A guide to Idaho’s surprisingly good wine region

Wine is now a sought-after commodity in tourism.

Oenophiles (i.e. wine lovers) travel the world in search of new tastes, from wine hotspots in France, Italy and California to further afield like Croatia (Queen Elizabeth II served Croatian wine at her coronation) and even a coral atoll in the South Pacific.

But why? Aren’t there many ways to make fancy grape juice? Must visit by tourists anywhere in the world Wine region?

Maybe not. But here’s the thing about wine: Grapes are finicky plants. There are a lot of different grape varieties that are suitable for many different climates. So if you are a fan of wine and a fan of tasting different Wines make sense to explore new regions. Even the smallest differences in the Terroir (i.e. the location where the grapes are grown) can have a significant impact on the taste of the finished wine. The smallest changes in the quality of the soil, sunlight, the chemical composition of the air, temperature – all of these things can affect the final product.

Because of the terroir, tasting local wines can be one of the most authentic experiences travelers can have. They literally drink the fruits of the environment. However, I understand that this is a bit irritating for some travelers. Or is it? We choose destinations for their characteristics – beautiful views, pleasant weather, interesting history – why not for interesting wine?

Maybe because wine promotion is possible stressful. Wine is made in many places. And there are a lot of places that are trying to capitalize on wine tourism that, quite frankly, I’m not saying “bad wine,” I’m saying “wine that I personally wouldn’t drink.”

I recently went on a trip to a region not Particularly known for wine, hoping to answer the questions: “Should visitors come to a destination not known for wine expressly to taste the wine, AndAnd most importantly, will they enjoy it?”

Drum roll please: The wine region I was looking at is near: Boise, Idaho!

Yes, Boise. I have more than a few friends who use Boise as a sort of shorthand for “boring and provincial,” but I’ve always really liked it, having been there a few times myself and finding it pretty, uncrowded and unfussy . Idaho’s wine regions also share many of the same characteristics as their better-known cousins ​​in Oregon and Washington, but they don’t get as much airtime, so I was curious to find out more.

Turns out that simplicity makes it a fun place to taste wine—especially for someone like me. I like wine, and I know about wine, but I can take it or leave it, and I’m not sold on all the mythology surrounding wine tasting. I don’t stick to the mechanics of wine pairing either – I personally prefer my wine with Cheez-Its (seriously, try them with a dry, smoky red wine).

What does wine tasting in Idaho look like?

I spent a day with Snake River Wine Tours in the Snake River Valley west of Boise. They’ll pick you up in Boise in a comfortable sprinter van loaded with bottled water and snacks (yes, Cheez-Its) and drive you to the wineries, so you don’t have to worry about driving and enjoying wine.

The Snake River Valley is a designated American Viticultural Area (AVA – a fancy term for wine region). The area is dotted with vineyards and tasting rooms, but it’s no Napa Valley. You won’t find any sprawling, fancy wineries here. Many of the tasting rooms are farm-like buildings, often with poured concrete floors and corrugated iron siding. They really are fancier warehouses with a touch of industrial chic.

This is especially true in Scoria Vineyards’ tasting room, where wines are served from a bar made of volcanic rock found in the crater in the middle of the vineyard. It is this volcanic soil that gives the grapes in this region their character (the volcano has long since died out, so there will be no Mount St. Helens-style explosions). There are many delicious red and white wines, but my favorite here was a dry Riesling. Riesling grapes grow well throughout the Northwest, but I prefer a drier wine, and this was delicious – it had the layered flavors that Rieslings are known for, but without that sweetness.

After Scoria, head to Hat Ranch Winery, where you’ll sit on the patio overlooking the vineyard sloping down to the Snake River (and the hats that adorn the end of each row of vines). I particularly liked the non-oak Chardonnay here (Chardonnay is usually aged in oak barrels, which gives it its distinctive buttery richness; aging in non-oak barrels such as steel gives it a cleaner, fruitier taste).

There is no particular grape variety that the region is particularly known for, but Tempranillo was the one I kept seeing, and it produced some beautiful wines. It is also a grape that grows well at higher elevations with hot days and cool nights, which is exactly what you find in this part of Idaho. The soil in this part of Idaho is also a good mix of volcanic rock, glacial mud, and floodplains.

At Koenig Vineyards we truly have the most “estate” feeling tasting room, reminiscent of what one might find in California’s major wine regions, but it is still affordable ($8 for a tasting?) and accessible. We treated ourselves to a plate of charcuterie and cheese while enjoying our tasting in the barrel room.

After chatting with the winemakers, she stole some red wine straight from the bunghole of one of the barrels using a long glass wine thief (these are all legitimate wine terms, I promise – a bung is a barrel stopper) to give us a taste to give some wine that has been maturing since 2022 and is not yet quite ready for the market. And it’s delicious.

And we weren’t anything special. She called several other visitors into the tasting room to offer them a taste of the wine as well. “In Napa it would cost $150,” she said. “Here we just do it sometimes.”

Even if you don’t venture to the Snake River Valley, wine is plentiful in Boise, particularly at a number of tasting rooms and wine bars in neighboring Garden City. I stopped at Split Rail Winery, where you can see the different wine fermentation vessels – oak, concrete or clay – through a glass window while sipping your wine flight (I really enjoyed the pét-nat here).

If you want to jump on the orange wine trend, you can do that here too, at the Veer Wine Project, just up the road in another iron-walled warehouse. For the less adventurous, there is also a selection of award-winning wines.

Boise itself is pretty if you need time between wine tastings. It is located directly on a green belt by the river and the city center is compact and easily accessible on foot. I enjoyed my comfortable room accommodations at Hotel Renegade, especially the Blue Collar Coffee cafe that serves a delicious breakfast burrito.

Is Idaho the next great wine region?

So what does this mean for traveling wine lovers? Should you add Boise and surrounding areas to your list of wine regions to visit?

Absolutely yes, and for several reasons.

First is the wine Good. If you’ve spent a lot of time drinking wine and know what you like, you’ll make some pleasant discoveries here, from well-known varietals like Chardonnay to edgier, up-and-coming wine styles like “Pét.” nat” (short for petillant natural), a natural sparkling wine that some wineries are experimenting with. The bubbles are smaller and more subtle than sparkling wine or champagne – it is best described as a wine with just a hint of sparkling wine.

Second is the wine affordable. If you know anything about wine, you’ll probably be surprised at the price of a bottle once you try it. Most of the bottles we tried were in the $20-$30 range, but the wines didn’t taste like they came from $20 bottles.

Third, the wine is mostly undetected. Of course you can order it from the online sellers after visiting and tasting the wines and deciding what you like, but these wineries are small and don’t really produce enough wine to be able to offer it at a wholesale price means that the Distribution to wine stores and restaurants – even in Idaho – is unusual. Direct sales are their thing, and visiting a tasting room in either the Snake River Valley region or Boise (where many of the same wineries also operate tasting rooms) is the best way to discover these wines.

And if you flew Alaska Airlines on your trip, you can take advantage of the Wine Flies Free program, which allows you to check in a free case of wine on flights departing from Idaho airports. You can also show your boarding pass for a free tasting at participating wineries (including some of the ones I visited).

Ultimately, American wine drinkers tend to err on the side of caution and chatter about subtle flavors and food pairings. Certainly, some of this can be found in Idaho – mostly from other wine tasters – but when you talk to the tasting room managers and winemakers about their wine, what I notice is a lot of passion and not a lot of pretension. These winemakers are passionate about their wines and all of our conversations about wine were easy and straightforward – what we liked, what we didn’t like and what makes the wine the way it is.

And they won’t mind if you drink your wine at Cheez-Its.