vineyards...in Idaho?

We were treated to a wine tasting seminar Friday night. The subject for the evening was Idaho wines. Turns out we have an officially recognized, government sanctioned appellation (wine growing region) right here in Idaho: the Snake River Valley Appellation. Who knew? We tasted both white and red wines, eight different varieties all grown, fermented and bottled here in Idaho. The appetizer plate consisted of Idaho foods including a local goat cheese, the obligatory smoked salmon, and elk sausage to list the items I remember.
It was a pleasant evening swirling wine around in a glass (be careful not to spill!), sticking your nose as far as possible into the goblet (I still can't smell ripe cherries or whatever fruit I'm supposed to) and generally acting like wine snobs. It was a small group with no one taking themselves too seriously which made the evening quite enjoyable. The wine steward presenting the wines to us was very young, in his mid twenties which prompted the tongue in cheek question of just how long have you been drinking wine? He took it in stride and chuckled along with us. And as we laughed at ourselves we did learn a little bit about wine and the varieties of grape grown local here in Idaho.