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 on