As of April 9, Idaho's Snake River Valley will take its place among the other 236 AVAs in the United States, a third of which are in California. AVAs can encompass a large boundary covering hundreds of square miles or a land mass of just a few acres.

The Snake River Valley is relatively large. At 21,400 square kilometers (8,263 square miles or 5.27 million acres), it is larger than Connecticut and Delaware combined and is just shy of being as large as New Jersey. The area extends along the Snake River, east to west, from the Twin Falls area into Oregon. The area's geologic history, elevations and surrounding mountains, cold continental climate and complexities of its boundary lines are listed among its unique viticultural characteristics. Air currents created by the Snake River are noted for helping to temper Idaho's extreme winter temperatures and summer heat.

According to Ron Bitner, the acting director of the Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission, the Commission filed for the AVA; they had been working on it since 2002. "We know that we have a great region for growing world class grapes and felt that it was time to legitimize the area as such," he stated. Approximately 90 percent of the vineyards in Idaho are located within the AVA. Bitner added, "We are high mountain cold climate desert and the quality of the fruit depends on the vineyards ability to ripen the fruit with long hang times just to get to desired levels and this depends on micro climates situated along the Snake River of southwestern Idaho." In 2002 there were 14 bonded wineries in the state. Idaho currently has 31 wineries with at least four more planning to open within the next several months. The vineyard acreage has gone from 900 acres in 2002 to an estimated 15-1800 acres currently. And the Idaho Wine Commission has grown rapidly enough that it is currently in the process of hiring a new full time director.

--Lisa Shara Hall 
quelle:www.winebusiness.com