Columbia Gorge- established 2004

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Touring Washington/Oregon

Columbia River Gorge

About the Columbia River Gorge

As the nation's first National Scenic Area, the Columbia River Gorge sets the standard for this federal designation (November, 1986). The Gorge is unique, in the true meaning of the word, and one of the most spectacular river canyons in the country. Here, the mighty Columbia River still flows through an 80-mile, sea-level route slashed through the Cascade Mountain Range 12,000 to 19,000 years ago, the only sea-level passage through any mountain range of the western states of America. Its geologic history is not one of gradual processes, but one of cataclysmic events... events that first laid down, then tore away, thousands of years of volcanic bedrock.

A many-chaptered, astonishing story of Columbia-Basin volcanism, and "The Great Floods" that followed, is written within and etched on surfaces of precipitous walls lining the Columbia River Gorge... the last leg of Lewis and Clark's nation-altering expedition. Other geologic records of these repetitive volcanic and flooding periods are found in many locations throughout Oregon and Washington, but nowhere are the dramatic episodes more clearly exposed than in the lands of Columbia Gorge wine country.

Today, the Columbia River Gorge is not only a spectacularly beautiful testament to the astounding forces of natural events; it is also rich with cultural history... of Indian People first living and trading in the Gorge, of famous visits by explorers like Lewis and Clark, and of settlers that followed along the Oregon Trail. It provides a phenomenal and historic passage through the bowels of the Cascade Mountains, from "the wet side" to the "dry side." The Historic Columbia River Highway is America's premiere Historic and Scenic Highway. Built between 1913 and 1922, along the steep cliffs of the Gorge, this narrow, curving roadway was a technological tour-de-force when it was constructed.

The Columbia River Gorge and its surrounding lands are unquestionably a national treasure. Viticulturists think so, too. Pockets of old vineyards found near Bingen, Washington, suggest this is not a new conclusion. Today, hundreds of newer vineyard acres occupy a variety of terroirs throughout the Gorge. Flood-scoured plateau lands offer vineyardists gravelly soils, long and sunny summer days, limited rainfall, and the temperature-moderating influence of updrafts from the nearby Columbia River Gorge. Delta lands of scenic rivers (ending at the Columbia River) offer rich, silty soils, sloping landscapes, and the long summer days characteristic of this northern clime.

Climate and terrain range from conditions found in Germany to France's Burgundy and northern Rhone Valley to northwest Italy's piedmonts. In fact, so unusual is this growing area that vineyard and winery owners filed an application with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to establish a new appellation, the Columbia Gorge American Viticulture Area. The AVA was authorized in the Federal Register on May 10, 2004 and straddles both sides of the Columbia River for a stretch of about 15 miles, including 280 square miles.

Heading east from Portland, the traveler drives from "the wet side" to "the dry side" of the Cascades in a matter of an hour or two. Nowhere else in the Pacific Northwest can such diversity of habitat (and terroir) be found in such close proximity as in the Columbia River Gorge.

You'll find an ample number of wineries as well, scattered (and growing in numbers) along the near sea-level routes of both Oregon's Interstate 84 and Washington's two-lane Highway 14, as well as on the plateau lands above that slope toward the vertical walls of the Gorge.

You can be sure touring Columbia Gorge Wine Country is the stuff of memorable journeys. Allow for plenty of "stopping time" along the way, beyond what time you plan to spend at specific wineries... and...

Do yourself a favor. Take the "Scenic Route" (the Historic Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway) on the Oregon side, or two-lane Highway 14 in Washington. You won't forget it!

The gorge also contains the greatest concentration of waterfalls in the Pacific Northwest, with over 77 waterfalls on the Oregon side of the gorge alone. Many are along the Columbia River Highway, including the notable Multnomah Falls, which, at 620 feet (188 m), is often claimed (erroneously) to be the second tallest year-round waterfall in the United States.

Appellation Maps

Columbia River Gorge