In 1997, we planted our first vines in the Eastern Washington AVAs of Columbia Valley and Wahluke Slope. At first glance, Eastern Washington is not your typical wine country. It's a remote, windswept, high desert dotted with sagebrush and tumbleweeds. But our family has been farming here since the mid-1950s and we believed the region's moderate temperatures, low rainfall and sandy soils were ideal for grapes.