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Idaho's
Snake River Valley likely to be state's first appellation
A sure sign of Idaho's maturing wine and vineyard industry is the
collaboration of wineries, viticulturists, USDA and academia to
develop and submit an application to the US Department of the
Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) for
American Viticultural Area (AVA) status for Idaho's Snake River
Valley. The proposed area also takes in parts of eastern
Oregon.
The application process is laborious, requiring detailed
information about the geographic boundaries for the proposed
appellation, its geological character, its history related to
grape and wine production, and why the area is distinct from
others.
See our Snake River Valley Wine Country
map page for wineries.
A Snake River Valley appellation would include the area known as
prehistoric Lake Idaho, which
existed in southwestern
Idaho about 3.5 million years ago. It
stretched from today's Brownlee Reservoir in Hells Canyon to an
area that ends just before Twin Falls. This area includes
the majority of Idaho's wineries and vineyards, most of
which are located in southwestern Idaho's Sunny Slope region near Marsing.
Every wine-growing region
federally authorized as
an
American Viticultural Area (AVA/appellation) must have special
qualities that shape the nature of the wines produced there.
The AVA
application process requires extensive reporting of the proposed
region's geologic character and its boundaries, its soil types and
climate; in other words, what sets it apart as distinct from other
nearby regions... what types of terroir are offered that bode well for
successful vinifera grape growing. The
documented success of wine growing throughout the proposed
Snake River Valley
region proves the case for terroir capable of producing quality
vinifera grapes.
An AVA application also requires applicants
to report information regarding the number of existing wineries
in the proposed area.
Idaho's Snake River Valley
region can point to both its mature and successful wineries... large
and small, as well as its newer and its newest.
Wineries
of the region are viewed as corroboration of wine grape quality, which
confirms the quality of that region's growing sites.
At the
foundation of these interdependent relationships is that complex and
controversial concept of terroir... the interplay of a location's
combined traits. The general topic of terroir is of growing international interest,
with entire publications, recent articles and symposia devoted to it.
, exploring evidence and
opinions regarding
the interplay of climate, soil, geology and culture said to influence the character and quality of wine.
The interplay of a location's characteristics is what makes the whole
of its terroir; a single site trait may be the most significant
component of its terroir, but it is the interplay of that site's
traits -- exposure (compass heading), climate, soil, slope, geology
and culture, to list a few -- that establishes its unique terroir.
The matter of weather and vintages is less predictable than the choice
of terroir for a vineyard site. What may be good terroir for grape quality in one year, may be less so in
another; vintage years that are relatively warm and dry may
favor one vineyard -- with a particular slope, elevation, sun angle
and soil type -- over another with different terroir. The reverse may be true in years that are cooler and wetter.
Idaho and Washington... differences and
commonalities
Notwithstanding the variability of their respective terroir,
the
proposed Snake River Valley region
and those of eastern Washington are strikingly similar:
-
Both regions' geological
histories are
influenced by volcanism and glaciations;
-
Both experience hard winters
on a somewhat regular cycle -- although both are experiencing a
change in these historic cycles
perhaps related to the overall effects of global warming;
-
Both laid the foundation of
their industries on white wines, particularly riesling;
-
Both
are located
in dry agricultural areas that receive fewer than 10 inches of rain
a year, facilitating vineyard canopy management by irrigation.
The primary
differences between these two regions involve vineyard elevations and
differing soil types brought about by variations in their geologic
stories.
Appellations are good marketing tools,
concludes Robert Corbell, executive director of the
Idaho Grape
Growers and Wine Producers Commission. "These federally approved
areas tie a region together and provide an assurance to wine
enthusiasts that growers and producers in the area are working
cooperatively to produce quality wines."
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