03/16/07 Expanding Idaho`s AVA`s

The Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission received word last Friday that approval of its application for an AVA designation has been published and that the Snake River Valley is now officially recognized as a unique grape growing region capable of producing excellent wines. Idaho Wine Commission's Ron Bitner says the announcement has been a huge upside for the area. BITNER: I mean in one day I'm seeing such an interest in it just because it went out on such a national level. To vintners, the AVA designation promises production of fruit with unique characteristics and flavor -- perfect for creating fine wine. As of April 9, Idaho`s Snake River Valley will take its place among 236 AVAs in the US, a third of which are in California. Bitner says the fact that the viticulture area was once the bottom of Lake Idaho certainly helps. BITNER: The most easily defined geographic feature is the Lake Idaho seabed that was here several millions of years ago. But 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. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.