013 cider, Cranberry, cranberry, Frontenac, Frontenac Gris, Fruit in Wine, Gretchen Neuman, local wines, Marquette, St. Pepin, Upper Mississippi River Valley, VinoVerve, WBC13, WBC13, wine, Wineding Roads, Wisconsin

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Little House on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.... Where are the big woods? Well, they really aren’t there anymore. Heck, the Little House isn’t really there anymore. Just a wayside on a hill near where the house used to be. In all fairness? It hasn’t been there in over 100 years.

What happened to the woods? I blame bears. So I went to look at the site. It took a bit longer to find than I anticipated. Sigh. Typical. The cabin was tiny. A loft, a big hearth, a table. But it reminded me of being a girl and imagining what it was like. And the it was the sounds. Wind through the trees and the grass. Birds and insects chirping away….The description of what sounds surrounded the Ingalls family was always pretty descriptive in the Little House books. So I listened. and recorded. I ate lunch at a table on the grounds and watched people come and go.. Mostly people my age or older. In Jazzy’s and wheel chairs, some wandering around the site, others just in and out of the cabin. We all acknowledged each other sheepishly, but didn’t speak to each other…

That's a lake? well, maybe if you are 6 Then I went down and took a look at Lake Pepin. I remember reading about Laura taking a trip into the town of Pepin. In the book it is seven miles drive to town and the horses periodically get bogged down in the spring mud. The going is easier now. The roads are paved… It still is seven miles (or so). Laura experienced awe when she saw the lake and the town. For me, Pepin isn’t the biggest place I have seen. Even at age five. Lake Pepin is less a lake and more of wide spot in the Mississippi River. But the lake glistened in the sun and I tried to imagine what it must have been like for Laura and Mary to run along the beach. I imagined that the location of the local Laura Museum was the the store.

That is Holly Hobbie, amirite? By the way? Museum people? Your Laura looks like Holly Hobbie…. imma just saying…

Villa Bellezza Now the original plan was to stop at wineries along the way, This is part of the Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA after all, but… I killed too much time dealing with construction and getting lost and I still needed to make my way to Minnesota. So, I wandered along the town and noticed that there was a winery there. Villa Bellezza is a bit grand a space for Pepin, Wisconsin and very Italian looking but they were growing Foch, Frontenac, Frontenac Blanc, Frontenac Gris, LaCrescent, Marquette, Prairie Star and St. Pepin on twelve acres of vineyard located in and around the region. Interesting…. It was Saturday afternoon though and late at that. Ugh. Same deal with the Maiden Rock Cidery that I had looked up. So I resolved to avoid the tasting room crowds and stock at an area liquor store.

Wisconsin is the leading producer of cranberries in the United States!!! You know what happened. Nothing from those places were being sold. But there was Wisconsin wine there. Cranberry wine from Spurgeon Vineyards which is in Western Wisconsin but more than 150 miles away. sigh again. Not about the wine being made from Wisconsin. That makes sense as Wisconsin produces more cranberries than any other state in the U.S. (The More You Know!!!). Still. I was expecting something a little more local. Perhaps tomorrow.

Wine From the Sunshine State

By GMN | May 16, 2013 - 9:49 am |May 16, 2013 Florida, Gretchen Neuman, local wines, muscadine, VinoVerve, wine

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Yeah, we fancy with out paper towel napkins

Photo by Gretchen Neuman for VinoVerve.com

When in Florida, you expect to see a lot of citrus. And man do you ever. But surprisingly enough you don’t really see many grapes. Particularly near Orlando. All you see there are mouse ears and you know who they belong to….

Nevertheless, I, your intrepid locapour am always on the lookout for the local wine. And even in the heart of Disney managed to located Florida wine. Florida Wine? Yes.

The wine from Lakeridge Winery & Vineyards is made from grapes but not of the vinifera variety. These are muscadines, the native grapes of the south, vitis rotundifolia. They are bigger than vinifera grapes and found in smaller, loose clusters. Muscadines are bronze, purple and black and have been used to produce wine and jelly since Europeans have been in the American southeast, even in the heat and humidity of Florida.

This wine was brought home from Florida last year and put away in the wine fridge. Last night, Kevin brought it out as a accompaniment of barbecue ribs. Now, Kevin loves to grill. All year long. And he makes a mean sauce. By mean, I mean spicy. I was a bit apprehensive when I saw a bottle of tabasco being used to make the sauce.

But it turns out this wine perfect match. This wine, was a sweet muscadine, which in all fairness is the type you are more likely to find. The flavor was like a bright cherry pop. Except a wine, of course. Cool and sweet in contrast to hot and spicy.

So maybe you don’t like sweet wine. And maybe you don’t think wine should be made in Florida. But last night sweet, Florida muscadine wine was exactly what I needed.

If you are in Florida, visiting the folks or the grands and are Disney’d out, you can find wine in Central Florida just 45 minutes northwest of Orlando.

Lakeridge Winery & Vineyards
19239 U.S. 27 North
Clermont, Florida 34715
1-800-768-WINE

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Yamhill-Carlton AVA

By admin | October 3, 2012 - 12:01 am |October 2, 2012 AVA, Chardonnay, history, Muscat, Oregon, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, pinot noir, VinoVerve, wine, Yamhill-Carlton District

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You know that you have found a special place, when I can’t think of anything snarky or smart-assy to say about it. This is truly the case with Yamhill-Carlton. In fact, I have genuine affection for the people of the region for the kindness and enthusiasm that they showed to a bunch of wine bloggers. But more on that later…. This is a discussion of the appellation as a whole. Yamhill-Carlton was created originially in 2004 as the Yamhill-Carlton District AVA but was amended in 2010 to remove the word District from the official name. Why? Well, the assumption had been that district was pretty much implied by creating an AVA in the first place and that there was just so much real estate available on a wine bottle label. Either way, the justifications for the creating of the viticultural area remained the same – elevation, soils and climates.

The soils of the area are ancient ocean sediments mixed with basalts from the sea floor which are capable of holding moisture much longer than others. The two most predomininant types are the Willakenzie which is well drained with medium permeability and Peavine which are found at higher elevations and contain more clays which allows for slightly slower drainage. Elevation is also a differentiating element for the appellation. The requirements under TTBs rules require that the elevation for qualifying wines must be between 200 and 1000 feet. This is important as lower areas are subject to frost, while higher sites do not get enough warmth to allow grapes to mature. Additionally, the climate is overall warmer and dryer than the surrounding areas which include the Coastal Range to the west and the Van Duzer Corridor to the south which allows cool damp air from the Pacific to move eastward into the central part of the state.

Currently there are 60 vineyards and 30 wineries producing from the following varietals:

Chardonnay
Dolcetto
Early Muscat
Muscat Ottonel
Pinot Blanc
Pinot Gris
Pinot Meunier
Pinot Noir

Yamhill-Carlton AVA by Gretchen Neuman for VinoVerve.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Willamette Valley AVA

By admin | October 1, 2012 - 12:01 am |September 28, 2012 AVA, Cabernet Franc, cabernet sauvignon, California, Cascade, Chardonnay, Charles Coury, Chehalem Mountains, David Lett, Dick Erath, Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, Gewurtztraminer, Gretchen Neuman, Malbec, Marechal Foch, McMinnville, Merlot, Muller-Thurgau, Muscat, Oregon, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, pinot noir, Ribbon Ridge, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz / Syrah, State, Tocai, Viognier, WBC12, Willamette Valley, wine, Yamhill-Carlton District

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It’s Willamette Dammit! And rightfully so, as this appellation is the big daddy of Oregon winemaking. (also, it is pronounced Ora-gun not Or-e-gone. These folks are making you delicious wine. Be respectful of their ways). Stretching 150 miles north to south and 60 miles wide in some places, this is the home of Pinot. The climate is perfect for it. Located in the same latitudes as the vineyards of Alsace and Burgundy with warm dry summers and a cool rainy season all that this viticultural area needed for success was the perfect soil conditions. And what do you know? They got them. Oregon’s Jory soils are located in the foothills of the region are are composed of igneous rocks that were swept through the region thousands of years ago at the time of the Missoula Floods. The soil is thick, well drained and full of minerally deposits that grapes just love.

While there is a long history of agriculture in the region, viticulture didn’t really take off until the mid to late 1960s when UC Davis alum Charles Coury, Dick Erath and David Lett found their way up north of California. From there the industry has grown by leaps and bounds with around 200 wineries and an additionally six new sub-appellations in existence. And while Pinot Noir is King, it isn’t the only game in town, additionally grown are:

Auxerrois
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cascade
Chardonnay
Dolcetto
Gamay
Gewürztraminer
Malbec
Marechal Foch
Melon
Merlot
Muller Thurgau
Muscat Canelli
Muscat Ottonel
Nebbiolo
Pinot Blanc
Pinot Gris
Pinot Noir
Riesling
Sauvignon Blanc
Syrah
Tocai Fruiulano
Viognier

Willamette Valley AVA by Gretchen Neuman for VinoVerve.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Walla Walla AVA

By admin | September 27, 2012 - 8:58 pm |September 27, 2012 Barbera, Cabernet Franc, cabernet sauvignon, Carménère, Chardonnay, Gewurtztraminer, Grenache, Malbec, Marsanne, Merlot, Mourvedre, Oregon, Petit Verdot, Pinot Gris, pinot noir, Riesling, Roussane, Sangiovese, Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, tempranillo, Viognier, Walla Walla, Washington, WBC'10, wine, Wine Bloggers Conference

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A town so nice, they named it twice!

Well, not so much the town in this scenario as the entire appellation. This seems only fair as the this AVA is located in two separate states – Oregon and Washington. The justifications for the establishment of the viticultural area are historic, geologic, geographic and climatic.

Walla Walla translates at “rapid stream” or “many waters” in the Sahaptin language that is shared by the Walla Walla, Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce and Tenino peoples. Western settlers moved into the area beginning in the 1830s when Marcus and Narcissa Whitman came as missionaries to the Walla Walla people but were murdered by the Cayuse following outbreaks of measles that the indians believed were caused by the whites (they were, but they didn’t do it on purpose as no one was aware of germ theory quite yet). Viticulture began informally with French fur trappers in the 1840s in an area previously known as Frenchtown, now called Lowden.

The geologic basis of the creation of the appellation is based in part on the similarity of the river plain of assorted wind blown loess soils well drained by smaller streams that cut through the area. Being located between the Cascades and the Blue Mountains along the Washington, Oregon and Idaho border means that the area is blocked from the moderating temperatures nearer the Pacific but also in a rain shadow as well. This means that the climate is more intense with warmer days with cool evenings and semi-arid which requires irrigation for cultivation.

Modern viticulture (i.e. post-(the dreaded) Prohibition) began with Leonetti Cellars in the 1970s with Woodward Canyon Cellars and L’Ecole 41 coming along in the 1980s . The Walla Walla AVA was established in 1984 and amended to extend the territory in 2001. Varietals produced in the area include:

Barbera
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Sauvignon
Carmenere
Chardonnay
Cinsault
Counoise
Dolcetto
Gewürztraminer
Grenache
Malbec
Marsanne
Merlot
Mourvedre
Nebbiolo
Petit Verdot
Pinot Gris
Pinot Noir
Riesling
Rousanne
Sangiovese
Semillon
Sauvignon Blanc
Syrah
Tempranillo
Viognier

Oh, and I have actually been to this viticultural area! The Wine Bloggers’ Conference in 2010 was in Walla Walla.

Walla Walla AVA by Gretchen Neuman for VinoVerve.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Category Archives: Grape Varietals

Meadowbrook (Michigan) Wine and Food Festival

Qorkz.com – For Hidden Wine Gems

Cherry Creek Winery @ The Old Schoolhouse – Brooklyn, MI

Moon Mountain District Sonoma County

Arkansas. Wine.

The Big Woods

Wine From the Sunshine State

Yamhill-Carlton AVA

Willamette Valley AVA

Walla Walla AVA

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