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Wine region

Washington

Washington is a wine region in United States, home to 485 wineries, producing red, rose, white wines, known for Meritage, Merlot.

Washington at a glance: predominantly red; known for Meritage, Merlot.
On this page

Washington's 485 wineries produce predominantly red wine; Cabernet Sauvignon is the most common single-grape bottling; wines carry AVA designation.

About the Washington region

    Location
    Washington wine is a wine produced from grape varieties grown in the U.S.
    Climate
    It serves as a dividing line between the wet, marine-influenced climate of the western part of the state from the drier, desert-like climate of the eastern half.
    Soils
    In USDA NRCS Soil Data Access results for Washington survey areas, Mollisols have the largest weighted component acreage, approximately 11,263,261 acres.

Region facts sourced from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil Data Access query for Washington (WA survey-area prefix), retrieved 2026-07-11. (U.S. Government work / Public Domain (17 U.S.C. § 105)), Wikipedia contributors, "Washington wine", Wikipedia, revision 1357183564, retrieved 2026-07-11. (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International).

Characteristic grapes

Washington is best known for Meritage, Merlot. The most-bottled single-varietal wines here are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay. Washington's signature grapes often go into blends, so single-grape bottlings skew toward other varieties.

Most common single-grape wines

When Washington wines are made from a single grape (rather than a blend), these are the most common:

Wine profile

Washington is predominantly a red-wine region (about 69% of its wines) — expect red wines, often from grapes like Merlot.

4,153 distinct Washington wines tracked, spanning the colours and styles below.

  • Red2,847 · 69%
  • White1,052 · 25%
  • Rose234 · 6%

Types: Port, Sparkling, Still.

Catalogue vintages span 1997 to 2014.

Representative Washington wines

Selected from stable product-to-region relationships for diversity — not a claim that these are the region's best wines.

  • Adrice Wines — Fool's Gold Syrah
  • Kitzke — Coyote Canyon Vineyards Viognier
  • Brian Carter Cellars — Byzance
  • Powers — Champoux Vineyard Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Pomum — Sauvignon Blanc
  • Owen Roe — Slide Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Franc
  • DeLille Cellars — Doyenne Grand Ciel Vineyard Syrah
  • Trothe — Syrah

Sub-regions & appellations

Within Washington, these appellationsA legally-defined smaller growing area within a wine region, often with its own grapes and rules. are smaller growing areas, often with their own character:

  • Columbia Valley
  • Yakima Valley
  • Red Mountain
  • Horse Heaven Hills
  • Wahluke Slope
  • Rattlesnake Hills
  • Lake Chelan
  • Columbia Gorge
  • Royal Slope
  • Snipes Mountain
  • Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley
  • Naches Heights

Quality designations

Wines here carry AVA status — a controlled quality designation.

  • AVAAmerican Viticultural Area — a defined US grape-growing region, marking where the grapes were grown.

United States wine designations

AVA
An American viticultural area is a U.S.-government-recognized delimited grape-growing area.
Understanding the wine data
Designation
The protected-origin or administrative category associated with the wine, interpreted using country-aware rules. The same abbreviation can mean different things in different countries, so we only show the meaning approved for that country.
How this ranking is built

Producers are included when WhatDrink has a canonical producer-to-region relationship supported by the catalogue data. Display order may use represented wine count and relationship confidence to provide useful coverage; it is not a ranking of winery quality, prestige, production volume or critical acclaim.

Representative wines are selected from products with a stable relationship to this region, with preference for clear producer identity and a useful spread of producers, wine styles and designations. Inclusion is not an editorial score and does not mean these are the region’s best wines.

Explore Washington

Ways to browse Washington — each count is the size of that specific collection (a subset of the 4,153 wines tracked above):

  • Red Washington (149)
  • White Washington (71)
  • Rose Washington (27)

How to choose a good Washington wine

Look for the AVA designation — it signals a controlled-origin Washington wine.

FAQs

Where is Washington?
Washington wine is a wine produced from grape varieties grown in the U.S. state of Washington .
Which grapes are associated with Washington?
Washington is represented in the WhatDrink region dataset by Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot. Grape coverage reflects the products currently linked to the region and is not a complete legal planting register.
What do the designation terms on Washington wines mean?
AVA: An American viticultural area is a U.S.-government-recognized delimited grape-growing area. These terms describe geographical or regulatory categories; they do not by themselves guarantee that one producer or bottle is better than another.
How are wineries and producers selected for Washington?
Producers are included when WhatDrink has a canonical producer-to-region relationship supported by the catalogue data. Display order may use represented wine count and relationship confidence to provide useful coverage; it is not a ranking of winery quality, prestige, production volume or critical acclaim.
How are representative Washington wines selected?
Representative wines are selected from products with a stable relationship to this region, with preference for clear producer identity and a useful spread of producers, wine styles and designations. Inclusion is not an editorial score and does not mean these are the region’s best wines.
How much wine data does WhatDrink have for Washington?
The current regional catalogue contains 4155 linked wines from 485 linked producers. Counts describe WhatDrink catalogue coverage and may change as source data is refreshed.

Regional data is aggregated from wine directory and product-catalogue sources; grape and style associations reflect characteristic varieties and may vary by producer and vintage.