Shenandoah Valley AVA

In mid- October 2022, this Blog takes its first excursion into the Shenandoah Valley American Viticultural Area. (AVA), the first AVA established in Virginia in 1982 on petition from Shenandoah Winery.  There are several origin stories for the name “Shenandoah,” most involving the Iroquois people, but it is unknown whether it comes from “River Through the Spruces” or “River of High Mountains” or some other derivation.  Native peoples used the valley and its rivers as a highway including for their intertribal wars.  Europeans mapped the valley in 1706, and soon thereafter settlers began to arrive:  Quakers and Mennonites from Pennsylvania, English settlers from eastern Virginia, Germans, Scots, and Irish.  The valley also served as a highway for Confederate and Union forces during the Civil War with three major campaigns being fought within its confines.

Given the national historic prominence of the Shenandoah Valley as a name and location, labels of wines from this AVA need only state “Shenandoah Valley.”  To avoid confusion with the much less known California Shenandoah Valley, established on the same day in 1982, wines made in that West Coast AVA must specify “California” on the label.  47 Fed Reg 57697 (December 28, 1982).

The Shenandoah Valley AVA is bordered on the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains and on the west by the Alleghenies.  On the North, there is the Potomac River.  On the South, the AVA extends some miles below the Shenandoah River due to the consistency of the soils.  Most of the AVA is within the Commonwealth of Virginia with a small portion in West Virginia.  Not only is it the oldest Virginia AVA, but it is the largest, including parts of ten Virginia counties (Frederick, Clarke, Warren, Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, Augusta, Rockbridge, Botetourt, and Amherst) and some 2.4 million acres.  But in that space, I counted only 28-30 wineries on the Virginiawine.org map. 

Soil composition varies from igneous rock on the east side to sandstone on the west side hills, to the limestone and shale in the valley.  East of the Blue Ridge, soil is mostly clay and loam.  There are streams and valleys running throughout the area- most land slopes toward a stream or water course. Both forks of he Shenandoah River remind you of corkscrews twisting through the landscape.

Although not particularly high in elevation, the Blue Ridge and the Alleghenies protect the valley from Atlantic winds.  The mesoclimate between the mountains allows for a distinctly warmer and dryer growing season than other areas of Virginia.  The annual rainfall is one half that of the Virginia average.  According to a couple of the wine makers we interviewed, the thermal belt in the Valley and the diurnal temperature changes allow for longer hang-times and ripening for grapes.  We heard on several occasions about the good harvest in 2022.  The extra ripening time translates into wines with a little higher acid and alcohol than is typical for Virginia wines.  Despite these more-favorable climatic conditions, winter still poses significant risks to Shenandoah Valley vineyards, with heavy snowfall and winter freezes often killing off weak or less-well-adapted vines.  See, https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-shenandoah+valley+-+virginia, accessed October 18, 2022. 

On this short trip we visited four wineries/vineyards in the Northern end of the AVA and one just outside of the AVA by several hundred feet (!) So let's get to it!