The Lake Chelan wine country is just 112 miles east-northeast of Seattle, Washington, abutting the eastern slopes of the North Cascade Mountains and the North Cascades National Park. The North Cascade Mountains act as a rain shadow, depleting much of the moisture from pacific coast storms. The Lake Chelan grape growing area encompasses the southernmost and easternmost 12 miles of the 55-mile-long lake, the surrounding lands, and generally at or below 2,000 feet in elevation. The lower elevations, which have gently rising slopes, have long been known as a successful fruit growing area.

Just because Lake Chelan was only recently and formally designated an American Viticultural Area (AVA) does not overshadow the fact that grape-growing and winemaking have been ongoing concerns in the towns of Chelan and Manson for a long time now.  Here is a quick overview of the history and growing conditions of our region. We can look to recent developments to see where the desire to have our own AVA arose from, even though Lake Chelan has a long history of wine-related activities. Stepping back in time, the first recorded grape production in the region dates back to 1891 when Louis Conti had 60 acres under production. Jump forward to 1998, when Steve Kludt and Bob Christopher ripped up their apple orchard and planted the first commercial wine grape vineyards in what is now the Lake Chelan AVA.

With the first bonded winery opening in 2000, this started a trend that has grown in scope to more than 40 wine-related businesses in the region today. Today there are 15 wineries and vineyards, with grape production hovering around 260 acres of wine-specific grape varieties. The most common grape varieties grown in the Lake Chelan AVA are Riesling, Chardonnay, Viognier, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir. In addition, there are more than 15 other varieties that have been planted to determine their suitability to the climate and soils of our AVA: Tempranillo, Grenache, Barbera, Nebiolo, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Roussanne and Marsanne are in the ground with some already producing wine.

Lake Chelan is unique - it is the third deepest natural lake in the United States. It acts as a climate stabilizer producing a zone of consistently moderated temperatures, increasing the length of the growing season and drastically reducing the frequency of damaging or killing vine freezes that occur throughout Washington state during the winter months. This lake effect - the same sort of natural climate control that is used to great advantage in the world-class German wine region of Mosel-Saar-Ruwer - moderates air temperature extremes in both summer and winter. Further, the Cascade Mountain Range creates a rain shadow that limits precipitation in the Lake Chelan Valley. The range protects areas to its east from Arctic and Pacific storms that help to moderates climate. Average annual rainfall in Chelan is 8-12 inches. All in all, the Lake Chelan wine valley is a cooler-climate production zone. The advantages of this attribute are many and varied, but the most notable is the ability to harvest grapes that show a better natural balance between sugars, acids and tannin levels than one can get in the hotter growing regions of the West Coast of the United States.