Idaho wine refers to wine produced in the state of Idaho.[2] Idaho has a long history of wine production with the first vineyards in the Pacific Northwest being planted here in the 1860s. Prohibition virtually wiped out the Idaho wine industry in the early 20th Century, but was resurrected in the 1970s.[1] Today, Idaho's viticulture is its fastest growing agricultural industry.[3]
Geography and climate
Located in the Pacific Northwest, the wine regions of Idaho resembles Eastern Washington though the region is affected by a greater diurnal temperature variation. The average vineyard in Idaho sits at an altitude of 1,800 feet (550 m) among the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Advancements in vitculture has given winegrowers an understanding to plant vines in warmer localities limiting exposure to Idaho's severe winters which devastated crops during the 1970s and 1980s.
In recent years, improved viticultural practices common in Idaho included open canopies over the vines, drip irrigation and aggressive pruning to ensure lower yields.[2]
In 1999, the Idaho Department of Agriculture reported a total of twenty-three farms producing wine grapes. The farms reported a total of 656 acres (265 ha) in production, which represented 7% of the state total area for fruit production.[4] By the 2006 report, a total of forty-nine farms were included in the census. These operations reported a total of 1,214 acres (491 ha) in production with 843,052 vines of bearing age. This represents a growth of 85.8% over the 1999 survey. Canyon County vineyards contain 81% of the state's total inventory of grape vines.[5] As of 2017, The Idaho Wine Commission reports on about 1300 acres of grapes planted with expansions planned in each of the existing AVAs.[6]
Industry values
2013
In 2013, Idaho's Wine Industry had a $169.3 million impact, up from $73 million just five years before in 2008.[7]
Wineries and Viticultural Areas
The majority of the state's wineries are located in the Snake River Valley west of Boise.[2] Currently there are 52 wineries in Idaho.
The Snake River Valley lies in southwestern Idaho and two counties in Oregon encompassing 8,263 square miles (5,288,320 acres) and was designated a American Viticultural Area (AVA) by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) on April 9, 2007. A petition was filed by the growers in the Snake River Valley, the Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission, and the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor. The AVA was established for wines to bear the|Snake River Valley label where at least 85% of the grapes used for production must be grown in the AVA. Vintners may now use the term to describe Idaho and Oregon wines made from grapes grown in the viticultural area.[8]
The Eagle Foothills AVA was designated in November 2015. It is credited as a specialized grape-growing region because of the influence of nearby Prospect Peak at 4,874 feet (1,486 m) in elevation and the granite pebbles mixed with volcanic ash/sandy loam as a result of Ancient Lake Idaho.[9][10]
Popular culture
In the 1969 film Cactus Flower (based on two earlier plays) Ingrid Bergman reads the label of a bottle in a nightclub and says, "I didn't know they made champagne in Idaho." Later in the film, she tells her date, "Let's have some of that crazy Idaho champagne!"[11]
The gag gets extended treatment in The Muppet Movie from 1979, as Kermit the Frog orders a bottle of wine from the waiter (played by Steve Martin) to share with Miss Piggy. When the bottle arrives, Miss Piggy exclaims, "You mad impetuous thing—it's champagne!" to which Martin interjects, "Not exactly. Sparkling muscatel—one of the finest wines of Idaho." Martin later asks Kermit, "Don't you want to smell the bottle cap?" and, when Kermit asks the waiter to taste it for him, Martin dramatically spits it out, and says, "Excellent choice." "Should be, for 95¢," Kermit snarks to Miss Piggy.[13]
