The Appellation

After emerging in the mid-1970s as a promising young wine region, Washington State has matured into the second-largest wine producing region in the United States.

The Cascade Mountains divide the state into two distinct regions, with completely different climates. When thinking of Washington most think of the wet, western part of the state, which receives about 50 inches of rainfall a year. Conversely, the area to the east of the Cascades has a near desert climate receiving only 6 to 23 inches of rainfall annually, with warm days and cool nights. The dry environment, well-drained soils, and daily diurnal temperature variations of this area are ideal for cultivating high-quality wine grapes with fully developed fruit flavors and lively acidity. Federally recognized in 1984, the Walla Walla Valley AVA (American Viticulture Area), stretches from the foothills of the Blue Mountains westward toward the Columbia River and includes parts of both Washington and Oregon.

Several cataclysmal geological events have contributed to the superb grape growing soils of the region. These events include some of the earth's largest known lava flows, and then the earth's largest documented floods which left behind glacial sediment and fine grained deposits on top of the hardened basalt.

The Walla Walla Valley lies within the Columbia Basin; an area that 15 million years ago was flooded by lava, which hardened into basalt. Between 15 and 12 thousand years ago, the Walla Walla Valley was flooded again, this time by water. A large lobe of ice moving south from Canada formed glacial Lake Missoula when it blocked the Clark Fork River in the Idaho Panhandle. The resulting flooding that took place as the ice melted swept across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge. When these floods reached the constriction at Wallula Gap (a gap within the Horse Heaven Hills) they pooled, creating a temporary lake in the valleys of the Walla Walla, Yakima, Snake, and Columbia Rivers. In this lake were millions of tons of suspended sediment, rich in minerals such as quartz and mica. As the floods gradually drained, a layer of this sediment was deposited on the floor of the lake. The Walla Walla Valley contains up to 100 ft. of glacial flood sediments that were deposited by over 30 Missoula floods. After each flood, the prevailing southwest winds picked up the smallest fragments of the flood deposits and blew them to the northeast, blanketing downwind flood sediments and the hills that were above the Missoula floodwaters with a thick accumulation of wind-deposited silt known as loess. The loess and flood sediments also contain layers of volcanic ash derived from explosive eruptions of Cascade Range volcanoes such as Mt. Mazama (Crater Lake) and Mt. St. Helens.

The Walla Walla Valley is very unusual because in most areas the soils were not derived from the weathering of the underlying bedrock. They were transported into the area by floods and/or wind and thus considered to be "exotic". The Walla Walla Valley lies at 46 degrees North latitude, approximately the same latitude as the great French wine growing region of Bordeaux. Because of its northern latitude, the Walla Walla Valley enjoys as much as two more hours of summer sunlight than California wine regions. The longer days allow the grapes to fully ripen, and the cool nights provide a higher natural acidity. The great soils and fantastic climate combine to make Walla Walla Valley an exceptional source for Bordeaux grape varietals, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, as well as Syrah.

The grapes for Ash Hollow's white wines come from outstanding vineyards in the Columbia Valley. The terroir of this area - the unique soils and climatic conditions of long days and cool nights - allow the white grapes to become fully ripe and yet retain the crisp acids that make the wines so refreshing.