White Wines Grown In Washington

When it comes to wine, Washington is featured prominently on the world map! 

Thanks to a dry, arid climate with plenty of sunshine, great soils and cool summer nights, wine grapes thrive in our state’s warm valleys and hills. The red wines grown in Washington are truly some of the best you can get around — they’ve made Washington second only to California in terms of wine production! — but it was the white wines that really put Washington on the right track to viticulture prominence. 

Here are a few of the state’s best white wines and, of course, how to pair the wines with their ideal snacks and foods!

Washington State’s best white wines

Riesling

Riesling is the most popular of Washington’s home-grown white wine grapes, accounting for a good portion of the dry whites you’ll find in the Pacific Northwest. 

Riesling is a European wine that was originally cultivated and produced along the Rhine river on the German-France border, where it’s still produced to this very day. Our very own Columbia River Valley has similar characteristics to this region — similar temperatures and rainfall — that allows Washington growers to emulate this dry wine here across the world. 

Washington’s summers are hot during the day but drop a decent amount in temperature at night, allowing wine grapes to retain a lot of their acidity and balance. This translates to drier wines with more acidic notes and flavors, both of which Riesling wines are known to carry well. 

Pair a local Riesling with snack foods like tortilla chips and salsa, apples and cheese and sweet pastries.  

Chardonnay

California Chardonnays carry sweeter and more full-bodied notes, while our Washington Chards are more delicate, smooth and crisp. They’re bright, fruity and have a slightly tropical vibe, and are perfect for pairing with some other popular Washington staples like salmon, trout and crab!

Pinot Gris

Fun fact, many Washington Pinot Gris wines are labeled as Pinot Grigio — a marketing tactic that piggybacked on the arrival of a popular Italian Pinot Gris varietal that took hold in the United States in the early 2000s! Same wine, different name. 

Washington overtook Oregon in terms of amount of Pinot Gris production in 2009, and since then our Evergreen State has been steadily creating some truly premier Pinot Gris vintages. 

The Columbia River Valley’s warm days and cool nights allow these dry wines to retain all the natural fruit flavors and mineral notes in the grapes, all of which translate to a dry-yet-fruity wine that’s perfect to pair with grilled chicken, French fries, apples, cheese and sole. 

Sauvignon Blanc

This wine, though generally less popular than the state’s Rieslings, Chardonnays and Pinot Gris, still accounts for thousands of tons of grapes harvested each year here in Washington. 

Sauvignon Blanc wines carry beautiful, fruity notes that pair well with our state’s orchard fruits: apples from Chelan, peaches and apricots from the Wenatchee Valley and pears from the Yakima Valley. Like other Washington wines, this wine also tends to be on the drier side with just enough sweetness to blend the flavors together!

Pair this great wine with soft cheeses, potato chips, Mexican food, peanuts, pretzels and other snacks and finger foods!

Semillon

This sweeter white wine is grown primarily in Australia and Bordeaux, though Washington grows a fair amount of Semillon to mix into white wine blends. It’s got less acidity than other wines like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Riesling, so its addition adds just enough sweetness and fruity flavors to create a more mild white blend.

Pair a true Semillon or a Semillon blend with chicken, pork, game birds or creamy pastas.

Gewürztraminer

If you’ve never heard of Gewürztraminer, you’re not alone. 

Gewürztraminer wines are lesser known than their closer cousins, Moscato wines, but they are a force to be reckoned with! Gewürztraminers are intensely fruity, have strong floral aromas and are less acidic than other similar whites. A sip of good Gewürztraminer might produce some ginger, grapefruit, rose petal and incense aromas, all of which combine to create a deceptively sweet flavor in a typically dry wine.

Pair this unique wine with duck, chicken, bacon, dried fruit, Moroccan dishes, strong spices and roasted veggies.

Viognier

With notes of peach, rose, orange and mango, Viognier has a good balance of sweetness, acidity and body with a fair amount of alcohol to slowly sip on. 

This highly aromatic wine is grown in wine regions all over the world, from South Africa to Australia to Argentina, France, Italy and, of course, right here in Washington!

Our Washington Viogniers are a little on the drier side compared to, say, a Californian varietal, though the fruity flavors remain strong and aromatic. Pair this gorgeous wine with chicken curry, Moroccan food, South African food, aromatic vegetables and dried fruits. 

So, if you live in or near our luxury Seattle apartments, head to your local tasting room to try some of Washington’s signature white wines! Or, of course, you can make a trip out of it and head right to the vineyards for the best glass of local wine you could ever hope to have!

Cheers!

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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/schuetz-mediendesign