RATTLESNAKE
HILLS - WASHINGTON'S 9TH OFFICIAL AVA
On March 20, 2006 Rattlesnake
Hills was named Washington State’s
ninth official AVA (American Viticultural
Area). In the past WineCOW has researched
various AVAs, tried wines produced from
those region’s grapes, and attempted
to relay enough helpful information to provide
an idea of what these Featured Regions had
to offer. But, to this point we’ve
always managed to do this from the comfort
of our home base in Seattle/Woodinville.
Well…times they are a changin’!
 For
this Featured Region article, we were invited
to go see and experience what Rattlesnake
Hills had to offer first hand, up-close
and personal. Gail Puryear, owner and winemaker
of Rattlesnake’s Bonair Winery, invited
us down for a day of vineyard and winery
tours…and of course wine tasting.
(Sometimes in this job you just have to
get your hands dirty and your teeth purple.)
Throughout the day we managed to visit several
Rattlesnake wineries and winemakers, including
Paul Portteus of Portteus Winery, Matt Rawn
& Ron Schmidt of Two Mountain Winery,
Greg Chappell of Silver Lake Winery, Leeland
Hyatt (owner) of Hyatt Vineyards, and of
course our tour guide and host for the day
Gail Puryear of Bonair Winery.
Arriving at Bonair early in the morning
we were instantly thrown into the tour with
Gail pointing out several geographical features
of the new AVA, as well as providing a little
history on the region. The Rattlesnake Hills
AVA lies within the current Yakima Valley
and Columbia Valley AVAs and consists of
68,500 total acres, with just about 1,500
bearing acres (those currently being used
for growing grapes). Beginning at an elevation
of 850 feet and rising up to 3,085 feet,
the area sits higher in elevation than the
surrounding Yakima Valley region and is
located approximately four miles southeast
of Yakima, which makes for a quick and fun
day trip from Seattle. Including Bonair,
the AVA has 17 wineries and 29 vineyards.
Key grape varietals grown in Rattlesnake
Hills include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot,
Syrah, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Malbec.
 After
our brief introduction to the Rattlesnake
Hills the first tasting took place (around
9 a.m.) with Paul, owner & winemaker,
at Portteus Vineyards (what’s that
saying? It’s 5 o’clock somewhere!).
Portteus is located on 74 acres smack in
the middle of the Rattlesnake Hills AVA
with an annual case production of about
5,000 cases. Paul was very welcoming and
provided insight into the customer experience
they try to create for people when visiting
the Rattlesnake Hills. “We are here
to answer any question you have about wine.
We’ll show you the process and make
it fun for you.” For Paul the wine
business is 100% about building solid relationships;
which is evident by our open arms reception
so early in the morning. Relating to that,
Paul also mentioned that the Rattlesnake
Hills experience is so valuable because
you can actually get out and see the vineyards
and visit the small family farms and wineries,
which makes this such a unique wine destination.
From Portteus, we drove down the road to
meet up with Matt Rawn (winemaker) and Ron
Schmidt (owner) of Two Mountain Winery.
Two Mountain is one of the younger wineries
in the region with their first release in
spring of 2000. But Matt’s ties to
the land go back much farther with his grandfather
originally planting Golden Delicious apple
trees. Currently they control about 26 acres
of the Rattlesnake Hills AVA and offer up
to eight different varietals of wine. Two
Mountain offers a Riesling that has almost
a juicy fruit gum characteristic to it that
Matt considers to be an attribute gained
from the unique rock and sand mixed soils
of Rattlesnake Hills. The moderate temperatures
also allow for the production of more food
friendly wines with more balance and less
high-octane.
 Moving
on from Two Mountain Winery we drove to
the top of the Rattlesnake summit for a
glimpse at the vineyards of Silver Lake
Winery and to meet up with Associate Winemaker
and general guru Greg Chappell. Silver Lake
controls about 660 total acres and currently
has 225 of those under vine. Over a glass
of wine Greg quickly relayed the familiar
sentiment of the area by saying “there
is no pretension here. We are salt from
the earth people letting our grapes and
wines do the talking for us”. This
local humility was definitely something
we were growing well accustomed to at this
point. He went on to explain that on Rattlesnake
Hills “you can grow and ripen to a
slow perfection any of the most or least
popular varietals.”
Continuing on, the conversation on the short
drive over to Hyatt Vineyards became lively
as we discussed the pretentiousness that
has plagued the wine industry for years.
Gail Puryear chimed in summing it all up
by saying “wine is meant to be drank,
not worshipped.” Amen! For that Gail
becomes an honorary “WineCOW”.
At Hyatt we met with owner Leeland Hyatt,
who has been dubbed as owner of the “best
smelling winery in the valley” due
to his attention to detail and cleanliness.
Currently Hyatt Vineyards controls about
166 acres in the Rattlesnake Hills AVA with
more coming (about 20+ acres). The winery
is one of the oldest in the AVA, starting
back in 1982 with a tasting room to follow
in 1987. Hyatt is also one of the larger
wineries in the state with an annual case
production of 22,000 and growing. Leeland
works to get wines that have more color
and less tannins due in part to more fermentation.
Look for their second label called Roza
Ridge which is a new “all estate”
wine produced by Hyatt.
For the last stop in our tour, Gail drove
us up to his vineyards for some more education
and of course, more wine tasting. It was
up on the highest point of land that we
discussed what really makes Rattlesnake
Hills different from any other AVA in Washington:
Topography, which consists
of the hills’ ridgeline sitting up
to 2,000 feet above the north flank of the
Yakima River Valley. The ridgeline contains
north and south-facing slopes which create
a diverse landscape of dissected canyons,
ridges and terraces running south to the
Yakima River. Elevation ranges from a low
of 850 feet and up to 3,085 feet along the
south slope.
Temperatures, which are
among the most moderate in the state, provide
consistent ripening, thanks to its geographical
location. To the west, the Cascade Range
shields eastern Washington from the Pacific
Ocean’s climactic influence while
the Rattlesnake Hills divert polar air from
Canada, which can often damage grape vines.
“In the Rattlesnake Hills AVA it is
not as hot as Red Mountain and not as cold
as Prosser; I think we’re right in
the middle getting the best climate possible.”
– Gail Puryear
Soils, which are characterized
by their fine texture, in contrast to the
sandy soils found in nearby AVA regions.
Consistent pH and neutral alkaline levels
control vine growth and help to create balanced
grapes.
We ended our tour at Bonair Winery, where
we continued tasting wine over a great home
cooked meal, courtesy of Gail’s wife
Shirley and enchiladas brought over by Ron
Schmidt, again solidifying the fact that
there is much more to the Rattlesnake Hills
AVA than soil and climate. There is a community
of growers, winemakers and friends, all
dedicated to providing the total wine country
experience.
To get more information on the Rattlesnake
Hills AVA or its wineries check out www.rattlesnakehills.com.
 ADDITIONAL
STATS & INFO:
Elevation- ranging from
850’ to 3,085’
Wineries/Vineyards- 17
wineries and 29 vineyards
Acreage- 68,500 acres (1,500
acres bearing vines)
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