Washington’s Puget Sound AVA: Wines worth seeking out

The Puget Sound is a part of the Salish Sea, a marginal sea, off the Pacific Ocean, which also includes the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia, extending north of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Puget Sound, which stretches from Deception Pass on Whidbey Island in the north to Olympia at the southern end, maintains a moderate maritime climate, creating wines that are uniquely distinct within the state of Washington.

The AVA goes from the Washington border with Canada, to well south of Olympia.

Scroll down for notes and scores of a selection of wines from the Puget Sound AVA

The Puget Sound is the coolest and wettest growing region in the Pacific Northwest, on the climatic edge of ripeness for Vitis vinifera.

In comparison to cool regions like the Willamette Valley and the cool Columbia Gorge appellation, which is shared between Oregon and Washington, the Puget Sound tends to have cooler spring and summer temperatures due to its proximity to the large body of water for which it is named.

Like the Columbia Gorge, it sits outside the larger Columbia Valley appellation.

A dramatic departure for Washington State wine

This means that the challenges to achieving ripeness have driven varietal selection. Pinot Noir is the most widely planted variety, followed by Riesling. In addition, aromatic white grapes have long been cultivated here, particularly on some of the 175 islands within the Puget Sound.

Varieties like Madeleine Angevine, Müller-Thurgau, Siegerrebe and red hybrid grapes like Regent and Marquette have thrived in the region.

Spencer Williams makes the wines at San Juan Vineyard, with vines planted on San Juan Island. The winery was founded in 1996. The Corliss family of wines operates San Juan Vineyard.

The fruit is pressed on the island, but the winemaking takes place in Walla Walla, where Williams also produces the Tranche wines.

‘The varieties themselves don’t present any inherent challenges,’ says Williams. ‘They are actually quite fun to work with, and they make unique and distinct wines. The real challenge is the growing conditions of the Puget Sound.

‘Some vintages are better than others, but there are no ideal growing seasons in this cool and wet climate. The picking window is quite short, and making the right picking decisions is crucial to achieving balanced acidity and ripe flavours while avoiding potentially disastrous disease pressure from prolonged exposure to moisture late in the season.’

A Pinot-focused future?

Given the climate, I have been dubious about the ability for Pinot Noir to get fully phenolically ripe here in the Puget Sound, however, a recent tasting, with a handful of the region’s producers have convinced me that it’s possible and that in warmer vintages, like the 2018 growing season, the wines can be of a very high quality.

Tom Wilson makes the wines at Chateau NoElle in Snoqualmie, Washington, where tall Douglas firs and Western red cedar trees hold dominion over the western foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

Like many producers in the Puget Sound, Tom also makes wines from Eastern Washington. A Syrah, Malbec and Cabernet Franc among others, from the Gamache Vineyard in the Columbia Valley AVA.

They made the first estate wines in 2017 and saw immediate affirmation with recognition from the Seattle Wine Awards and regional media, including Wine Press Northwest, which recognised both the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir they were producing.

The 2018 Pinot Noir, sourced from a vineyard in Auburn, Washington (note and review below), has been one of the most exciting wines I’ve tasted. Its balance and fruit depth astonished me, as did my clear lack of understanding of what was possible from this region. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the very least.

Bayernmoor Cellars, with vineyards in Stanwood, Washington, toward the northern end of the AVA, has also bet big on Pinot Noir.

‘The rewarding part is that Pinot loves warm spots in cool climates, like our site. When we finish the stress of the growing season and bring in the fruit, we are rewarded with

wonderfully ripe aromas and flavours,’ says Bayernmoor winemaker Larry Harris.

On edge

So much has to go right in the Puget Sound AVA for the wines to shine like the 2018 Chateau NoElle, DeVorah Creek Pinot Noir, for Wilson, it’s a constant challenge.

‘Where do I start? The two biggest threats are that of early rain in the fall,’ Wilson explains. ‘With the resulting onset of disease pressure in the form of powdery mildew and botrytis before adequate sugar accumulates and acids drop for still wine production. When this doesn’t work out, the good news is that we can still make high-quality sparkling wine.’

‘Then, there are the rain or wind events during flowering, which limit yields. The entire growing season is one organic spray after another. We average 12-13 sprays each year.

‘Then there’s deer, birds, bees… The resident population of flickers and robins have figured out they can hang on our nets and eat the fruit through the nets. It’s maddening!’ Wilson exclaimed.

Future sweet-spot?

As climate change has shortened growing seasons in established regions, the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean have kept appellations like Napa, Sonoma and the Willamette Valley in the viticultural sweet-spot.

Yet winegrowers in those regions are making adjustments. Northern exposures, which were once thought incapable of ripening fruit, have been seen as a way to manage a warming climate.

Vineyards are being planted closer and closer to the ocean in Sonoma and Oregon.

In the cool Puget Sound, it’s also setting the region up as one that can deliver reliable ripeness while maintaining crisp acids, lower alcohols and fresh fruit. ‘I tend to think viticulture in Western Washington may grow to some degree, but may be limited by available, suitable sites that remain affordable,’ predicts Chuck Jackson of Skagit Crest.

‘We believe the way forward is sustainable farming,’ Harris adds. Bayernmoor recently received certification as a certified Sustainable WA vineyard. ‘We focus on producing the highest quality fruit and not the highest quantity.

‘In this region, you cannot do both. Every season, we drop fruit to concentrate the flavours and increase ripening in the remaining clusters, resulting in greater complexity,’ Harris concludes.

Puget Sound top wines to seek out

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