Beyond Potatoes: Idaho Emerges as Wine Destination
Idaho wines regularly net honors in regional and national competitions.
MARSING, Idaho -- Tractors still dot the fruit-and-nut themed roads (plum, pecan, apricot) of Canyon County's Sunny Slope, but these days party-themed limousines and weekend wine tourists are also in evidence.
Their quarry is a cluster of mostly small wineries with an increasingly big reputation.
"We have eight wineries within 10 miles, which is enough for a two-day trip," said Ron Bitner, who recently opened a small bed-and-breakfast at his hilltop winery overlooking the Snake River south of Caldwell.
Expand your search across Ada County and into Washington and Owyhee counties, and the Treasure Valley boasts more than half of the state's 43 wineries, a tally that has nearly quadrupled since 2002, when Idaho had 11 wineries.
That's a fraction of the explosive growth seen earlier in Oregon and, especially, Washington. They rank third and second among all states in number of wineries, eclipsed only by behemoth California. Idaho comes in at No. 22, tied with New Mexico, in Wine Business Monthly's most recent ranking.
But Idaho has been easing its way up that list in a steady expansion that has continued through the Great Recession, said Moya Shatz, executive director of the Idaho Wine Commission.
"We're actually doing pretty darn well if you consider how the economy's doing," Shatz said. "We get calls every week from people wanting to start a winery or plant a vineyard.
"The growth is manageable, and it seems like people are happy."
An economic impact study conducted by Boise State University in 2008 found that Idaho's wine industry contributed about $73 million to the state's economy and 625 jobs, Shatz said. She doesn't expect to commission another such study until around 2015, she said, but "I think our numbers have increased."
At Bitner Vineyards south of Caldwell, an old tractor shed has morphed into a tasting room with an expansive deck to make the most of views that glide across grapevines and other crops to the Snake River, Lizard Butte and beyond.
Bitner bought the hilltop site, which includes a steep south-facing slope, for the view in 1981. He didn't think the five acres would be suitable for crops.
"I didn't know what to do with the steep slope," he said. But Ste. Chapelle's first winemaker, Bill Broich, was building a home downhill from Bitner and offered an idea.
"He said, 'This is a world-class site for Chardonnay,'" Bitner recalls. "I said, 'Cool. What's Chardonnay?' "
Three decades later, Bitner fully appreciates the vineyard virtues of the land he lucked into. An entomologist and international expert on leaf-cutter bees, he immersed himself in a second vocation. He recently completed a term as president of the Winegrape Growers of America.
In 1995, Greg Koenig, among the first in a new wave of Idaho winemakers, approached Bitner to buy some grapes. Soon Bitner was enlisting Koenig to make wines under the Bitner label. Their first vintage, a 1997 Cabernet, won a gold medal in New York in 1998.
"Then we knew we were on to something," Bitner said.
Bitner's steep slope protects his grapes from cold and frost, allowing him to keep fruit on the vine late into Idaho's relatively short growing season. That allows the sugars to develop, he said, producing luscious, fruit-forward wine.
"I honestly wouldn't trade these spots along the Snake River, including mine, for any in the country," he said.
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