OUR VINEYARDS

There’s No Arguing That Great Wine Is Made In The Vineyard.

But it helps when you plant and care for the grapes yourself on land you’ve farmed for decades; land that just so happens to be blessed with a soil, geography and climate ideal for growing premium wine grapes.

It helps, too, when your family-owned winery is overseen by a winemaker focused on choosing only select grapes and operated by high-tech equipment more commonly found in much larger wineries.

Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley AVA

When Ancient Lakes became the state’s 13th AVA in late 2012, the designation served as official notice that this region along the cliffs of the Columbia River in Eastern Washington is one special grape-growing area. One can point to the Ancient Lakes’ unique soils, elevations and cooler climate as the reason behind that distinction.

The soil is full of minerals, and coupled with air flow from the mighty Columbia River, produces grapes with a character found nowhere else. That, in turn, results in wines that are crisper with natural acids than wines made from grapes grown in other areas. Other factors are the elevation levels of the vineyards as well as the northern latitude location of this unique growing area. This makes for a cooler site, which allows the grapes to retain their natural acids.

Jones of Washington is one of just a handful of wineries that harvest grapes from vineyards in Ancient Lakes, a scenic and sprawling 162,762-acre area in Grant, Douglas and Kittitas counties. Jones’ award-winning Riesling, Pinot Gris, Rosé of Syrah, and Sauvignon Blanc all come from grapes grown in this AVA.

As for the name, the Ancient Lakes title comes from a series of small lakes, 35 in all, that were formed by the infamous series of cataclysmic events known as the Missoula Floods. The flood waters stripped away the soil, leaving just scablands behind. Over the ensuing centuries, however, wind deposited sand in the area and soil began accumulating. When water from the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project became reality in the early 1950s, farms quickly popped up and the region became known as one of the most fertile, productive crop growing areas in the nation. Today, it continues to produce large quantities of potatoes, beans, onions, apples, wheat, alfalfa and many other crops.

The climate on the ridges along the Columbia River also varies. Average temperature change between the high and low spots is typically two degrees, which is a big difference during a long growing season. As a result, many grape varieties can be grown in the AVA.

That same spectacular scenery — cliffs jutting straight out of the Columbia, desolate scablands and basalt rock outcroppings above — often evokes comparisons to the Grand Canyon, and provides another attraction for visitors, already drawn by the region’s great wines.

While various grapes can be grown at Ancient Lakes, the area is best known for its white grapes — in particular its Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. Indeed, many connoisseurs say no one produces a better, crisper Riesling than the Ancient Lakes area.

Jones of Washington Estate Vineyards in the Ancient Lakes AVA

Wahluke Slope AVA

In 1997, the Jones family began planting wine grapes on Wahluke Slope — an area bounded on the west and southern ends by the Columbia River, on the north by the Saddle Mountains and on the east by the Hanford Reach National Monument. The benches along the Columbia River had been home to large orchards since the 1960’s, when water from the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project finally reached the area. It turns out the dusty desert sand, hot summer heat and generally south-facing slopes proved to be just as hospitable to vineyards.

Wahluke (pronounced WAH-luke) is a Native American name for ‘watering place.’ The area has two different soil types that lend themselves to several grape varieties. The Ice Age floods of more than 12,000 years ago had deposited sandy loam on lower elevations and silky loam and calcium-rich soil on higher shelves. The high temperatures and low precipitation also allows growers to control vine vigor and ripening through small, carefully timed watering from drip systems.

It wasn’t long after the first vineyards were planted that grapes from the Wahluke Slope became known as some of the best in the state. In 2006, the area became the state’s 8^th recognized American Viticultural Area. It is one of the warmest growing regions in the state along with being one of the more coveted areas as the dry, warm climate is ideal for growing wine grapes.

Today, grapes from the vineyards, about 30 percent of the state’s wine grape acreage, go to many of the state’s big and small wineries. Although the first plantings in the region began with white varietals such as Riesling, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, red wine grapes now make up 80 percent of total acreage, dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.

Jones of Washington Estate Vineyards in the Wahluke Slope AVA