Growers and vintners in Southwest Washington believe a Mount St. Helens AVA would provide long-deserved recognition to this historical grape growing region
By editor John Vitale
THERE ARE a couple dozen or so smaller to mid-sized estate wineries spread across a fairly large swath of Southwest Washington that have been plying their trade in a no-man’s land of sorts, void of any designated American Viticultural Area (AVA).
The distinction and prestige that comes from operating under the umbrella of a bona fide AVA, or lack thereof in this case, does not appear to have affected the stable growth of wineries and vineyards trickling into the counties surrounding Vancouver USA. This is especially true in Clark County, home to the vast majority of vineyards and ranked as the fifth largest population in the state at over
a half-million residents.
Some believe the area’s contributions merit recognition and seek to change the status quo. Tom Aspitarte, founder of Martha’s Vineyard of Skamania County tells Washington Tasting Room Magazine the absence of an AVA presents its own set of challenges in a highly regulated industry. “I’m an estate winery and I need to be in an AVA to label my wine as an estate wine,” he says. Aspitarte is not alone in this sentiment.
“All of the wineries here saw the gap in-between the other AVAs,” explains Roger Rezabek, co-owner of Rezabek Vineyards in Battle Ground. “We sit south of Puget Sound AVA, north of the Willamette Valley, and west of the Columbia Gorge and Columbia Valley AVAs. The vineyards exist, the wineries exist; there is no reason why this area shouldn’t also be an AVA.”
This lush pastoral corridor played a historical role in the establishment of the wine industry dating back to 1825, when the Hudson’s Bay Company planted the earliest recorded commercial grapes in the Oregon Territory near Fort Vancouver. Notably, cuttings from these original vines were widely propagated in the region during the 19th century, thus helping spread viticulture throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The need for a stronger identity resulted in local growers banding together in 2016 to form the Southwest Washington Winery Association. A volunteer committee was assembled to begin the research-heavy petition process of establishing the Mount St. Helens AVA.
To date, it’s been a diligent process with a steep learning curve for the group. Rezabek chairs the associations’ task force spearheading the petition. Several years of hard work have been spent underwriting the original petition, coupled with yet another 15 months to compile revisions to satisfy all of the regulatory paperwork.
In September of 2023, the application for the AVA received a green light from the Feds to move forward in the final hurdle known as the ‘pending’ phase. However due to a backlog of pending petitions it’s expected to take a year minimum to complete the rulemaking process and subsequent 60-day comment period before the AVA can be approved. But Rezabek and Aspitarte are optimistic.
Two other Washington AVA petitions are also pending—Mill Creek of the Walla Walla Valley and Columbia Hills in Klickitat County.
Prominent views of Mount St. Helens’ snow-capped peak dominate the landscape. Fittingly, the AVA seems equally as monumental.
“At over 2,100 square miles the Mount St. Helens AVA would be the third largest in the state after Columbia Valley and Puget Sound,” notes Rezabek.
Of the approximately 30 licensed wineries in Southwest Washington, many—if not most—use locally-grown grapes, often times supplementing with fruit grown in the hotter AVAs of Eastern Washington.
Over 90 percent of the estate wineries are small family-owned businesses with vineyards under ten acres in size.
“We can grow great Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Meunier and many other varieties, but Zinfandel and Syrah and Viognier take a longer growing season than we have,” says Rezabek. “Those grapes have to be sourced from the warmer, eastern side of the state, and we are happy to have that partnership.”
Pinot Noir is far and away the most popular grape here, but more than 20 other varieties grow well, including lesser-known types such as Golubok, Marechal Foch, Zweigelt, Pinot Blanc and Muscat to name a few. They appear to thrive in this cooler climate influenced by the self-made weather from Mount St. Helens and the Columbia River.
In addition to a small portion of western Skamania County, the proposed AVA will include parts of Clark, Cowlitz, and Lewis Counties. The boundaries will butt against the Willamette Valley AVA at the Columbia River, and the Puget Sound AVA along the Lewis-Thurston County line.
Washington is the second largest producer of wine in the country, with over 1,050 wineries and more than 60,000 acres of vineyards.