They have an old Persian saying in UI fruit physiologist Essie Fallahi's native Iran: "If a big diamond is in a lion's mouth, take a chance and get it out."

On sun-dazzled Idaho hillsides from Sandpoint to Nampa and from Kuna to Hagerman, grape growers are taking such a chance. In between the one-in-eight winters that kill their vines back to the ground and set their fruit back for two years, they are harvesting wine grapes that sparkle in the marketplace.

Fallahi, a research scientist at the University of Idaho's Parma Research and Extension Center, understands the sultry appeal of the grape. Outside his childhood home in Taleghan, 100-year-old grape vines--thick with black table grapes--wound gloriously up tree trunks. "We kids always got our share," he says. Now, Fallahi wants Idaho grape growers to get their share of the high-spirited demand for premium, regionally produced wines.

Since 1997, Fallahi has tested 17 predominantly European varieties for cold-hardiness, fruit quality, growth habits, and irrigation and fertilizer needs. At Skyline Vineyards south of Nampa, Brad Pintler (general agriculture '79-'80) and David Straley are evaluating the varieties both in the field and in the bottle. If the grapes rise to their promise, several could be on grocers' shelves by 2002.

"Even if we only find one or two varieties that we really like for Idaho, it will be worth it," says Straley. The viticulturist, who grows grapes for both Sawtooth and Ste. Chapelle wineries, is among the wine

industry's California natives who have been drawn to Idaho vineyards by a flush of new opportunities and by soils and climate that "lend themselves to crisp acids and a depth of varietal fruit character."

A native Idahoan, Pintler is winemaker and general manager at Sawtooth Winery, which--like Ste. Chapelle--is now owned by Corus Brands. At first blush, Pintler says five of the research varieties "have a lot of potential." The reds Malbec, Petite Verdot, and Petite Syrah "have a lot of color and really intense flavor" and could be advantageously blended with Sawtooth Winery's Cabernets. The white Viognier "has really incredible citrus and light tropical fruit flavors" and would likely be bottled on its own if its promise bears out. A light red Dolcetto could make such an "easy-to-drink red wine" that Pintler envisions it as an introductory red.

"I feel great. I feel truly wonderful," said Fallahi after industry representatives tasted the first of the experimental wines this spring. "You don't see too much research where a product is in your hands three years after you begin."

Fallahi's research is supported by the Northwest Center for Small Fruit Research and by the Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission, of which Pintler has been a member for nearly a decade.

Fallahi recently added 20 new varieties--which, like the first 17, came from the University of California-Davis's research block--to the Parma trial. Not only is his experimental vineyard flourishing, but the

Idaho wine industry is coming into its own. Over the past five to six years, Pintler says Idaho vintners have learned how to blend irrigation and canopy management with Idaho's climate to draw peak flavor from their Idaho-grown grapes. "Now there's a more positive perception nationally," he says. "People are excited to try Idaho wines."

Among Sawtooth varieties, a 1996 Chardonnay and a 1990 Chenin Blanc took Gold Medals at the Seattle Wine Festival, and a 1991 Cabernet earned another at the Eastern International Wine Competition. Ste. Chapelle's 1996 Reserve Syrah was named one of 1999s top-100 best buys by Wine Enthusiast magazine, and its 1998 Dry Johannisberg Riesling scored among 1999's top-100 wine values in Wine & Spirits magazine.

"There's a lot of interest in all sorts of new grapes--and we have a lot of those grapes in Essie's vineyard," says Bill Stowe of Indian Creek Winery near Kuna. Stowe's Pinot Noir was named Best Red among 900 contenders in the 1990 San Diego National Wine Competition. His white Pinot Noir--fresh, fruity, and slightly sweet--is so popular that he is expanding his acreage from 14 to 20 to grow more of what he calls his "finicky" Pinot Noir grapes.

"It's tough to be in this business and be small, unless you have some terrific special niche," says Stowe. "The Pinot Noir was a saving niche for me." He credits the limestone-rich, silty-loam land that he chose purely for its location but that proved to be pure gold for growing Pinot Noirs. "I lucked out."

Stowe started his Kuna vineyard in 1982, while stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base, and began making wine in 1987 as a military retiree. He would have begun bottling in 1986, but a harsh winter froze his vines back down to the ground. That's happened again twice since then--but Stowe and his grapes have rebounded each time. Why? "If you can get past the winters, you can't match the growing season here."

Fortunately, Idaho vineyards are still free of phylloxera, the root-feeding insect that has forced California growers to graft their vines onto resistant rootstocks. Consequently, Idaho grapes can be grown on their own roots, which can send up "true" replacement shoots should vines freeze back to soil level. To promote cold-survival, Gem State producers also prune vigorously, cover young overwintering vines with insulating layers of soil, and install wind machines that mix warm air above plant canopies with chilly air below.

In nearly every other measure of growing conditions--to say nothing of land costs--Idaho measures up to, or surpasses, the Golden State. The soils that nurture and support grapes in southwestern Idaho--where the overwhelming portion of Idaho's wine grapes are grown--are lighter and sandier than soils in California's grape-growing regions.

At Skyline Vineyards' 2,700 feet of elevation, fruit wallows in the good, strong light that promotes growth and fruiting. Insects--kept in check by the hard winters--are only occasional problems. Daily temperature swings of 30 to 40 degrees balance the crop's sugars and acids. And, while northern California gets 30 inches of rain to the Treasure Valley's 10 inches, water to Idaho fields is carefully controlled through irrigation so that vines don't get too much moisture, become dense with vegetation, and shade fruit.

Bob Corbell, chairman of the Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission, expects Idaho wine grape production to surge from today's annual 2,000 tons and 180,000 to 200,000 cases to as many as 3,500 tons and 325,000 cases in another five to 10 years. The Gem State's 1,300 acres of wine grape vineyards--700 of which are already producing grapes--should swell to 2,000 total acres during the same time span.

Corbell says demand for Idaho wines is increasing monthly. About two-thirds of all Idaho wines are consumed within the state's borders, another quarter throughout the Northwest, and perhaps 5 percent elsewhere. Growth is likely to include deeper saturation within the Northwest and spillover into Canada, especially British Columbia.

Once Ste. Chapelle Winery begins bottling grapes from the 230 new acres Skyline Vineyards planted in 1999, its case numbers alone could reach 210,000, says consulting winemaker Steve Roberto. "What holds us back presently is that there aren't enough grapes to make all the wine that we could sell."

Ste. Chapelle currently sells 27 percent of its wines inside Idaho and another 43 percent to Washington and Oregon. "People in the Northwest would rather drink a Northwest wine than a California wine because they're proud," Roberto says. But he isn't shying away from national or international markets--particularly as the American pursuit of new flavor experiences becomes more refined and diverse. Nor is he daunted by California's 750,000 acres of wine grapes.

"It doesn't matter how big the California industry is," he says. "The bigger they get, the rarer we become by comparison. The bigger they become, the more consumers there are out there who will discover Idaho wines at some point in their lives."

Just as California wines can spark interest in Idaho wines, Steve Meyer of Sandpoint's Pend Oreille Winery says Idaho's larger wineries actually draw business to its smaller ones. "If anything, they're a great benefit to us because they help educate the public and help people cross the threshold into premium wines," he says. Pend Oreille's Bistro Rouge red table wine earned both a Gold Medal and a Critics' Choice award at the 1998 Northwest Wine Summit and its 1995 Merlot took a Gold Medal at the Tri-Cities Wine Festival.

Meyer buys grapes from southern Idaho, the Columbia Valley, and the new Clearwater Canyon Vineyard, which is returning grape production to the Lewiston area for the first time since Prohibition. He and his wife, Julie, sell two-thirds of their wines right in Bonner County--half to local residents and the other half to tourists. The locals buy to celebrate regional pride and the tourists are "taking home a memory."

The expanding industry is also attracting more research into regional grape production. Beginning this summer, the USDA Agricultural Research Service will locate a research horticulturist at the UI's Parma site. At Corvallis, Oregon, research leader Bob Linderman says the new federal scientist will conduct studies into optimal, site-specific production methods for Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

"Right now, our water and fertility management in Northwest grapes is based on California standards, but our conditions are very different from those in California," he says. Linderman expects the new research to help growers in each of the three states match their growing conditions to their most promising varieties and rootstocks.

While growers await the results of both the USDA-ARS and University of Idaho research, Roberto calls wine grapes "a powerful opportunity for Idaho farmers to diversify and lower their overall economic risk. Grapes are a commodity with which you can differentiate yourself based on quality," he says. "You can't grow a reserve-quality sugarbeet that the market will pay more money for, but if you grow incredible fruit, a winery will always take it because you can make better wine with it."

And as for those frosts? "Yes, it's a huge concern, but you have to get past that if you even want to step up to the plate to be a grower of grapes in Idaho," says Roberto. "The stakes here are higher."

Idaho Wineries

Camas Winery
110 S Main
Moscow ID 83843
(208) 882-0214

Carmela Vineyards
795 W Madison
Glenns Ferry ID 83623
(208) 366-2313

Cocolalla Winery
Hwy 95 N, Milepost 463
M/A: E 14550 Bunco Rd
Athol ID 83801
(208) 263-3774

Hegy's South Hills Winery
3099 E 3400 N
M/A: PO Box 727
Twin Falls ID 83301
(208) 734-6369

Hells Canyon Winery
18835 Symms Rd
Caldwell ID 83605
(800) 318-7873

Indian Creek (Stowe) Winery
1000 N McDermott Rd
Kuna ID 83634
(208) 922-4791

Koenig Vineyards & Distillery
14744 Plum Rd
Caldwell ID 83605
(208) 454-5572

Pend d'Oreille Winery
1067 Baldy Industrial Park
PO Box 1821
Sandpoint ID 83864
(208) 265-8545 Ste.

Ste. Chapelle Winery
19348 Lowell Rd
Caldwell ID 83605
(208) 459-7222

Sawtooth Winery
13750 Surrey Ln
Nampa ID 83686
(208) 467-1200

Vickers Vineyards
15646 Sunny Slope Rd
Caldwell ID 83605

Weston Winery
16316 Orchard St
Caldwell ID 83605
(208) 459-2631

Source: Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission