03/15/07 Idaho gets its first AVA

Some recognition for Idaho winemakers thanks to the US Treasury Department's approval of the Snake River Valley as an American viticulture area. The AVA designation covers more than five million acres from eastern Oregon to Twin Falls. Idaho Wine Commission's Ron Bitner says the designation raises the status of the state's wines. BITNER "I bet I have 50 emails here today from people congratulating us or national magazines that want to write about it or people interested in buying grapes from us from out of state or people who want to invest in property here. I mean in one day I'm seeing such an interest in it just because it went out on such a national level." Bitner says it's the combination of soil and climate that make Idaho wines unique. He says the fact that the viticulture area was once the bottom of Lake Idaho certainly helps. BITNER "It laid down the soils and sediments for our current day growing conditions and through the course of the eons we've had the volcanic eruptions that have left their marks but our boundaries are this old Lake Idaho seabed that stretched from Twin Falls up to near Payette and Weiser up in that area even over onto the Oregon side and up to an elevation I think of around 35 hundred feet. The Idaho wine industry has grown from 14 wineries in 2002 to 32 wineries today and nearly 50 vineyards. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott