Candy Mountain AVA Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson.
Washington state now has 16 American Viticultural Areas with the September addition of our smallest AVA, Candy Mountain, that lies within the Yakima Valley AVA … AND … the even larger Columbia Valley AVA.
Heather Bradshaw, with the Washington State Wine Commission, says Candy Mountain has characteristics that make it special for growing wine grapes …
BRADSHAW … “For Candy Mountain specifically, it’s an isolated mountain with excellent cold air drainage and it rises above the sort of lower elevation plains below it. A very large percentage of Candy Mountain faces to the south which enhances that solar radiation and allows the soils to warm really quickly.”
That along with the shallow soils, Bradshaw says is what makes it special …
BRADSHAW … “And so, Candy Mountain similarly grows almost all red varieties and a lot of Cabernet Sauvignon, but there’s different varieties up there, but Cab is definitely the most prominent variety up there similar to Red Mountain.”
So, Bradshaw says look for Candy Mountain on your wine labels soon …
BRADSHAW … “It really is something that the wineries like to do. They like to label their bottles with AVA-designated wines. For instance, if you grow fruit in the Yakima Valley you can label your bottle Yakima Valley AVA and this just kind of narrows it down further.”
Listen tomorrow for more on Candy Mountain and the process of gaining AVA status.
