The Horse Heaven Hills AVA is an American Viticultural Area in southeastern

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and is part of the larger Columbia Valley AVA. The Horse Heaven Hills AVA borders the

Yakima Valley AVA } The Yakima Valley AVA was the first American Viticultural Area established within Washington state, gaining the recognition in 1983. Part of the larger Columbia Valley AVA, Yakima Valley AVA is home to more than of vineyards, giving the ar ...

on the north and the Columbia River on the south. Elevations in this AVA range from above sea level in the south to above sea level at the northern boundary. Grapes planted in the south-facing slopes of the

Horse Heaven Hills The Horse Heaven Hills are a long range of high, rolling hills in Klickitat, Yakima, and Benton counties in Washington. The hills are an anticline ridge in the Yakima Fold Belt formed by north–south compression of lava flows in the Columbi ...

benefit from strong winds that arrive from the west via the

Columbia Gorge The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the sta ...

, reducing the likelihood of rot and

fungal A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

diseases.

Wineries

Horse Heaven Hills AVA is home to the single largest wine making facility in Washington, the Columbia Crest Winery owned by Chateau Ste. Michelle in Paterson. Alexandria Nicole Cellars has a large vineyard at Destiny Ridge. The AVA is also home to Zephyr Ridge Vineyard, which produces grapes for many wineries in Washington, including Hogue Cellars and

Swiftwater Cellars Don Watts (born 1956 or 1957) is an American farmer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the former CEO of Watts Brothers Farms and Frozen Foods in Kennewick, Washington which was later acquired by Conagra Foods, the owner of Zephyr Ridge Vin ...

Wines

Some of

cult wines Cult wines are wines for which dedicated groups of committed enthusiasts will pay large sums of money. Cult wines are often seen as trophy wines to be collected or as investment wine to be held rather than consumed. Because price is often seen ...

are produced from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown in this AVA including the 2002 and 2003 Quilceda Creek Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon, which scored the rare 100 point rating from Robert Parker's ''

The Wine Advocate ''The Wine Advocate'', fully known as ''Robert Parker's Wine Advocate'' and informally abbreviated ''TWA'' or ''WA ''or more recently as ''RP'', is a bimonthly wine publication based in the United States featuring the consumer advice of wine criti ...

''. Only 15 other wines in the US have received this designation, all made from California grapes. Only five other previous vintages have received consecutive perfect scores in ''The Wine Advocates publishing history. The Quilceda Creek wines were blends with grapes from three Red Mountain AVA vineyards and one Horse Heaven Hills AVA vineyard.

References

{{coord, 45.9571, -119.6095, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-WA_dim:27000 American Viticultural Areas Geography of Benton County, Washington Geography of Klickitat County, Washington Horse Heaven Hills Washington (state) wine Geography of Yakima County, Washington 2005 establishments in Washington (state)

Wineries

Wines

See also

References