Sean P. Sullivan - Washington Wine Report Note: Site has moved to www.northwestwinereport.com

Capping off a year of vivid Washington wine imagery, resident photographer Richard Duval captured a blanket of snow on Pepper Bridge vineyard and winery in Walla Walla - a perfect way to end 2017. Cheers and best wishes for the New Year!

As plantings increase in the Columbia Valley, growers and winemakers are looking to add to the specificity of their wines. It is therefore no surprise that four new appellations, or American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), have been proposed this year for Washington. The proposed appellations are, in order submitted, Candy Mountain, Royal Slope, The Burn of Columbia Valley, and White Bluffs.

If approved, Candy Mountain would be a new sub-appellation of the Yakima Valley, which in turn is a sub-appellation of the larger Columbia Valley. The area is located near West Richland, just north of Interstate 82. Candy Mountain, along with nearby Red Mountain, Badger Mountain, and Little Badger Mountain are collectively referred to as “the rattles” due to their alignment with Rattlesnake Mountain.

At 815 acres, Candy Mountain would be Washington’s smallest appellation, with most of the acreage lying on the mountain’s southwestern slopes. The area currently has 53.7 acres of wine grape vines planted. The largest vineyard is Candy Mountain Vineyard, with much of the fruit going to Long Shadows and L’Ecole No. 41. There is one winery located within the appellation, Kitzke Cellars. The application was accepted January 24, 2017.

Royal Slope would also be a new sub-appellation of the Columbia Valley. The proposed appellation is located in east-central Washington, near the town of Royal City, with Highway 26 cutting through it. The area is located between the Ancient Lakes AVA, which forms part of the Royal Slope’s northern boundary, and the Wahluke Slope, which lies to the south.

The proposed area is 156,389 acres and currently has more than 1,400 planted to wine grape vines. It includes 13 commercial vineyards, among them Stillwater Creek, Lawrence, and Stoneridge, along with one winery, Foxy Roxy Wines. Of note, Stoneridge was the source of the fruit for the 2006 Charles Smith Royal City Syrah, which received a 100-point rating from critic Paul Gregutt at Wine Enthusiast. The application was accepted April 14, 2017.

The Burn of Columbia Valley appellation would be located in south-central Washington, west of Sundale. The area lies east of the Columbia Gorge AVA and west of the Horse Heaven Hills AVA on a bench above the Columbia River, which forms the area’s southern boundary. According to the application, the name ‘The Burn’ has been used to refer to this area since the early 1900s.

There are 16,870 acres in the proposed appellation, of which 1,261 are under vine. Cabernet Sauvignon comprises the vast majority of the plantings. The application was accepted on October 31, 2017.

Finally, White Bluffs would also be a new sub-appellation of the Columbia Valley. The proposed appellation is located in south-central Washington, north of Richland by the Columbia River, which forms part of the western boundary. The area encompasses 93,738 acres, of which 1,127 are under vine. The proposed appellation takes its name from an escarpment of whitish sedimentary rock along the eastern bank of the Columbia River.

The appellation would include a number of well-known vineyards, such as Sagemoor and Gamache. Claar Cellars is the only winery located within the appellation. The application was accepted on November 7, 2017.

Washington currently has 14 federally approved growing regions. If all of these new areas are approved, that number would expand to 18. Washington’s first appellation, Yakima Valley, was approved in 1983. Its fourteenth, Lewis-Clark Valley, which Washington shares with Idaho, was approved in 2016.

Each submitted application will undergo a review process as well as a comment period before a determination is made about its status. That process can take several years. Once an application is approved, wineries may begin using the appellation name on wine labels.

The further carving up of the Columbia Valley into additional sub-appellations is a natural and necessary part of the evolution of the Washington wine industry. The Columbia Valley was designed as a massive appellation, encompassing more than one quarter of the state’s acreage. In essence, when you buy a bottle of wine that says Columbia Valley, it’s broadly saying that it comes from somewhere in eastern Washington.

Winemakers continue to source fruit throughout the Columbia Valley and blend it together to create wine, and there’s no doubt the Columbia Valley designation continues to have value. However, many winemakers are also increasingly focusing on particular areas and vineyards. For this reason, adding specificity to the label can be helpful in talking about where the wine comes from. Of course, then comes the heavy lifting of working to promote and distinguish the new appellation and to create a brand that can be used to successfully market the wines.

This takes time. Walla Walla Valley is an excellent example. This appellation was approved in 1984, when there was very little wine grape acreage in the valley. Flash forward 30-some odd years and the appellation now has nearly 3,000 acres planted to wine grape vines, and it is increasingly establishing a reputation as a premier winegrowing region.

The Washington wine industry remains fast-growing. With other appellation applications in the works, expect additional sub-appellations of the Columbia Valley to be proposed in the future.

With harvest’s end comes the canopy color change. After six weeks of capturing the joy and madness of harvest and crush, resident photographer Richard Duval ended the season at Doubleback’s McQueen Vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley.

 “Photo conditions were perfect,” he noted. “Cool but not cold morning temperatures, soft sunlight streaking over the Blue Mountains, and a canopy of pure gold. A grand way to end the harvest season of 2017.”

Click on the picture to see a larger image.

Below is a look at what was picked, when, and where in Washington during October. Many growers and winemakers wrapped up harvest this year between the middle and end of October, although some did pick into November.

The hallmark of this harvest season was certainly the cool down that took place in September and October, where heat accumulation more or less flatlined. This is well shown in the chart of Growing Degree Days (GDD), a measure of heat accumulation, from Washington State University. This allowed picking to occur at a measured pace.

Winemaker Trey Busch of Sleight of Hand Cellars in the Walla Walla Valley sent along the following table of pick dates over the last three years. For perspective, 2015 was a hot year (again, see the GDD chart above). 2016 had an extremely warm start but then more of a normal(ish) final few months. 2017 had above average heat accumulation during the height of the summer but then cooled down considerably in September and October. Here are Busch's notes:

Block:	2015	2016	2017
French Creek Chardonnay	8/19/15	8/19/16	9/8/17
Red Mountain Vineyard Merlot	9/4/15	9/7/16	9/26/17
Seven Hills Block 33 Merlot	9/9/15	9/12/16	9/16/17
Red Mountain Vineyard Block D CS	9/10/15	9/28/16	10/8/17
Les Collines Block 50 Syrah	9/7/15	9/24/16	9/23/17
Phinny Hill "Elene's Block" CS Clone 8	9/22/15	9/30/16	10/14/17
Lewis Syrah	9/30/15	10/7/16	10/19/17
Blue Mountain Vineyard CS	9/23/15	10/3/16	10/4/17
Blue Mountain Vineyard Block 1 CF	9/24/15	10/1/16	10/11/17
CS = Cabernet Sauvignon CF = Cabernet Franc

As you can see, there is variability in the pick dates across years. While some of the 2017 dates line up with 2016, most are 10-14 days (or more) later.

I'll post additional thoughts on the growing season in a subsequent harvest report.

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See information on the Washington State Growing Degree Days here.

See monthly forecast for Yakima Valley (Sunnyside), Red Mountain (Benton City), Walla Walla, Paterson, and Mattawa.

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The information in the table below is aggregated from personal correspondence with growers and winemakers, as well as information posted on Twitter and Facebook. It is not intended to be comprehensive but rather is intended as a snapshot of what is going on around the state. If you wish to send data for your grapes or vineyards (or correct any of the information below), please email me at wawinereport@gmail.com, leave a comment here, or leave a comment on the WWR Facebook page.

Winery	Grape	Vineyard	Date	Notes
Columbia Valley
Hedges	Cabernet Sauv	Sagemoor	10/4
Rocky Pond	Merlot	Double D	10/5
Succession	Sauv Blanc	Double D	10/5
Lodmell	Syrah	Estate	10/6
Baer	Cabernet Franc	Stillwater	10/7
Rasa	Riesling	Bacchus/ Dionysus	10/7
Gordon	Alicante Boushchet	Estate	10/10
Lodmell	Cabernet Sauv	Estate	10/11
Lawrence	Cabernet Sauv	Solaksen	10/14	Clone 4
Lawrence	Malbec	Solaksen	10/14
Baer	Petit Verdot	Stillwater	10/17	Final grapes of season
Tempus	Cabernet Sauv	Bacchus	10/18
--	Cabernet Sauv	Solaksen	10/20	Clone 191
Kitzke	Petit Verdot	Candy Mt	10/20
Kitzke	Sangiovese	Candy Mt	10/20
--	Grenache	Double D	10/26
Gordon Estate	Cabernet Sauv	Estate	10/30	Last pick
--	Cabernet Sauv	Double D	11/1	Last fruit will be 11/2
Yakima Valley
Eight Bells	Cabernet Sauv	Red Willow	10/4
Sparkman	Syrah	Olsen	10/6	2012 plantings
--	Cabernet Franc	DuBrul	10/6	For rosé
Co Dinn	Grenache	Lonesome Spr	10/17
Co Dinn	Syrah	Lonesome Spr	10/17
Co Dinn	Mourvedre	Lonesome Spr	10/17
--	Grenache	Boushey	10/18
--	Mourvedre	Boushey	10/18
Kevin White	Mourvedre	Boushey	10/19
Rattlesnake Hills
Cote Bonneville	Cabernet Sauv	DuBrul	10/10
Co Dinn	Cabernet Franc	Elephant Mt	10/11
Co Dinn	Petit Verdot	Elephant Mt	10/11
Convergence Zone	Cabernet Franc	Dineen	10/12
Pearl & Stone	Mourvedre	Sugarload	10/14
Cote Bonneville	Cabernet Sauv	DuBrul	10/16	For Carriage House
Kevin White	Cabernet Sauv	DuBrul	10/18	Last fruit
--	Cabernet Sauv	DuBrul	10/23
--	Cabernet Sauv	DuBrul	10/26	Last day of harvest
Snipes Mountain
Orr	Chenin Blanc	Upland	10/9
Red Mountain
EFESTE	Syrah	Ciel du Cheval	10/4	For Ceidleigh
Fidelitas	Cabernet Sauv	Estate	10/4
Robert Ramsay	Counoise	Red Heaven	10/4
Convergence Zone	Grenache	Ciel du Cheval	10/6
Auclair	Cabernet Franc	Ciel du Cheval	10/7
Ancestry	Cabernet Sauv	Redpath	10/13
Auclair	Cabernet Sauv	Kiona	10/15	1976 block
Auclair	Cabernet Sauv	Heart of Hill	10/15
Hard Row	Cabernet Sauv	Heat of Hill	10/23
L’Ecole No. 41	Cabernet Sauv	Klipsun	10/23	Last fruit of harvest. 46 days after the start.
Auclair	Cabernet Sauv	Artz	10/23	Last fruit
Hard Row	Grenache	Red Heaven	11/1
Hard Row	Syrah	Red Heaven	11/1
Hard Row	Mourvedre	Red Heaven	11/1
Patterson	Touriga Nacional	Red Heaven	11/12	Last fruit of year
Patterson	Tempranillo	Red Heaven	11/12
Walla Walla Valley
Tertulia	Cabernet Sauv	Riviere Galet	10/4
Golden Ridge	Merlot	Estate	10/4
Abeja	Syrah	Mill Creek	10/6
Kontos	Cabernet Sauv	Seven Hills	10/6
Laelaps	Cabernet Sauv	Seven Hills	10/7
Tertulia	Cabernet Franc	Elevation	10/9
Lagana	Carmenere	Seven Hills	10/9
Basel Cellars	Syrah	Double River	10/10
Gifford Hirlinger	Merlot	Estate	10/10
Tertulia	Grenache	Riviere Galets	10/11
College Cellars	Cabernet Sauv	Stan Clarke	10/12
Dusted Valley	Cabernet Franc	Sconni Block	10/14
Tertulia	Cabernet Sauv	Elevation	10/16
Sleight of Hand	Grenache	Elevation	10/16
Tertulia	Grenache	Riviere Galets	10/17
Abeja	Cabernet Franc	Heather Hill	10/19
Dusted Valley	Cabernet Sauv	Southwind	10/29
Gifford Hirlinger	Petit Verdot	Estate	10/31	Last fruit
Long Shadows	Sangiovese	Pepper Bridge	10/31	Last pick
Wahluke Slope
Longship	Cabernet Sauv	Northridge	10/31	Last fruit
Horse Heaven Hills
Sleight of Hand	Cabernet Franc	Phinny Hill	10/13	Elene’s block
Hard Row	Syrah	Destiny Ridge	10/16
Ste. Michelle	Cabernet Franc	Canoe Ridge	10/16
Alexandria Nicole	Cabernet Sauv	Destiny Ridge	10/19	Block 5
Eternal	Cabernet Sauv	Discovery	10/24
Columbia Gorge
Dowsett	Gewurz	Celilo	10/10
Lake Chelan
Hard Row	Viognier	Jon Wadkins	10/4
--	Riesling	Clos CheValle	10/4
Hard Row	Pinot Noir	Clos CheValle	10/9
Rocky Pond	Riesling	Clos CheValle	10/9
Rocky Pond	Syrah	Clos CheValle	10/11
Vin du Lac	Pinot Noir	Clos CheValle	10/13
--	Syrah	Double D	10/15
--	Malbec	Double D	10/18
Hard Row	Roussanne	Robin’s	10/18
Hard Row	Marsanne	Robin’s	10/18
Radiance	Riesling	Clos CheValle	10/25
Hard Row	Cabernet Franc	Glacier Gravels	10/28