The Puget Sound AVA is an American Viticultural Area in western

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

. It is the only AVA in the state of Washington that is located west of the

Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, a ...

. Note that in 2019 there is a committee working to establish a southwestern WA AVA.

Geography and climate

The AVA encompasses the entire

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

area from the Canada–US border to just south of Olympia. Rainfall in the Puget Sound AVA ranges from to annually, which is similar to many

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an grape growing areas and the

Willamette Valley AVA The Willamette Valley AVA ( ) is an American Viticultural Area which lies in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The AVA is the wine growing region which encompasses the drainage basin of the Willamette River. It stretches from the Columbia Rive ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. Most of that rainfall occurs in the winter time. Summers are mild, sunny and dry.

Irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

is a necessity in some of the drier locations. The AVA is suited to cool climate varieties such as Madeleine Angevine, Madeline Sylvaner,

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine ...

and Siegerrebe with some clonal varieties of Pinot noir and

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

, Chardonnay and

Melon de Bourgogne Melon de Bourgogne or Melon is a variety of white grape grown primarily in the Loire Valley region of France. It is also grown in North America. It is best known through its use in the white wine Muscadet. In the U.S., Federal law prevents ...

growing well in warmer locations. Many new varieties showed promise during tests at the

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

Mount Vernon Agricultural Research Station circa 2005. Those include

Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

, St. Laurent,

Zweigelt The Zweigelt, also known as Rotburger, is a new Austrian grape created in 1922 by Friedrich Zweigelt (1888–1964), who later became Director of the Federal Institute and Experimental Station of Viticulture, Fruit Production and Horticulture ( ...

Dornfelder Dornfelder is a dark-skinned variety of grape of German origin used for red wine.

and

Garanoir Garanoir is a variety (botany), variety of red wine grape (wine), grape.Garanoir
, Vitis International ...

. In 2019 we're starting to see several of these varieties are showing up in tasting rooms in the area. The region is almost entirely within hardiness zone 8b.

History

One of the earliest recorded plantings in the Puget Sound area was done in 1872 by an

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

veteran named Lambert Evans on Stretch Island, near modern-day

Allyn-Grapeview Allyn-Grapeview is a former census-designated place (CDP) in Mason County, Washington, United States. At the 2010 census, the CDP was separated into Allyn and Grapeview. The combined 2010 population of the two new CDPs was 2,917. The community- ...

. Evans planted several varieties of ''

Vitis labrusca ''Vitis labrusca'', the fox grape, is a species of grapevines belonging to the ''Vitis'' genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The vines are native to eastern North America and are the source of many grape cultivars, including Catawba, C ...

'' there. There are still a few of these "Island Belle" vines surviving (2019) and Hoodsport Winery has produced a wine from them with that name for decades. Bainbridge Island Vineyard and Winery was established in 1977, their Founder Gerard Bentryn is credited with being the first to establish ''

Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curr ...

'' grapes in the Puget Sound area. Bentryn authored and established the definition of the Puget Sound AVA in 1995. It is the 4th AVA established in Washington State. Bentryn is also credited with being instrumental in bringing many of the cool climate varietals in common use today; he worked with Dr. Norton at

and had them imported from Saanich Farm Experimental Station in Canada,

Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute The Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute was founded in 1872 and is located in the town of Geisenheim, in Germany's Rheingau region. In 1876 Swiss-born professor Hermann Müller joined the institute, where he developed his namesake grape variety M ...

in Germany, and others.

Wineries

Although the Puget Sound AVA contains many wineries, most bring in grapes from

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanf ...

. there are 18 wineries producing wines from Puget Sound AVA grapes.

References

External links

Puget Sound Wine Growers Association
{{coord missing, Washington American Viticultural Areas Washington (state) wine Puget Sound region 1995 establishments in Washington (state)