The second-largest fine-wine state in America hides in the rain shadow of the Cascades, where the Columbia River waters a high desert that would otherwise grow nothing. On the same latitude as Bordeaux but with far more sunshine and a sharp day-to-night swing, it ripens fruit fully while holding on to acidity — and its sandy soils have never known phylloxera, so most vines grow on their own roots.
Cabernet and Merlot from the warm Red Mountain and Walla Walla sites rival Napa for power; Syrah and Riesling thrive in the cooler pockets. Barely fifty years old as a serious wine region, Washington has quietly become one of the New World's most reliable sources of structured, ageworthy red.