Washington and Oregon Wineries & Wine Regions
Columbia Gorge Wine Country,
Wineries and Wines

        If you have never traveled in the Columbia River Gorge, you are in for a spectacular treat!  And... there are vineyards and wineries, too!

        As the nation's first National Scenic Area, the Columbia River Gorge set the standard for this federal designation (November, 1986).  The Gorge is unique, in the true meaning of the word, and one of the most dramatic river canyons in the country.  Here, the mighty Columbia River flows through an 80-mile, sea-level route slashed through the Cascade Mountain Range 12,000 to 19,000 years ago.  The only sea-level passage through any mountain range of America's western states, its geologic history is not one of gradual processes, but rather that of cataclysmic events... events that first laid down, then tore away, thousands of years of volcanic bedrock. 

        A many-chaptered, astonishing story of Columbia-Basin volcanism (and "The Great Floods" that followed) is written within and etched on surfaces of  precipitous walls lining the Columbia River Gorge... the last leg of Lewis and Clark's nation-altering expedition.  Other geologic records of these repetitive volcanic and flooding periods are found in many locations throughout Oregon and Washington, but nowhere are the dramatic episodes more clearly read than in the lands of Columbia Gorge wine country.

Epic floods...
"...among the greatest known to humanity"

       As temperatures began to rise toward the end of the last Ice Age, violent floodwaters repeatedly broke through the confines of a 2,000-foot-high glacial ice dam that blocked the canyon of the Clark Fork River east of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho.  First breaching, then fracturing the icy monolith, dammed waters escaped from a 3,000-square-mile lake behind the dam, tearing huge, frozen blocks and boulders of granite and schist from the walls of the dam.

        Water, icebergs and boulders were propelled across the Columbia Basin at an initial, maximum rate of about 9.5 cubic miles of water an hour, scouring out the "Scablands" of eastern Washington and collecting more soil, rocks and boulders along the way.  By the time they reached what is now the Wallula Gap, at the east end of today's Columbia River Gorge, floodwaters had "slowed" to a rate of 1.66 cubic miles of water an hour -- 190 times the volume of the largest Columbia River flood in recorded history.  For two or three weeks at a time, these recurring, stone-laden floodwaters swept through the area, scouring and sculpting the Columbia River Gorge landscape, leaving river tributaries hanging as waterfalls in their surge toward the sea. 

Today's Columbia Gorge Wine Country  

     Today, the Columbia River Gorge is not only a spectacularly beautiful testament of the astounding forces of natural events;  it is also rich with the cultural history of  Indian People first living and trading in the Gorge, of famous visits by explorers like Lewis and Clark, and of settlers that followed the Oregon Trail to the West.  Providing a route through the bowels of the Cascade Mountains, historic highways allow travelers to drive from "the wet side" to the "dry side" of the Cascades and through corresponding eco-system transformations within an hour of Portland, Oregon, or Vancouver, Washington.

        The Historic Columbia River Highway is America's premiere Historic and Scenic Highway.  Built between 1913 and 1922, along the steep cliffs of the Gorge, this narrow, curving roadway was a technological tour-de-force when it was constructed. 

       The Columbia River Gorge and its surrounding lands are unquestionably a national treasure.  Viticulturists think so, too.  Pockets of old vineyards found near Bingen, Washington, suggest this is not a new conclusion.  Today, hundreds of newer vineyard acres occupy a variety of terroirs throughout the Gorge.  Flood-scoured plateau lands offer vineyardists gravelly soils, long and sunny summer days, limited rainfall, and the temperature-moderating influence of updrafts from the nearby Columbia River Gorge.  Delta lands of scenic rivers emptying into the Columbia River offer rich, silty soils, sloping landscapes, and the long summer days characteristic of this northern clime. 

        Climate and terrain range from conditions found in Germany to France's Burgundy and Italy's northern Rhone Valley and northwest Piedmont.  From the cool, western end of the Gorge come delicate Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays; moving eastward, warmer-weather red grapes such as Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernets and Barberas share the warmth with white Rieslings, Gewürztraminers and Viogniers.

        The diversity of wine grapes grown in the Columbia River Gorge are unlikely to be matched elsewhere is such a small stretch of land.  In fact, so unusual is this growing area that vineyard and winery owners filed an application with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to establish a shared appellation for Oregon and Washington... the Columbia Gorge American Viticulture Area.  The AVA was authorized in the Federal Register on May 10, 2004.  The appellation straddles both sides of the Columbia River for a stretch of about 15 miles, including 280 square miles.

    Heading east from Portland, the traveler drives from "the wet side" to "the dry side" of the Cascades in a matter of an hour or two.  Nowhere else in the Pacific Northwest can such diversity of habitat (and terroir) be found in such close proximity as in the Columbia River Gorge.

       You'll find an ample number of wineries as well, scattered (and growing in numbers) along the near sea-level routes of  both Oregon's Interstate 84 and Washington's two-lane Highway 14, as well as on the plateau lands above that slope toward the vertical walls of the Gorge.

       You can be sure touring Columbia Gorge Wine Country is the stuff of memorable journeys.  Allow for plenty of "stopping time" along the way, beyond what time you plan to spend at specific wineries... and...

       Do yourself a favor.  Take the "Scenic Route" (the Historic Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway) on the Oregon side, or two-lane Highway 14 in Washington.  You won't forget it!   

Navigating the Columbia Gorge wine region

     Forming a border between Washington and Oregon, the Columbia River Gorge offers wine touring on both states, with enough bridges across the Columbia to make interstate touring easy. 

        Click on the thumbnail map below to see a larger, detailed map where you can locate and plan your own wine tour of both Washington and Oregon wineries in this region.  Some Columbia Gorge wineries have opted to provide full-pages of information on Wines Northwest to describe their facilities, services, events, and the wines they offer their visitors.  Click on any winery name in blue hypertext below to get the details. Watch for area-sensitive links to explore lodging, dining and touring suggestions for the same region.

Columbia Gorge Wineries & Touring Map
(Wineries open to the public)

Wine Shops and Wine Bars

Copyright © 2003 - 2008    Susan R. O'Hara. All rights reserved. 
Last revised: 02/08/2008