Great Northwest Wine magazine Spring 2024

IN THIS ISSUE

SPRING 2024 | VOL. 3, NO. 2

A note to our supporters

This marks the third year of Great Northwest Wine’s annual “winery awards” issue. In some ways, it is our most important edition — and the one we enjoy putting together more than any other.

And while it won’t be our final “awards” issue, this does bring to an end of us publishing a print magazine each quarter. Next spring, we will send to subscribers a publication with more value.

We would not have begun nor made it this far — 10 issues — without the support of our print advertisers. A number have been with us nonstop from the beginning. They are Maryhill Winery, Retter & Co., Barnard Griffin Winery, Brian Carter Cellars, Cathedral Ridge Winery, Clover Island Inn, Coyote Canyon Winery, DeLille Cellars, Fidelítas, Liberty Lake Wine Cellars, Mountain States Construction, Port of Kennewick and ReustlePrayer Rock Vineyards.

It’s no coincidence the aforementioned wineries are among the most respected and decorated in the Pacific Northwest. For years, judging panels across the country have been awarding gold medals to their wines, so it’s not just us.

These friends have provided us with the financial support to continue with a print publication. However, not enough individuals were interested in paying to support regional, independent journalism. There has been no growth because it’s been almost impossible to move those receiving a complimentary copy of our magazine into a paid subscriber.

As someone who spent 32 years working in newsrooms of daily newspapers, I’ve been through this before.

A year from now, what you will see will be more thoughtful, robust, timeless and attractive. It will continue to feature the photojournalism of Richard Duval. And we hope that many of the columnists and contributors you’ve gotten to know since 2021 will continue to share their voice and perspective with us.

So for those who have an active subscription, thank you for the financial support and the encouragement. We will carry your subscription with us into next year.

In the meantime, GreatNorthwestWine.com is undergoing its own evolution — a vibrant and timely chronicle of this robust wine region as we continue to share the stories of the delicious producers who have supported our traditional efforts along the way.

COVER STORY | by Eric Degerman

BC’s Gehringer Bros. Winery Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year.

A VINE START | by Eric Degerman

Lane Hoss belongs in the Washington Wine Hall of Fame.

THE WINE KNOWS | by Andy Perdue

WSU Wine Science Center closing in on 10th Anniversary.

SWIRL, SNIFF & SIP | by Ken Robertson

Innovation with the wild west of wine growers.

ELLEN ON WINE | by Ellen Landis

Isabelle Meunier & Lavinea Winery.

RISING STARS | by April Reddout

Amy Lagler-Johnson’s journey to winemaker.

THE WINES THAT MADE US | by Liz Moss-Woerman

Ashley Trout, winemaker at Brook & Bull.

GEM STATE REPORT | by Jim Thomssen

Gruner Veltliner in Idaho coming of age.

BEYOND THE 49TH PARALLEL | by Allison M. Markin

What impact will the BC crop losses have on the 2024 vintages.

CLIMATE CHANGE | by Dana Van Nest

Hybrid grapes provide options for wine lovers.

CHANGING WINE INDUSTRY | by Sonnay Alvarez

Portable wine offerings attract a new generation of wine drinkers.

TURNING THE TABLES ON HOKE HARDEN | by Carl Giavanti Wine & spirits educator and consultant.

BAYERNMOOR CELLARS

WASHINGTON WINERY OF THE YEAR | by Eric Degerman

Larry Harris transitions from patent attorney to a top winemaker.

VALO CELLARS

WASHINGTON WINERY TO WATCH | by Eric Degerman

Michael Ruhland & Matias Kusulas turned a friendship into award-winning wines.

IRIS VINEYARDS

OREGON WINERY OF THE YEAR | by Eric Degerman

Reaching new heights in acclaim and production in the Willamette Valley.

BLUEBIRD HILL CELLARS

OREGON WINERY TO WATCH | by Eric Degerman

Neil & Sue Shay are deliberate in creating stellar wines.

VEER WINE PROJECT

IDAHO WINERY OF THE YEAR | by Eric Degerman

Will Wetmore’s precise, practical and eclectic approach to wine.

FAMICI WINE COMPANY

IDAHO WINERY TO WATCH | by Eric Degerman

C.J. and Janet Northrup put an Itallian influence into winemaking.

VAN WESTEN VINEYARDS

BRITISH COLUMBIA WINERY OF THE YEAR | by Eric Degerman Wine grower Rob Van Westen crafts award-winning wines.

GARNET VALLEY RANCH WINERY

BRITISH COLUMBIA WINERY TO WATCH | by Allison Markin Partners team up for cool climate wines in an organic setting.

Since 1998, our team of journalists has set out to help identify award-winning wines from the Pacific Northwest and to share the stories of those behind them. We focus on those in the cellar and among the vines who work with fruit from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Idaho and Montana. Our coverage includes those restaurateurs, merchants and ambassadors working to promote the Northwest as one of the wine world’s leading destinations. Along the way, we continue to pay homage to the historic figures responsible for our industry’s delicious past, present and future.

CEO, Eric Degerman

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF eric@GreatNorthwestWine.com & CO-FOUNDER

PUBLISHER Jerry Hug jerry@GreatNorthwestWine.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ken Robertson & COLUMNIST

STAFF Richard Duval

PHOTOGRAPHER

CONTRIBUTING Traci Degerman

PHOTOGRAPHERS Jason Kaplan Photography

Shari Saysonsack

Lionel Trudell

COLUMNISTS Ellen Landis

Liz Moss-Woerman

Andy Perdue

April Reddout

CONTRIBUTORS Carl Giavanti

Jim Thomssen

Allison M. Markin

Dana Van Nest

Sonnay Alvarez

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Lisa L. Vogt Lisasdesignworks@gmail.com

ADVERTISING SALES Jerry Hug Jerry@GreatNorthwestWine.com (509) 947-9422

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Great Northwest Wine LLC

8524 W. Gage Blvd. A-244 Kennewick, WA 99336

COVER PHOTO

Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery in Oliver, British Columbia named Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year. Brothers Walter and Gordon with Walter’s son Brendon in one of the estate vineyards.

(Photo by Traci Degerman)

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When the Washington Wine Hall of Fame returns, let’s induct Lane Hoss

In the world of sports, it’s standard practice for someone to have been retired for five years to be considered for their hall of fame.

This past winter, Lane Hoss retired after a 42-year career at Anthony’s Restaurants. Here is an abbreviated argument for her to become a member of the Legends of Washington Wine Hall of Fame.

Her induction likely wouldn’t come until next year, at the earliest — and there should be at least four more inductees to join her. That catching up will be explained in a few paragraphs.

It was 2003 when the Washington State Wine Commission created the Walter Clore Honorarium to recognize those who have demonstrated dedication to the advancement of the Washington wine industry.

Lane was the first recipient. And it can be argued no one in the state’s restaurant industry has been more important to the Washington wine industry than Lane.

Winemaker/viticulturist Wade Wolfe, who moved to the Yakima Valley in 1978, supports her induction.

“In her many years as the wine buyer for Anthony’s, she has always included a wide selection of Washington-produced wines, either as individual brands or as Anthony’s house wines,” he says. “This has exposed many customers, both in-state and tourists, to the breadth and quality of our wines. Thurston Wolfe has personally benefited from this exposure because many of our visitors tell us they first enjoyed our wines at an Anthony’s.”

Lane joined Anthony’s Restaurants in 1982. She retired as a vice-president who had overseen three departments — operations, marketing and the beverage program.

“When we opened at Shilshole Bay, we put all the wine from Washington in one section on the list and called it ‘Washington wine.’ Anything from any other part of the world — including California — was called ‘Imported.’

“Doing that got us press and media attention, and we never turned back,” she adds with a smile. “Those who go into our restaurants now will notice that our wine programs are 80% Washington with Oregon for Pinot Noir. We now have some Idaho wines that we champion.”

Anthony’s operates 25 restaurants in three states, and throughout the decades, any wine at Anthony’s has met her high standards.

And she’s enjoyed the journey that began in the mid-1970s while the Central Washington University grad was working at the famous Edgewater Inn in Seattle.

“They thought it would be a novelty to have a woman wine steward and captain,” she recalls. “I only knew how to open Mateus, Lancers and Blue Nun, but I took the job and I loved it.

“Even though it might have started as a joke or a test or a marketing stunt,” Lane says, “it really opened the doors for me to this wonderful career and (to) meet such wonderful people in both industries.”

Lane remains involved with Anthony’s on their wine selection committee and also is consulting for the Washington Athletic Club on its wine list. She now has more time for travel and judging wine competitions.

Alas, the pandemic and other challenges have put both the Washington Wine Hall of Fame and its current home — the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center — on hold. Nominations for the 14th Legends of Washington Wine Hall of Fame were being gathered in late 2019 by the Clore Center.

The $4 million Clore Center opened in its full glory in 2014 along Prosser’s Wine Country Road with a mission to serve as a tasting and education destination for consumers touring the heart of Washington wine country.

By the end of 2020, the nonprofit group operating the Clore Center pulled out and defaulted on a $150,000 loan. Since then, the Port of Benton has been unable to find someone to operate the Clore Center.

In September 2021, the Washington State University Tri-Cities offered to use the Clore Center for wine education. Sadly, the man who was going to lead those efforts — Fulbright scholar Byron Marlowe — died unexpectedly

Dec. 28, 2021, at the age of 43. He was WSU’s assistant professor of hospitality and director of the wine/beverage business management program.

This year, the first two months of the Clore Center calendar listed only four events. None of them were public events. Just one was related to wine. There are no active links on its website. Its Facebook page has been lifeless since April 2023. Coincidentally, the most recent public event March 2023 was the First Ladies of Washington Wine presented by Alliance of Women in Washington Wine. The oyster bar and salmon was catered by Anthony’s. Lane moderated the panel with aplomb.

This spring, the Port of Benton announced again that it needs a third party to serve as a proper custodian for the Clore Center and “maintain the day-to-day business of the facility above and beyond the port’s landlord role.”

It took a $2 million grant in 2012 from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to complete construction of the Clore Center. Pandemic aside, if the terms tied to that grant are not fulfilled — which include job creation then the grant is required to be repaid.

Gary and Nancy Figgins of Leonetti Cellar were the most recent inductees into the Washington Wine Hall of Fame. That was summer 2019. At this point, access to those hall of fame plaques is limited.

If nothing can be resolved, industry leaders should consider moving the exhibit to the WSU Wine Science Center on the Richland campus.

Granted, it’s not meant for tourists, but there would be access to the exhibit — and there’s a natural connection considering Clore’s legacy of research for WSU.

In 2017, the Legends of Washington Wine Hall of Fame Gala and auction at the Clore Center raised $105,000. If Lane Hoss were to become the fourth woman inducted — joining Pat Holmes of Ciel du Cheval Vineyard, Ann Williams of Kiona Vineyards and Nancy Figgins — my money would be on more than $105K being raised by the end of that night.

Eric Degerman is the president, CEO and co-founder of Great Northwest Wine LLC. He can be reached at eric@GreatNorthwestWine.com.

Eric Degerman is the president, CEO and cofounder of Great Northwest Wine LLC. He can be reached at eric@GreatNorthwestWine.com.

ERIC DEGERMAN

WSU Wine Science Center nears its 10th anniversary

ANDY PERDUE

Nine years ago this spring, I toured the construction site of Washington State University’s Wine Science Center along with a variety of VIPs — ranging from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray to Port of Benton commissioners — representing interest in the economic benefits of wine as an important part of the state’s agriculture industry.

The $23 million facility was halfway complete by the time of that tour in April 2014, with walls rising from the previously sagebrush-covered site at the WSU Tri-Cities campus in Richland. The building opened June 4, 2015 with unique architecture and dramatic Cougar crimson accents. It now houses a critical mass of faculty and students engaged in viticulture and winemaking research and education.

I had the opportunity to go inside the WSU Wine Science Center a few months ago to help dedicate a piece of art donated by my good friends Hank and Nancy Sauer, longtime advocates for wine education and contributors to a scholarship in the name of the late wine journalist Bob Woehler. The intimate event gave me the opportunity to catch up with several of the folks who’ve long been invested in WSU’s wine program.

WSU has a long history of advancing — some might say, pushing forward — Washington’s wine industry, going back to the 1930s. That’s when Walter Clore arrived from the Midwest to help lead horticulture research for WSU. He was stationed at the WSU Prosser research center in the Yakima Valley, where he became interested in growing wine grape varieties in the area’s moderate arid climate.

Clore spent decades conducting experiments, consulting on where to plant vineyards, and generally leading the industry through its infancy to grow into the nation’s second-largest wine producing state.

His story is chronicled in The Wine Project, a book written by Ron Irvine. Clore would be more than thrilled with the WSU Wine Science Center, especially the viticulture answers being explored, from wildfire smoke taint to powdery mildew. This past winter was another tough one for the Columbia Valley, with frigid temperatures damaging many vines — another challenge for WSU to take on as the industry looks for solutions to mitigate the cold damage.

Each year, the university also runs hundreds of fermentation trials to study which combinations of yeast, temperature and timing work best and optimize quality. There are also irrigation trials — how much water does a grapevine need — as well as research into other areas of interest, such as soil science and grape varietal clones.

Among the program’s shining alumni is Caroline Merrell, Ph.D., now the research and development director for Jackson Family Wines. She recently appeared on the cover of Wine Business Monthly magazine.

Students also make wine in a hands-on class, bottling their hard work under the label WSU Blended Learning. Discussing realworld problems helps students understand what they might experience in the wine cellar or vineyard. Winemakers and consultants contribute to the education program, too, from sensory evaluations in a high-tech classroom to providing internships in their wineries.

It all was the vision shared by Vicky Carwein, a former WSU Tri-Cities Chancellor; Thomas Henick-Kling, the center’s founding director, and industry leaders whose names are displayed throughout the building, classrooms, laboratories and oncampus vineyard in a broad show of support.

The concept was inspired by other robust wine industries around the globe that are buoyed by higher education and research programs, such as the University of California at Davis, Fresno State and Santa Rosa Junior College in Sonoma County. These programs conduct research and educate generations of winemakers and viticulturists — and have helped California attain its place of leadership in the world of wine.

Several other schools around the Pacific Northwest have started programs to support the wine industry. In Washington state, there is South Seattle College’s Northwest Wine Academy, The Institute of Enology and Viticulture at Walla Walla Community College, Yakima Valley College’s Vineyard and Winery Technology Program, and the Wine Studies Program at Central Washington University. In Oregon, there is Chemeketa Community College’s Wine Studies Program, the Southern Oregon Wine Institute in Roseburg on the campus of Umpqua Community College and Oregon State University. British Columbia is led by Okanagan College in Penticton, and its alumni include winemaker Mark Hopley of Hester Creek Estate Winery — Great Northwest Wine’s 2023 British Columbia Winery of the Year.

Together with WSU, they’ve created an extensive wine ecosystem in our corner of the continent. I have a soft spot in my heart for WSU because my parents met on the Pullman campus in a journalism class. My wife worked at WSU Tri-Cities during the era when the Wine Science Center was proposed, funded and construction started. And my daughter is likely to attend WSU Tri-Cities to earn her bachelor’s degree.

Almost a decade ago, I predicted in my Seattle Times column that the WSU Wine Science Center would become an important component for the continued strengthening of the Pacific Northwest wine industry. The program is fulfilling that role, as graduates can now be found throughout the cellars and vineyards of Washington state and beyond.

In another decade, I believe we’ll be talking about the WSU Wine Science Center in the same way that California talks about UC-Davis.

Andy Perdue, now semi-retired for medical reasons, was the founding editor of Great Northwest Wine and Wine Press Northwest, and the former wine columnist for the Seattle Times. He lives in the heart of Washington wine country with his wife Melissa and daughter Niranjana.

Eric Degerman is the president, CEO and cofounder of Great Northwest Wine LLC. He can be reached at eric@GreatNorthwestWine.com.

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Bet on Washington for wine adventure

KEN ROBERTSON

More than 45 years ago, I asked a newto-Washington winemaker named Rob Griffin what had drawn him north. The recent UC-Davis grad replied one factor was Washington’s “Wild West” approach to wine.

The recent WineVit 2024 convention staged by the Washington Winegrowers Association reminded me of that during its “grand tasting” event, titled Contemporary Wines, Classic Wines and Exploring Niche Wine Styles from Washington State.”

Among the speakers was Scott Williams of Kiona Vineyards and Winery, whose dad, John, founded the family winery and was a crazy innovator himself. John and business partner Jim Holmes planted Cabernet Sauvignon grapes amidst the sagebrush of arid Red Mountain.

It was, at the time, a bad idea, according to experts of the day. Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and, if you wanted red wine grapes, maybe a cold-hardy Austrian grape known as Lemberger were better suited for Washington, conventional wisdom said.

Fast-forward to today and Red Mountain’s vineyards are dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. And Lemberger? The 13.1 acres at Kiona are believed to be the largest commercial planting in North America.

So, what was Scott Williams talking about that day? Why Lemberger of course. But not the red wine Kiona makes annually and sells out. It was a “pet nat” sparkling rosé made from Kiona’s Lemberger grapes, picked early at shockingly low sugar levels — 19 Brix.

Williams recounted that the wine began when “this guy called me up and asked if we could pick some Lemberger for him at 19 Brix.”

That guy was Matt Austin, winemaker and co-owner with his wife Kelly of Grosgrain Vineyards in Walla Walla. And Williams was happy to sell him that early-picked red wine with acidity suited to a sparkler.

What was Austin thinking? Well,

Lemberger has a reputation for being Austria’s answer to Pinot Noir, a sort of softer spoken, more refined red with good manners. And Pinot Noir and its cousin Pinot Meunier and shirt-tail relation Chardonnay are the three grapes that go into those famous French Champagnes.

His resulting wine is everything a pet nat sparkler is supposed to be — bubbly, crisp and refreshing — with a little wild berry element. And it’s wildly popular with Grosgrain customers, selling out ever since he started making it in 2018.

Austin freely admits he takes a sort of “Wild West” approach to his grape growing and his winemaking.

“We tend to be adventurous people,” he said.

Though he’s based in Walla Walla, an area often known for hefty, bold, high-alcohol reds, especially Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, he aims to produce lower alcohol wines in the 12.5% to 13.5% range rather than 14.4% or more. He also picks early enough to retain ample acidity.

“I don’t adjust the acidity in my wines,” he notes. Ideally, the result is wine that is “fresh in style with more finesse.”

Grosgrain produces about 5,000 cases of wine annually using grapes he buys from other growers, plus from the 80-acre property they bought near Seven Hills Vineyard just across the Washington state line in Oregon. So far, 20 acres of vines are planted there, plus another 2 acres on a small vineyard and home site they bought at auction after the property essentially had been abandoned.

A list of the varieties planted in Grosgrain’s vineyards shows several of his wines, present and future, will come from varieties uncommon in Washington.

They also make a Grenache Blanc, an Italian red blend called Rosso that’s made with Aglianico and Nebbiolo, the Old Milton red blend that’s primarily Carignan, a Mourvèdre, a Syrah from Les Collines Vineyard, a Syrah-Mourvèdre blend, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a red blend called Petit Grosgrain that’s Grenache (46%), Syrah (16%), Mourvèdre (15%), Charbono (15%) and Carignan (8%), a skin-contact Sémillon and a Lemberger red table wine made from Kiona grapes.

The Austins’ story about how they ended up owning a winery and vineyards has a beginning that’s as unconventional as his approach to wine. He had been a musician who realized he needed a regular paycheck, so he earned a law degree at Loyola in Los Angeles aiming to work in the entertainment industry but instead ended up in tax law. It was not his happy place.

Along the way, he met his wife Kelly, a Seattle-area native. On one of their early dates, they went to see the infamous movie Sideways. They enjoyed the movie, decided to do some wine tasting in the Paso Robles area and found they enjoyed it greatly.

Marriage and a couple of kids later, Kelly supported Matt’s decision to leave his law practice. They returned to Washington state, graduated from the Northwest Wine Academy in Seattle and then worked at several wineries. After four wineries in four years, he ended up as cellarmaster at Dunham Cellars in Walla Walla. Then came the fateful day when they found the property that was up for auction. They put in what Matt described as a “lowball bid” and were a bit shocked to win.

Suddenly, they were vineyard owners on their way to owning a winery as well. And definitely part of Washington’s “Wild West.”

Wine Words: “Pet Nat” or Pétillant Naturel

In France, this has a reputation as a lowrent relative that preceded the high-brow and ever-more-expensive Champagne. In France, it’s also known as sparkling wine made by méthod ancestrale, a broad-brush term for a wine bottled before its primary fermentation is complete and without adding any secondary fermentation yeast or sugar. The result should be bubbly, crisp and refreshing, a sort of “wild side,” accessible drink that’s generally much cheaper than anything labeled Champagne.

One of the Northwest’s premier and pioneering producers of pet nat can be found on British Columbia’s Naramata Bench — restaurateur-turned-winemaker Jay Drysdale of Bella Wines.

Ken Robertson, associate editor and columnist for Great Northwest Wine magazine, has been sipping Northwest wines and writing about them since 1976.

Isabelle Meunier keeps Lavinea Winery on global stage

Adecade ago, Willamette Valley

winemaker Isabelle Meunier and cofounder/ partner Greg Ralston co-founded their single-vineyard wine brand, Lavinea.

Her winemaking, which includes a focus on site-specific transparency and minimal oak influence, has landed Lavinea wines in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the Year numerous times, and frequently receives high scores from the global critics such as James Suckling and Jeb Dunnuck.

A Quebec native, Isabelle studied winemaking and viticulture in Burgundy and New Zealand prior to working with FrenchCanadian Pascal Marchand at Domaine de la Vougeraie, and at Felton Road in New Zealand with Blair Walter.

Meunier’s star began to rise in 2007 when Marchand recommended her to famed winemaker Dominique Lafon and Master Sommelier Larry Stone for their new Evening Land Vineyards project in Oregon’s EolaAmity Hills. Four years later, Wine Spectator awarded 97 points to the 2009 Seven Springs Vineyard La Source Chardonnay. It was the highest score ever bestowed upon an Oregon Chardonnay.

In 2014, Meunier and Ralston — the international winery executive recruited to Oregon in 2012 to become CEO of Evening Lands — went out on their own to launch Lavinea. A year later came the news that the 2012 Seven Springs La Source Pinot Noir made by Meunier placed No. 3 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list in 2015 with 98 points.

Among her favorite Willamette Valley vintages in recent years was the “perfectly balanced” 2017, she says. Her early characterizations of the 2023 vintage include “interesting” and “amazing” after a rollercoaster growing season.

“Spring was colder than normal, and budburst came in late April,” Meunier says. “But by the end of July, they caught

up beautifully with summer’s steady, sunny weather, which provided the perfect conditions to ripen relatively quickly at most vineyards. The wines show fruitful aromas, wonderfully concentrated flavors, silky textures and wonderful length.”

Meunier and Ralston aim to express the purest form of site-specific terroir. They believe the greatest wine regions in the world are defined by their most highly touted vineyards, and they maintain that not many vineyards within Oregon are “yet” well known.

That is thankfully changing, she says, “and we wish to help elevate, and promote, some of the great vineyard sites that the Willamette Valley has to offer.”

To achieve that goal, they embrace the vintage variations in their winemaking but minimize winemaking intervention. And moderate levels of alcohol factor into why Lavinea wines age gracefully.

“We wish to guide the wines as a true

representation of that vineyard within the context of the vintage, yet avoid anything in the winemakers’ toolbox that would greatly impact one vineyard over the other,” she says.

“In a nutshell, we treat each vineyard the same way through winemaking so that the difference in the glass between each wine can be tasted and seen as terroir driven, not winemaker driven,” she adds. “Our goal is to provide a wonderful selection of wines that is a discovery of our vineyards for that specific vintage.”

The only barrels she uses are from Burgundy, adding that grain tightness has improved consistency. She prefers “tight and extra-tight oak profiles to suit the long élevage in barrel, while preserving freshness.”

Meunier’s passion for wine is strong, and she shares that it started as a passion for the complexity of the craft and the beauty of what is in the glass.

“It requires a skillful blend of science, art and intuition, which I view as wonderful

ELLEN LANDIS

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAVINEA WINERY

The Lavinea Winery portfolio features Pinot Noir from some of Willamette Valley’s premier vineyards.

challenges,” she says.

If she were not making wine, what other direction might she head?

“I find myself paying much more attention to how things grow — not just grapes — and have developed many interests in fermentations of all kinds — not just wine!

“Overall, I value being close to nature and following the rhythms of the seasons, which is why winemaking has been so rewarding.”

Thanks to what she and Ralston are accomplishing, wine aficionados near and far are also rewarded. The wines can be experienced at their young tasting room along Kutch Road in downtown Carlton. Reservations can be made via Lavinea.com.

Lavinea Winery 2021 Temperance Hill

Vineyard Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills

$77: From this 100-acre, certified organic vineyard comes this provocative Pinot Noir grown at elevations ranging from 660 to 860 feet, higher than most in the Eola-Amity Hills. Florals on the nose lead to a brilliantly balanced medley of blackberries and olallieberries entwined with forest floor notes, hints of nutmeg and clove, and oak nuances. Full-bodied while elegant, it showcases velvety tannins, brilliant balance, and a persistent finish. (13.2% alc.)

Lavinea Winery 2017 Temperance Hill

Vineyard Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills

$82: Earth tones and exotic spice on the nose and entry wrap around a gorgeous core of Bing cherries, marionberries, and blueberries. Graceful from the start to its compelling finish, this brings hints of black tea, beautifully integrated oak and wild mushrooms with herbs de Provence adding further dimension. Polished tannins, impeccable balance and deep fruit promise this gem has many more years to impress. (13.9% alc.)

Lavinea Winery 2021 Elton Vineyard

Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills $65: The luminous hue and expressive aroma of tree fruits and citrus blossom heightens the senses and will keep you hanging over the glass. White peach, creamy Bartlett pears, Meyer lemon brioche, tinges of earth, a thread of minerality, and honeysuckle blossom on the palate keep you mesmerized. Purity and depth from the first sip through the long-lasting finale. (13.1% alc.)

Lavinea Winery 2017 Elton Vineyard

Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills $69: A tantalizing aroma of citrus-splashed summer peaches wafts from the glass. Complex and sophisticated as layers of juicy freestone peaches, flaky lemon pastry, poached pear, hints of Marcona almonds, quince

paste, underlying oak, and minerality flow seamlessly across the palate. The lively, elegant finish lingers far beyond the last swallow; brilliant. (13.2% alc.)

Lavinea Winery 2021 Tualatin Estate

Vineyards Pinot Noir, Tualatin Hills $77: A walk in the forest comes to mind as this gem nears the nose, with lovely scents of wildflowers and cherries. Blossoming on the palate are flavors of juicy red cherries, spiced raspberry/ blueberry compote, sauteed mushrooms, anise and blood orange accents. Decant if enjoying now or hold for future enjoyment. While approachable, it is cellar worthy if you have patience to wait. (13.3% alc.)

Lavinea Winery 2017 Tualatin Estate

Vineyards Pinot Noir, Tualatin Hills $82: From own-rooted vines planted in Laurelwood soil 50 years ago, this gorgeous Pinot Noir opens with a perfumed floral aroma. Exquisitely balanced on the palate as Sweetheart cherries, boysenberries, anise, earthy tones, orange zest, subtle French oak nuances and a splash of cola fully coat the mouth. Well defined, satin smooth and tantalizing with persistent length; irresistible. (13.2% alc.)

Ellen Landis is a certified sommelier, journalist and wine judge based in St.Petersburg, Florida.

Lavinea founding owners Isabelle Meunier & Greg Ralston stand in Tualatin Estate Vineyard, a site near Forest Grove, Ore., planted in 1973 by storied winemaker Bill Fuller.

ANDRÉA JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY/COURTESY OF LAVINEA WINERY

Blending ag, science and wine with Amy Lagler-Johnson

Amy LaglerJohnson, winemaker at Purple Star, MuretGaston and Native Sun, has spent a lot of time as a “woman in a man’s job” and has stories to back it up.

Lagler-Johnson graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science Production Management and planned to return home and join her brothers as the third generation operating her family’s dairy farm in Western Washington.

She laughs when she says she and her husband, Kyle Johnson, lasted two months. They “couldn’t handle the weather,” so they moved back to Eastern Washington where Kyle grew up.

Kyle landed a viticulturist job with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Amy began as a veterinary pharmaceutical rep with a territory that spanned Montana, Idaho, Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington.

By the time she was promoted, the company expanded to Mexico and Canada, and she was one of only two female managers in the company. She remembers the friction, felt the mistrust and knew her direct reports considered her naive because she was under the age of 30 and female.

Things turned around after she discovered an employee was using his company truck to haul extra product that disappeared, so she downsized his vehicle to a minivan that only held what was intended for delivery. Inventory reports improved, and leadership appreciated her problem-solving.

However, she was spending 90 hours a week at that job and began another 90+ hour a week job — motherhood. As her family expanded, she decided it was a better fit to start an inhome daycare to facilitate being home with her three kids, and she cared for the children of winemaker friend Jessica Munnell.

Kyle had moved on from Ste. Michelle to make critically acclaimed wines for Olsen

Estates in Prosser. When the Great Recession prompted the Olsen family to decide to stop producing wines, that led to a crossroads for Kyle and Amy.

“Kyle took a barrel-rep sponsored trip to France while I was running my daycare,” Amy says with a smile. “Then Charlie Hoppes convinced Kyle to start his own business and offered him a corner at Wine Boss for production.

“ My studies taught me about soil — that’s vineyard, crops — that’s grapes, the science of preserving crops, silage (aerobic/non-aerobic fermentation and sanitation for food grade products.”

“Do not let Kyle and Charlie drink wine together!” Amy adds with a chuckle while expressing gratitude. “Charlie wants to help young talent and sees the big picture for the industry.”

By this time, Amy was managing a Starbucks, working the early-morning shift. Once her children were home from school and the chores and homework were done, the family would head to Wine Boss. The kids would sleep while Amy and Kyle worked on their wines, some of which they had purchased from the Olsen family.

Amy was involved as a winemaker in her family’s new winery from the start, applying business knowledge from the dairy farm and her degree. She draws a correlation between all the subjects her college education provided.

“My studies taught me about soil — that’s vineyard, crops — that’s grapes, the science of preserving crops, silage (aerobic/nonaerobic fermentation and sanitation for food grade products,” she says. “The dairy farm equipment is exactly the same, including stainless steel tanks and hoses. Really the only thing about my degree that isn’t used in winemaking is animal reproduction, and the only difference in driving a forklift is loads on the farm are not carrying $25K worth of wine.”

By 2014, the Johnsons were outgrowing their space at Wine Boss and producing enough wine that Amy left Starbucks to be a full-time winemaker. Hoppes provided critical help in finding the Johnsons a new spot in Benton City, a 13,000-square foot production facility that allowed enough space for Amy and Kyle to launch a custom-crush business. Hoppes even referred some clients to the Johnsons.

As for being a winemaker — a position consumers tend to assume is male-dominated

Amy has stories to tell. Recently, she was hosting an event when a customer assumed she was a server. Imagine the surprised look when Amy addressed that group and introduced herself as owner/winemaker.

“In social situations, women aren’t introduced by their title, but men are, and women don’t introduce themselves with all their credentials,” she says. “Maybe it is time for that to shift.”

At this point, Amy says she has no plans to launch her own label.

“Unless Kyle gives me a good reason to cut him out,” she adds with a laugh. “We are a team, and we could not do alone what we do together.”

In 2022, the Johnsons created a wine bar in downtown Kennewick’s Columbia Gardens Wine & Culinary Center where they spotlight their Muret-Gaston label and provide a getaway near the banks of the Columbia River for consumers.

“Slow down and connect with each other, share good food and wine, and avoid screens,” Amy says.

Her favorite time of year is harvest, and she looks forward to it, knowing that every year is a different challenge. And it is never predictable.

“This past year was a doozy, but knowing that what you are creating is connecting friends and family makes it all worth it,” she says.

April Reddout is a professional wine judge and hospitality consultant who was then the guest services manager for Col Solare on Red Mountain. She can be reached at ReddoutWine.com.

Ashley Trout and ‘99 Reininger Cab Franc

Within her first week of moving to the Walla Walla Valley in 1999, Ashley Trout got herself a job. She traded the Washington of politicos for the Washington of westward-wandering pioneers to attend Whitman College.

She double majored in Anthropology and Rhetoric. Upon arrival, wine seemed like as good an idea as any.

“When in Rome,” she says about taking a job doing nighttime punch downs at Reininger Winery. “It’s what 18-year-olds are for.”

The ups and downs of harvest, the urgency and physicality of those repetitive tasks are not for everyone — but Ashley thrived within the somewhat narrow space of overnight wine work, getting a taste for a life that could be.

“Which then, of course, led into everything,” she says.

By her sophomore year, Ashley took a break from her fall semester so she could be fully immersed in harvest.

“I was seeing a snapshot each night of this moving entity, but I wasn’t seeing how it was moving throughout the day,” she says. “So I wanted to see the rest of it, and the rest is history.”

Working with a small crew at Reininger (three people, including Ashley) allowed her to test and master different elements of the craft. “There’s a modesty that comes with it, a humility on all our parts. I came in on what was their third vintage, and so all three of us were like, ‘Here we go!’

After a climbing accident left her unable to work harvest in 2005, Ashley began to come to terms with the idea that perhaps wine wasn’t just a job to have in college.

“I was looking around at everyone else doing harvest, and I couldn’t do it with them,

and that seemed really inappropriate.” The frenetic and intoxicating energy of harvest was something she didn’t want to be without.

“I had no idea it had gotten to that point, it was a huge surprise to me.”

To recoup some of the experience she missed while she was convalescing, she made her way to Mendoza, Argentina. She secured a harvest internship through a friend of a friend, but when she arrived, that internship did not exist.

“He was like, ‘You showed up! I was just being polite. I don’t have anything for you.”

While making friends and lamenting about her predicament as she hung around her hostel, Ashley talked herself into a job at Bodega Alta Vista by way of the hostel owner’s father, who was a wine educator for the master’s program at Universidad de Mendoza.

“It’s a big city, but within the wine portion, everybody knows everybody. And that led to eight harvests,” she says.

While flying back and forth from Washington to Mendoza, Ashley started her own winery in 2006 — Flying Trout, the name a nod to the fact that she was zooming between two hemispheres, soaking up as much experience and knowledge as life would allow. She sold that brand in 2010, but stayed on as winemaker until 2015, taking a bit of time off in the interim when her second child was born.

By 2016, she shifted her focus to a project she felt compelled to bring to reality from the start: Vital Wines. She also created a sister brand, Brook & Bull, another reference to her surname.

Vital Wines is a non-profit winery that strives to improve equity in access to healthcare for vineyard workers and their families. It’s a need Ashley felt the moment she began her first harvest.

Growing up in a bilingual, bicultural household allowed Ashley to plainly see the trajectory of the industry, and the hole of accessible care that would widen as a result.

“It might be fine if it’s just eight wineries, but it’s not fine if you’ve got a multi-billion dollar statewide industry resting on the backs of people whose basic needs aren’t being

Ashley Trout is the winemaker and the force behind Brook & Bull Wines and the nonprofit Vital Wines in Walla Walla, Wash.

RICHARD DUVAL IMAGES

she points out.

An endeavor such as Vital Wines takes an enormous amount of thought, planning, organization and quite a bit of skill. And it wasn’t something that Ashley felt she could wait on.

“My brother-in-law was in an MBA program and said something about the power of company culture, about how it is literally impossible to change once it’s set,” Ashley says. “When I think of the company culture of Washington wine, I don’t think about individual wineries, but of the valley, of the entire state. And I wanted to make sure we were a part of the culture setting, that we were sewn in from the very beginning.”

So without an example to follow, Trout created Vital Wines.

“I’m not an advocate of building the plane while you’re flying it, but I can’t not,” she says. “There wasn’t anybody who was going to give me the trade secrets on how to run a non-profit winery. There is no manual for that.”

While Vital Wines is a project that speaks to her heart and intent, Brook & Bull is her day job. A winery that bases itself around untraditional blends and hard-to-find varietals with lower oak profiles, Brook & Bull strives to make wines that are just as lovely inside the bottle as the striking black and white label featured on the front.

“Seventy percent of wines purchased in the nation are purchased by women,” she points out. “Women don’t have a problem with luxury. Scores aren’t what they’re looking for, it’s beauty. What I aim to do at Brook & Bull is have a beautiful tasting room, with beautiful labels and beautiful wine … beautiful vineyards.

“I’d love for Brook & Bull to be, ‘How do we infuse something gorgeous into what could have otherwise been a mundane Tuesday night?’ ” she adds.

That path to the beauty Brook & Bull offers, to the hope and opportunity pushed forth by Vital Wines was laid long ago, just up the valley.

“It was probably my third or fourth harvest. We had just finished pressure washing the crush pad — it was me, Chuck (Reininger) and Raul (Morfin) and a ’99 Reininger Cab Franc.

“It was this overarching notion of, you’re physically exhausted, and you’re here with your friends, and you’ve created something,” she recalls. “You have this absolute work of

art that you can enjoy as the day winds down, and how beautiful is it that we can incorporate art into this moment of accomplishment, this moment with friends? It was such a multilayered thing.”

And that Cabernet Franc proved to be a turning point for Trout, who assists vineyard workers through Vital Wines and elevates weeknights for people via Brook & Bull.

“That’s when I thought, ‘This is why people drink beautiful wines,’ ” she says. “And it wasn’t an expensive bottle. We were just

dripping wet, covered in dirt. In overalls and boots. And yet you could sneak in this almost clandestine, this luxury piece. It just felt perfect.”

Liz Moss-Woerman is the director of hospitality and direct-to-consumer manager at Barnard Griffin Winery in Richland, Wash. She represents the third generation of her family to be a part of the Washington state wine industry.

Headline

Varietals add spice to Idaho wine industry

BY JIM THOMSSEN

NAMPA, Idaho — The wine industry is dependent on consumer tastes and whims. What makes responding to market trends so difficult is that it takes three to five years before the first vintage with a different grape variety goes from planting to pouring for a consumer.

With this long lead time, it’s a challenge Idaho winemakers and grape growers embrace every day as they make decisions now hoping to tickle the taste buds of wine drinkers in four or more years.

Take a look at Grüner Veltliner. The first large-scale commercial plantings are from the Huston Vineyards estate that went into the ground in 2018.

Williamson Vineyards planted their vines of the white Austrian grape in 2019. In October 2023, those grapes scored a Double Platinum and a 97-point score for SCORIA Vineyards 2022 Grüner at Great Northwest Wine’s 24th annual Platinum Awards. Earlier in the year, that wine won a double gold at the Cascadia International Wine Competition.

Plantings of Grüner cover only 6 acres in Idaho — spread among Huston Vineyards, Williamson Vineyards and Arena Valley Vineyards — but the grape is impressing critics, growers, vintners and consumers.

Josh Alger of Lake Idaho Vineyards LLC and Huston Vineyards farms 3 acres of Grüner Veltliner. The vineyard manager for Great Northwest Wine’s 2023 Idaho Winery of the Year points to a depth of flavor and sense of minerality in the wines from his plantings. He believes those qualities are heightened because he took the extra step of ripping through the caliche layer of soil in the vineyard, thereby releasing nutrients locked into the soil and helping those vines to thrive. He likes to pair his family’s Grüner with Asian fare in the summer and schnitzel in the winter.

Arneis is a rarely seen Italian variety that was bottled in only a couple of places in Italy in the 1970s. Last year at Savor Idaho, Travis Walker of Par Terre Winery showcased this singlevineyard, standalone Arneis. With its autumnal notes and bone-dry structure, Arneis has gained a following in Idaho. The grapes came from Arena Valley Vineyard near Parma.

This winter, Veer winemaker/owner Will Wetmore took over the lease on Par Terre’s former tasting room site in Garden City and opened a revamped tasting room on Chinden Boulevard.

Arena Valley Vineyards is home to more than 20 varieties that make it into owner Scott DeSeelhorst’s Snake River Winery bottlings and a few other Idaho producers. The Parma site was established with mainstream varieties such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Since he purchased the property in 1998, DeSeelhorst has diversified with smaller blocks of Arneis, Grüner Veltliner, Blauer Zweigelt, Barbera, Montepulciano, Tempranillo and Sangiovese. He loves how Syrah develops in the Idaho soils and is excited about the Joseph Phelps clones he added to the vineyard a few years ago.

Next on his horizon are Viognier, Tempranillo and Verdejo. Even as DeSeelhorst is excited about the unique wines from Idaho producers, he senses the need for a national-scale wine company to invest in Idaho and ramp up the reputation and sales volumes of Idaho wines.

At the western end of the Snake River American Viticultural Area, just outside of Adrian, Ore., Emerald Slope Vineyards owner Tim Martin and his wife Kris have been focused on Rhône and Spanish varietals that seem to do really well.

In 2023, Melanie Krause of Cinder Wines used Verdejo from Emerald Slope to win a platinum medal at TEXSOM in Irving, Texas, a Double Platinum from Great Northwest Wine and a gold medal at the Idaho Wine & Cider Competition.

Telaya Wine Co., has been working with the Martins on the Marsanne and Roussanne for the Bandia wine blend as well as their Grenache Blanc.

Later this decade, Emerald Slope hopes to launch their own wine brand. Meanwhile, the Martins will continue their research into clonal selections and are considering planting Clairette Blanche, one of the historic Rhone white grapes.

For the Martins, the biggest challenge is the large initial expense of planting grapes with no income produced for the first three years. They have approximately 100 acres that could go into production quickly, however, they require the capital investment to compensate for that long lead time endemic to new plantings.

At the state’s largest vineyard — Sawtooth and sister site Skyline — Jake Cragin has new plantings of Petit Verdot and Cinsault coming into their first commercial harvest. Those will be followed by additional blocks of Sangiovese, Nebbiolo and Carménère coming online in 2025. These were planted at the request of Telaya, Cinder and Sawtooth wineries.

Josh Alger heads up viticulture — including Grüner Veltliner — for his family’s Huston Vineyards in the Snake River Valley.

New clones of Tempranillo also are going in, and Cragin says he’s confident the Idaho wine industry will be able to fully absorb these additional grapes.

Dale Jeffers, the longtime manager of both Skyline and Sawtooth, said he never imagined that these types of hot-climate varieties would work in these vineyards when he started planting them many years ago.

These new varieties may well be “blessings of climate change” as well as the start of the next adventure for the Idaho wine industry. So while some regions have a “signature grape” such as Pinot Noir in Oregon or Cabernet Sauvignon in the Napa Valley, the Snake River Valley has been graced with the ability to grow many varietals that meet world-class standards.

There will always be challenges and worrisome aspects to these adventurous trials. For example, the fickle weather in the Snake River Valley hit 66 degrees in January of this year, but the rewards are worth it.

To support this diversity, the best thing to do is search out some of these lesser-known wines and put them in your glass. You’ll be surprised and delighted at what happens on your palate.

Retired banker Jim Thomssen now is known as The Idaho Wine Ambassador. The Minnesota native earned a business degree at the University of Puget Sound with the help of professor/wine economist Mike Veseth prior to moving to the Snake River Valley in 1994.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAKE IDAHO VINEYARDS LLC

The tenuous state of British Columbia wine

PENTICTON, British Columbia

To say that British Columbia’s wine industry is on edge at the start of the 2024 vintage is either a gargantuan understatement, an unwelcome doomand-gloom sentiment or a distant curiosity for those neither a part of the industry nor adjacent to it.

I’ve been a supporter in a variety of ways since I returned to my hometown of Penticton, about an hour north of the border, a little more than 15 years ago. In my younger days, I spent several summers in between university semesters working as a travel counsellor.

At that time, there were fewer than 10 wineries. They were known more for their stunning views amidst orchards and fruit stands than for what was in the bottle. It did not, however, take long for the potential of the valley to be recognized by pioneers such as Sandra and Kenn Oldfield, who built Tinhorn Creek Vineyards; brothers Walter and Gordon Gehringer, who brought world-class Germanic-style winemaking to the Okanagan; Ben Stewart, whose family transformed one of the oldest vineyard sites in the Okanagan into West Kelowna’s Quail’s Gate Estate Winery; George and Trudy Heiss, founders of Gray Monk Estate Winery in Lake Country near Vernon; and the late Harry McWatters of Sumac Ridge, the first estate winery in the Okanagan.

Harry helped develop the Vintners Quality Alliance, establishing a benchmark for quality wines and standards that stands today with the VQA label on many Canadian wines.

Change is inevitable. Many of these visionaries are no longer in winemaking. And as for VQA? That may soon evolve, too.

An extreme freeze in late 2022 saw wine production reduced by almost 60 percent across the region. Then Jan. 13, 2024, brought more devastation with a sudden freeze reaching minus-30 degrees Celsius (minus-22 Fahrenheit).

The result? Possibly up to 99 percent of this vintage’s production will be lost — in the Okanagan and in other grape-growing regions

in the province.

Terms such as “catastrophic,” “total wipeout” and “heartbreak” echo through the vineyards as viticulturists and vintners wait for buds — any buds — to emerge.

Following those whispers are talks of importing grapes from Ontario or Washington state, sparking discussion about semantics and labeling — including the VQA designation — which could become a national standard.

In addition to helping out with the crop loss in British Columbia, this change could help promote Canadian wine abroad.

How ironic, then, that here in the Canadian west, our neighbours are kicking us — British Columbia — when we’re down.

Also in January, just as the environmental freeze thawed, Alberta put a virtual freeze on wines from B.C., sending letters to wineries informing them that if they continued to ship wines directly to consumers (think wine clubs and direct-to-consumer online sales), Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis — which regulates liquor sales in that province by controlling wholesale and distribution — would no longer stock wines from British Columbia wineries.

Are Canadians always nice? Not when it comes to collecting taxes on booze. For a decade now, clusters of advocates for interprovincial free trade have been arguing for the free flow of wine (and beer) across Canada.

There are tales of media members taking wine across provincial borders just to see if a Mountie pops out from behind the bushes. The aforementioned Sandra Oldfield once legally ordered and shipped a gun from Saskatchewan — via Canada Post — to prove a point.

The AGLC letter received by wineries varies slightly, but reads, in part: “Our investigation found tangible evidence of [your winery’s] involvement in [direct-to-consumer] shipping of wines across provincial borders in Alberta … To maintain the integrity of Alberta’s liquor model and to protect the interests of Alberta retailers and liquor agents, AGLC will not accept any inbound shipments from [your winery] from this date forward. We will resume acceptance of inbound shipments if, by way of written notice, [your winery] agrees to immediately cease [direct-

to-consumer] shipping operations to Alberta.”

This is not the first time Alberta has thrown a punch. In 2018, the then-premier (think governor in U.S.,) of the province banned the import of B.C. wine in a dispute over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

British Columbia wine, and Canadian wine as a whole, has evolved, as everything does. It is recognized on the world stage. It’s been in the glasses of renowned experts, writers, reviewers and a few celebrities.

I once personally, and within the law, got a bottle across the 49th parallel to talk-show host Jerry Springer. But I can’t ship wine to my friends in Alberta.

So, what’s next?

Invite everyone to come for a visit, I suppose. Of course, that involves planning around the “new normal” of summer heat and wildfire season. The current and ongoing issues of climate change, shifting travel trends, the economy overall, changing consumer tastes when it comes to alcohol, the recent crop damage reports, and more, will not go away.

Leaders in the British Columbia wine industry have been holding formal and informal town halls. Chatter continues online. In early March, the Government of Canada pledged $177 million during the next three years to support wineries across the country through a non-repayable grant program.

Personally, I’m not at all sure what the next best steps are right now, but 30 years ago, could anyone have predicted how B.C. wine would grow, both literally and figuratively?

And if you’re wondering — are there wineries in Alberta?

Yes, but they are ‘grape-less,’ most producing fruit wines and mead. And they’ll have stiff competition with the vineyards here for those federal dollars.

Allison M. Markin is a contributor to Castanet Media, the driving force behind @okanagantaste and @bcwinetourism on Twitter and Instagram, and principal of AllSheWrote.ca. She resides in Penticton, British Columbia.

ALLISON M. MARKIN

derelict multiplex movie theatre in downtown

Penticton needed a new purpose.

Hybrid grapes provide delicious option amid climate change

If you were offered a glass of Baco Noir or a crisp Seyval Blanc with your dinner, would you know what was being poured?

An estimated 20% of wine grapes in North America are hybrids, traditionally French-American hybrids. The remaining 80% are vitis vinifera — Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, etc.

When colonizers arrived on the East Coast of what would become the United States, they brought vinifera cuttings from Europe. Those transplants failed, felled by mildew and pests. There was an effort to make wine using the hardier native grapes, such as Norton in Virginia, but the results often were unappealing and musky.

Then in the late 1800s, French growers and winemakers — struggling with the catastrophic infestation of phylloxera, the louse introduced unwittingly via vines imported from the U.S. — experimented with grafting vinifera to robust American rootstock. They created a host of French-

American hybrid varieties, which became popular in the American Midwest where vinifera grapes did not thrive.

In the early days of the modern wine industry in the Pacific Northwest, these varieties found pockets of support throughout, primarily in British Columbia and Oregon. Ste. Michelle planted a few vines of Maréchal Foch in 1976 at their new château in Woodinville.

Now, however, a growing number of Pacific Northwest vineyard managers and winemakers are embracing some hybrids. They cite climate change, site selection and just plain good taste as their reasons.

LaCrosse, a hybrid variety developed in the Midwest, performs well at Faith, Hope and Charity Vineyards in Central Oregon.

When Kim Lane, co-owner and winemaker at Lane Cellars, established her compact, 1-acre vineyard in 2011, she was told vinifera would struggle in Southwest Washington. So she invested in hybrids. Lane now grows Maréchal Foch, Léon Millot and New York native Cayuga White. She is also experimenting with Labelle, Epicure, and Amiel – hybrid varieties developed in the 1980s by Swiss grape geneticist Valentin Blattner.

“The hybrids are cold-hardy and disease-resistant,” Lane says, adding that she is committed to sustainability and does not use chemicals on her land.

A visiting winemaker was astounded at the health of Lane’s vineyard despite the lack of spraying, not even with sulfur.

“If you handle your grapes very carefully, the wine — not that it makes itself — doesn’t need a whole lot of intervention,” Lane says.

In June, Lane Cellars will open its first tasting room in the Vancouver suburb of Brush Prairie. On the menu will be wines made from hybrids and vinifera.

“We want things people can recognize,” she explains. “It gives us the opportunity — while they are sipping on a Syrah or Cab Franc — to say, ‘Here, give this a try.’ Then, we can explain sustainability and ethical growth.”

Nearly 200 miles to the southeast, in the shadow of the Three Sisters mountain range in Central Oregon, Cindy Grossman is growing seven varieties of hybrids across 15 acres at about 2,900 feet elevation for her Faith, Hope and Charity Vineyards.

The four reds are Léon Millot, Maréchal Foch and Midwest hybrids Frontenac and Marquette. They are joined by three whites also developed at the University of Minnesota La Crescent, La Crosse and Frontenac Gris.

At one point, Grossman and her husband, Roger, planned to retire near Sunriver Resort on a couple dozen acres. However, they found themselves so in love with the region that they bought 312 acres of “gorgeous views” between Smith Rock and Sisters. They set aside a particularly picturesque section for a vineyard and winery.

“Hybrids are becoming more known because they are great wines,” she says, citing her Midwest upbringing and researching the work done by the University of Minnesota.

DANA VAN NEST

Faith, Hope and Charity Vineyards in Central Oregon brings in some grapes from Washington to round out its estate hybrid program.

(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

“Chefs love them. Somms love them. They just have to be introduced,” she added, “They have a nice acidic backbone and can pair with strong flavors.”

The smooth, fruit-forward wines made with Léon Millot and the off-dry, aromatic La Crescent are her favorites. Southern Oregon winemaker Linda Donovan, a product of the University of California-Davis program, has been crafting the Grossmans’ hybrid wines since 2010.

Faith, Hope and Charity Vineyards also sells wines made by Rick Moffit with European varieties grown in the Columbia Gorge and the Eola-Amity Hills. The wines gained a following from the start, and their 2021 La Crescent earned a Platinum Award from Great Northwest Wine in 2023.

Another 2023 Platinum Award winner was Stag’s Hollow Winery’s Tragically Vidal from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia.

“We’ve been flying the Vidal flag since our beginnings here,” winemaker Keira LeFranc says. “1995 was the first vintage. It’s wellreceived by customers and the most popular wine in the wine shop.”

Vidal has been growing on what is now Stag’s Hollow estate for more than 30 years.

“The Vidal yields are incredible, and the size of clusters are amazing,” she says. “Our vineyard manager, Vilem Blazek, says Vidal is his favorite grape to grow as there is not a lot of management that needs to be done. This grape is incredibly hardy and can withstand the freezing BC temperatures.”

LeFranc is open to adding more hybrids, though it is not in the plan for now. With

climate change, however, she notes there is more conversation to be had about hybrids and what they need to receive approval from the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA).

“There’s lots of snootiness about hybrids, which I think is misplaced,” she says. “Vidal has high acid and beautiful aromatics. What’s not to like?”

In the Puget Sound AVA, Bainbridge Vineyards grape grower/winemaker/ co-owner Betsey Wittick has been growing Regent, a vinifera/hybrid cross, for 15 years — thanks to Washington State University.

“We got plant material through the WSU extension station,” Wittick says. “They were trying to get some other red choices to grow in the Puget Sound region. The idea was to distribute cuttings to different growers in the Puget Sound area to see how they would do. We did some propagation and got them planted around 2008.”

She discovered that Regent, developed

in Germany, doesn’t grow like other hybrid varieties.

“It’s not hardier, necessarily,” Wittick says. “It has a fragile point. I had to develop a different training system.”

As a result, Wittick prefers Regent as a blending grape.

“It’s good for rosé and maybe even for sparkling, but as a red, it’s better to blend with other reds to round out the flavor profile,” she says.

She blends the Regent with Pinot Noir and Garanoir (a Swiss red) for the Bainbridge Vineyards Farmstead Red and with Pinot Noir for the Emerge Rosé.

Hybrid grapes are successfully grown from British Columbia down throughout Oregon. But will they be accepted and appreciated as much as their European cousins? How many decades will it be before Northwest wine drinkers can appreciate the flavor profile of a Maréchal Foch as well as a Cabernet

Sauvignon? If the wine industry in the Upper Left wants to grow and thrive, could embracing hybrids become a necessity?

Let’s discuss over a glass of Traminette or Chambourcin, shall we?

Cindy and Roger Grossman operate Faith, Hope and Charity Vineyards near Smith Rock State Park in Central Oregon. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Kimberly and John Lane opened a satellite tasting room for Lane Cellars in Camas, Wash., in early 2024. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

How the wine industry is connecting with younger audiences

BY SONNAY ALVAREZ

OOne of the biggest conversations in the wine industry revolves around wine consumption among Millennial and Gen Z audiences. As a Millennial who spent four years working at a university directly with Gen Z, I am optimistic about the future of wine for these demographics.

While they may not consume wine to the same extent as previous generations, their interest in it is undeniable. There are gatherings such as “Wine Wednesdays” where each person in the friend group brings a bottle to enjoy at a casual kickback. On “Wine Walks” they fill their Stanley tumblers and stroll the neighborhood with best friends.

It is true, however, that Gen Z and Millennials are more inclined to drink in moderation. And while it’s crucial to respect their drinking choices, it’s also essential to provide options that cater to their desires.

What I hear often is the concern, “I don’t want to open an entire bottle of wine just to drink one glass.” Sure, there are plenty of solutions for storing open bottles, but there are occasions when people may not finish the opened bottle within a three- to five-day period before the wine goes bad.

Here is where options such as half-bottles, splits (187-milliliter bottles) and canned wines come in. They offer convenience and versatility for those moments when a full bottle isn’t the right fit. Intrigued by this concept, I reached out to a few leading producers in the Pacific Northwest that offer these options and are achieving success with these smaller formats.

In 2018, when Stoller Wine Group in Oregon’s storied Dundee Hills began producing canned wine, they anticipated that their Canned Oregon tier would primarily appeal to Gen Z and Millennials. What they discovered is that established fine wine consumers who lead active and social lives also embrace these products. Stoller’s longtime supporters appreciate the serving size, portability and value of canned wines.

Canned Oregon by Stoller particularly resonates with the outdoorsy, adventureseeking demographic so prevalent in

the Pacific Northwest. Hannah Guth, communications coordinator at Stoller Wine Group, emphasized that canned wines were “born from the idea that wine should complement every lifestyle you lead. Whether you are exploring the mountains, relaxing at the beach or hosting a game night with friends and family, there is premium wine delivered in a portable package.”

Stoller Wine Group hit the mark with Canned Oregon and connected to a broader audience. It shows that Bill Stoller’s team understands what appeals to not just Gen Z and Millennials but also established wine drinkers. Those generations are all about experiences and convenience, and that’s driving the demand for products such as canned wines.

Another touchpoint for Gen Z and Millennials includes social causes. House Wine — a major brand for Precept Wine & Spirits in Seattle — provides an ideal example by showcasing its commitment to important causes through wine offerings.

Alex Evans, Precept’s chief marketing officer, emphasizes that House Wine connects with Gen Z and Millennials through their cause-marketing approach — a collaboration with the Human Rights Campaign since 2017. They not only practice what they preach but also demonstrate the tangible impact of their donations from these authentic partnerships. Their efforts are further amplified through social media, allowing them to engage with their audience. And in 2021, Wine Enthusiast named House Wine its Social Visionary of the Year.

Portability and convenience are among the features of Stoller Wine Group’s alternative packaging.

PHOTO COURTESY OF STOLLER WINE GROUP

In addition to their commitment to social causes, House Wine in Washington also prioritizes sustainability — another value that resonates with Gen Z and Millennials. Evans underscores that House Wine’s choice of packaging, primarily aluminum cans, aligns with their dedication to sustainability. As Evans points out, aluminum cans are the most sustainable beverage package. This focus on sustainability is particularly noteworthy as 68% of consumers continue to adopt greener buying habits, according to The Round Up.

On average, aluminum cans are made up of 73% recycled content – 20 times the recycled content of a plastic bottle. Their lightweight nature reduces the energy required for transit and production, while their stackable and strong design ensures ease of transportation and storage. Moreover, aluminum cans are most often recycled in a truly closed-loop process, further enhancing their sustainability credentials.

In Idaho, Holesinsky Vineyard and Winery

is a brand that has captured the hearts of Millennials and Gen Z. Their IdaPeach Sangria has become a favorite among younger drinkers, epitomizing their approachable and fun brand ethos.

“We are targeting individuals just starting their drinking careers with a fun approachable label and a wine profile to match,” says coowner/co-winemaker Caitlin Holesinsky. “I think that the canned IdaPeach may do even better than the bottle.”

The shift toward canned wines emerged during the pandemic as the demand for grab-and-go options soared. Caitlin and her husband — founding winemaker/grower James Holesinsky — made their first move into canned wine with IdaSeltzer.

“I don’t want to even admit how many Coors Light-loving men we have converted to the IdaSeltzers,” she quipped.

Now, the Holesinskys are introducing their most popular wine among Gen Z and

Millennials into a can: IdaPeach Sangria. This vibrant and deliciously executed wine won a Platinum last fall at Great Northwest Wine’s Platinum Awards.

The target demographic for the IdaPeach sparkling canned wine includes college students, and Holesinsky plans to release its canned IdaPeach Sparkle in June during the Highway 30 Music Festival, where their pouched wine (think adult Capri-Sun) dominates the festival scene.

Canned wines have faced skepticism regarding their quality, but Stoller urges consumers to compare Canned Oregon side by side vs. bottled counterparts. Similarly, House Wine has received more than 30 Best Buy recommendations from critics and magazines. Those include the brand’s leading canned offerings of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, highlighting the increasing recognition of canned wines as a high-quality option.

For those who appreciate the romance of a wine bottle, splits and half bottles offer clever options. Splits and half-bottles (375 ml) provide flexibility for individuals seeking smaller portion sizes.

L’Ecole N° 41 Winery in the Walla Walla Valley has been a pioneer in the half-bottle market for 15 years, offering critically acclaimed Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon in the format. These bottles quickly gained a diverse audience, including solo travelers, and they are distributed via wholesale channels, hotels and restaurants.

Millennials and Gen Z have embraced alternative packaging without questioning the quality. They love the lower entry price for premium wines, the convenience and the sustainability these options bring to the table.

It’s clear that younger generations are in a position to drive a major shift in the wine scene, pushing for innovation and inclusivity. With respected vintners such as L’Ecole, Precept and Stoller leading the efforts of canned wines and smaller bottles, it’s obvious these alternatives are cementing their place in the wine world.

Alvarez lives in the heart of the Snake River Valley. She’s earned a master’s degree in marketing from Boise State University and the Level 2 Award from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. She served as a chief judge at the 2023 Platinum Awards and provides marketing and photography for several West Coast wineries and the Idaho Wine Commission. She can be reached via AltantoVino.com and Instagram @altanto.vino.

Stoller Swing is offered in single-serving cans. PHOTO COURTESY OF STOLLER WINE GROUP

Sonnay

Turning the Tables on Hoke Harden

BY CARL GIAVANTI

Hoke Harden left a career in academia to follow his muse for the past 40 years, traveling the world to see and taste the great wine-producing regions.

The Portland resident has experienced many facets of the wine and spirits trade as a retailer, restaurateur, bartender, buyer, wholesaler, supplier, marketer, critic, writer, competition judge and educator.

In 1992, he joined what’s now the BrownForman Corp., working in sales, national brand marketing and ultimately as director of global wine and spirits education.

During his career, Hoke consulted on restaurant beverage lists and private wine collections. He’s appraised wines, conducted auctions, judged at wine competitions across the country, written articles for manuals and magazines; lectured at Harvard and University of California-Berkeley and staged executive training sessions for business schools. He has worked with renowned chefs and culinary institutions. He is a member of the Society of Wine Educators, a wine and spirits instructor for the Mt. Hood Community College tourism and hospitality program, a master level instructor with the French Wine Academy, a certified educator with the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac and wine educator for the Alliance Française de Portland.

Your background is rather international. How did your youth influence your career path?

I grew up in the Deep South as an “Army brat,” then spent my teen years in Germany, where I got into the habit of visiting wineries.

Then I found the University of WisconsinMilwaukee was a perfect “small city” with big schools and significant Euro-ethnic groups who tended to be comfortable with wines and spirits.

How did you first get involved in the wine business?

In the throes of an existential crisis, I decided to work in the wine business because it seemed to be an inexhaustible journey of both intellect and the senses. That journey has never stopped. Or even hesitated.

What led you to putting down roots in the Pacific Northwest?

I was a buyer for a Texas beverage chain.

As wine director, I was invited to the TriCities Wine Festival as a judge. I loved it and met a woman there. Two years later, she became my wife. I quit my job, moved to Seattle, first working for K&L Wine Merchants and then with Brown-Forman. The Pacific Northwest remained my home, no matter where I went.

What is your credo when it comes to working in the industry?

Provide sound, dependable and trustworthy information to trade and consumers in an objective way — and leave the decisions to the ones who drink the wines.

What led you to wine education and training?

The dire need for honesty and objectivity, supported by knowledge. At the start of the “wine revolution” in the 1970s, U.S. marketers, suppliers and salespeople controlled the message. They were not the least bit reticent to make up fanciful stories to sell the wines. My credo has always been to

learn everything I can and transfer objective knowledge to the consumer.

If you weren’t teaching and presenting wine for a living, what would you be doing?

I am a teacher. Wine happens to be my chosen subject. I know other things and teach other things and want to do that until I keel over.

What wine business experience was most impactful in your career?

I was one of the Society of Wine Educators board members and on the team of advisors instrumental in creating their wine certification program in the mid-1990s. I also created the original SWE spirits certification program in the early 2000s to establish clear standards for the minimal level of wine and spirits knowledge for professionals.

You must have a favorite wine region or two. Where and why?

Tough question. Sonoma because I lived there and it epitomizes “wine country” for me.

Wine and love led Hoke Harden from Texas to the Pacific Northwest.

JASON KAPLAN PHOTOGRAPHY

The Rhône Valley because that alone would satisfy all my wine-drinking needs. Friuli because it so enchanted me and lingers still in some of my fondest memories. Finally, Roussillon, but only if I could be a rich American who can afford a soaking pool and/or air conditioning to escape the worst of the heat. Name three wine personalities would you most like to meet and taste with — past and/or present?

The late and sorely missed David Lake, Master of Wine and winemaker at Columbia Winery. His knowledge, perception and expertise were all of the first order. (Wine merchant) Harry Waugh, who is also passed. He was a true legend in the industry and one of the most vital men I’ve ever met. And mind you, I first met him when he was in his 80s. Finally, Gerald Asher (the British-born wine merchant-turned-writer).

What is your most memorable wine or wine-tasting experience?

In Rioja Alavesa, José Ignacio Domecq Jr. took me out to their vineyard along the Ebro. We gathered vine trimmings throughout the vineyard, then sat on the rocks by the river and watched José kindle a small fire and sear fine slices of lamb rubbed with local herbs and spices, accompanied by a reserva from that vineyard.

In Germany, small family winemakers are allowed to operate heueregins, which allow them to serve simple local meals with their wines. In Zell, we dined on fresh-caught trout from the Pfalz plateau, grilled en planche, with hand-made spaetzle and simple schmalzbrot accompanied by Mosel wines pulled cool and dripping from a medieval stone trough.

What’s your cure for a wine hangover?

Not a problem for me. I prevent them from happening by drinking water copiously (hydration) and beer at the end of the day. I also take antihistamines.

Do you have a favorite wine and food pairing?

Bollinger RD (recently disgorged) Champagne with greasy, crunchy potato chips on a beach in Oregon pretending to watch the sun go down.

Sancerre Chavignol with Crottin de Chavignol goat cheese, preferably on the main plaza of Sancerre, but anywhere really.

Carl Giavanti is in his 14th year of working with West Coast wineries as a public/ media relations consultant. His background includes technology sales, digital marketing, project management and public relations for more than 25 years. His website is CarlGiavantiConsulting.com.

2024

PACIFIC NORTHWEST

BY ERIC DEGERMAN

OLIVER, British Columbia — No one has shined more brilliantly more often with white wine throughout the 24-year history of Platinum Awards than Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery.

And if not for the closed border between British Columbia and Washington state during the pandemic, winemaker Walter Gehringer might still be “The King of the Platinum” — a phrase used on their bottles for years.

Last fall, Gehringer Brothers won five Platinums, giving the family a career total of 102. Gehringer is only the second — and perhaps final — winery to reach the century plateau. No other producer is near that milestone, and the decades of continued success have prompted Great Northwest Wine to name Gehringer Brothers as the 2024 Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year.

“I think it’s important for the history of the winery and the image of the winery to have independent validation for what we do,” Walter says.

And consumers should know the Platinum Awards are judged blind without the bottle price being known. Here are the Gehringer family’s 2023 Platinum winners and the retail price (in Canadian currency) for each:

2022 Optimum Pinot Noir $25.99

Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery

the Golden Mile Bench, which is less than 20 minutes north of Oroville, Wash.

Second, they focus on stainless steel fermentation.

“The only oak barrels we use are just for display,” Walter says with a chuckle.

“We’ve been very successful with our unoaked Chardonnay, and while we dabble in reds, they are a different style of winemaking,” he adds. “I achieved a style that works without barrels.”

“I could speak the language well enough, but I first had to teach myself how to read and write in German,” Walter remembers.

“Some people who aren’t customers might be upset with us,” Walter says. “They say, ‘We can’t compete against you at those prices. You are hurting our industry.’ ”

Several factors are at play. One, the Gehringer family grows the grapes for nearly 70% of its production across their estate along

Gehringer Brothers inspired by German father

And yet, becoming one of the top winemakers in North America wasn’t a notion for Walter Gehringer — pronounced Gehr (rhymes with wear) en-grrr — as he was getting ready for college. He wanted to be an electrical engineer but changed his mind prior to graduating from high school in 1973, leaving him unsure and unsettled.

His father, Helmut, a hobby winemaker, saw the early beginnings of the Okanagan Valley wine industry and suggested the University of Geisenheim’s winemaking school in West Germany. The final nudge came during a family summer trip to Sonoma and a three-hour tour of Italian Swiss Colony.

“It included time with the winemaker, and that was the clincher,” Walter says. “There was a huge lack of knowledge about winemaking in the Okanagan Valley at the time, but there was a huge amount of support for learning.”

Walter’s five years in Germany as an aspiring winemaker from an emerging region were illuminating but trying — especially at the start.

Along the way, his brother Gordon graduated with a degree from Germany’s oldest viticulture school in Weinsberg.

Gehringers assist with Becker Project

The Gehringer brothers’ formal education and connections in Germany would benefit not only their family but also the British Columbia industry. Geisenheim was home to one of the wine world’s leading figures — educator/researcher Helmut Becker.

During a summer break, Walter was working at Andres Wines near Vancouver when a supervisor told him that his famous German professor was in Washington state as a guest of the new Seattle-based Enological Society of the Pacific Northwest. At that moment, Becker was touring the Columbia Valley with another respected researcher — Dr. Walter Clore, who became known as the father of the Washington wine industry.

“I phoned some of the enological society people and told them, ‘I heard you are driving Dr. Becker from Eastern Washington back to Seattle. Can I steal him and bring him to B.C. for a couple of hours? I guarantee I will get him back to Seattle,’ ” Walter remembers.

PHOTO COURTESY GEHRINGER BROTHERS ESTATE WINERY

“That was the beginning of him seeing our area, and the Heiss family of Gray Monk was a big component of that happening as well.”

That unexpected side trip would launch the historic Becker Project in 1975, a seven-year experiment across two sites in the Okanagan Valley overseen by the agriculture ministries in Canada and West Germany. The association known as Winegrowers of British Columbia views the Becker Project as “the most important undertaking of the early industry” because it helped identify which classic wine grape varieties could thrive in the Okanagan Valley.

“Becker was amazing to me,” Walter says. “He worked 24/7, and he would deliver his

lectures from one week to the next without any notes — and he’d pick up right where he left off.”

And Becker’s thirst for research and sampling was the stuff of legend.

“He was instrumental in helping to make space for the next vintage of wine,” Walter says with a chuckle.

The concept of Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery began not with Walter and Gordon but with their father, Helmut, and their uncle, Karl, who took part in the Becker Project and purchased the land for the original estate vineyard in 1981. The family built the winery in 1985.

HOW THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR IS CHOSEN

The Winery of the Year is selected based on longevity, quality, reputation, industry involvement, facilities and other considerations. A winery may win the award once.

Recent Pacific Northwest Wineries of the Year

2023: Brian Carter Cellars, Woodinville, Wash.

2022: DeLille Cellars, Woodinville, Wash.

2021: King Estate Winery, Eugene, Ore.

2020: Clearwater Canyon Cellars, Lewiston, Idaho

2019: Palencia Wine Co., Kennewick, Wash.

2018: Long Shadows Vintners, Walla Walla, Wash.

2017: Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards, Roseburg, Ore.

HOW REGIONAL WINERY AWARDS ARE SELECTED

Regional wineries of the year are selected by Great Northwest Wine based on blind tastings, visits, accolades and other considerations. A Winery of the Year must have completed five vintages. For a Winery to Watch, the criteria for the ownership/winemaking program is five commercial vintages or fewer.

Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year

Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery, Oliver, British Columbia

Washington Winery of the Year

Bayernmoor Cellars, Stanwood

Washington Winery to Watch

Valo Cellars, Vancouver

Oregon Winery of the Year

Iris Vineyards, Springfield

Oregon Winery to Watch

Bluebird Hill Cellars, Monroe

Idaho Winery of the Year

Veer Wine Project, Garden City

Idaho Winery to Watch

Famici Wine Company, Caldwell

British Columbia Winery of the Year

Van Westen Vineyards, Naramata

British Columbia Winery to Watch

Garnet Valley Ranch, Summerland

Brendon Gehringer, middle, celebrates his inaugural crush as a family winemaker with his uncle, Gordon, left, and his father, Walter.

PHOTO COURTESY GEHRINGER BROTHERS ESTATE WINERY

Early wines made with Sagemoor grapes

In many ways, the Gehringer estate could be set within the Wenatchee Valley two hours to the south — a benchland featuring windblown loess that’s home to orchards and vineyards, influenced by a river nearby.

Walter and Gordon’s father and mother, Betty, were born in Germany and moved to Osoyoos, British Columbia, in the early 1950s. In the early Seventies, winemaking became a fairly serious pastime for Helmut, and that interest grew when his sons went off to college. There were little to no vinifera grapes grown in the Okanagan Valley in those days, so Helmut was bringing wine grapes from Washington state.

“I don’t even know how we got into Sagemoor and those Bacchus and Dionysus blocks,” Walter says. “Dad might have just driven down and rolled down his window, talked to people and said, ‘Look, here’s the deal — and I need some grapes.’ ”

Logically, the education Walter acquired in Germany and at Andres found its way into his father’s cellar.

“His wines were hugely improved, and as more people began to enjoy Dad’s wines, you couldn’t keep the people out of the door,” Walter says. “That’s where the motivation for a winery building came in. Everybody had a reason to come by Gehringer, either in the afternoon or early evening.”

Among the success stories from the Becker Project are white European varieties Auxerrois and Ehrenfelser. Results from the Platinum Awards reflects the continued success by Gehringer Brothers:

Riesling — 27

Ehrenfelser — 18

Auxerrois — 12

Sauvignon Blanc — 9

Chardonnay — 6

Pinot Gris — 6

As a vine, Ehrenfelser, a German cross of Riesling and Sylvaner, has proved to be essentially bulletproof in the Okanagan Valley. More importantly, its grapes ripen regardless of the quality of the growing season.

According to Canadian researchers, Auxerrois, best known in Alsace, emerged from the Becker trials as the grape to produce

the best wine. However, continued difficulty in getting plant material from French nurseries pushed Pinot Blanc ahead of Auxerrois in the Okanagan Valley.

The Gehringers also create a marvelous blend from Gewürztraminer and Schönburger — the latter a German cross of Pinot Noir, Chasselas Rosé and Muscat Hamburg. They have earned nine Platinums for those efforts.

Gehringers adapt with climate change

The string of warm vintages in the Pacific Northwest began in 2012, and the Gehringers — experts with cool-climate varieties — continue to adapt. They’ve won 70 Platinums since then, starting with the 2012 Desert Sun, a blend of Chardonnay, Riesling and Auxerrois that ended up as the No. 1 wine of the 2013 judging. Their first wine to emerge as the Best of the Best was their 2009 Signature Riesling Icewine during the 2010 Platinum, but the medals awarded to these wines don’t surprise longtime customers to the Gehringer Brothers tasting room.

“We’ve always appealed to the older-to-retired group, it seems,” Walter says. “At the same time, we’ve always wondered how you get into that younger group, although up until COVID I was always surprised how many young people were touring.

“We have a good level of visitation to the winery,” Walter adds. “Our wine sales per visit are quite high, but we treat the customer well and the price per bottle is conducive when they are tasting the wine. The price doesn’t reflect what’s in the bottle.”

Another gateway to younger consumers is the nature of the wine styles at Gehringer. Production is dominated by estate-grown white varieties that are bright, fruitforward, no-oak and naturally lower in alcohol. The wines are presented in unpretentious bottles, behind modest labels and protected by screwcap rather than cork.

There’s also some scale to the production at Gehringer Brothers.

“The highest we’ve been was 32,000 cases in the early 90s when our yields per acre were higher,”

Walter says. “In 2022, we did 27,000 cases. However, from 2023 we’re estimating 16,000 cases because of that late December winter damage.”

The forecast for the 2024 vintage is bleak for many winegrowers in the Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley and Okanagan Valley because of the vine-killing freeze during mid-January, with the temperature on Jan. 13 plummeting to -28 Celsius/-18 Fahrenheit in Penticton.

“Ultimately, we can’t judge until spring has sprung — May, probably — but everyone is quite worried,” Walter said. “It’s not about not expecting a crop, but vine death. I still have my fingers crossed.”

Ehrenfelser grapes have long been a mainstay for producing some of the top wines at Gehringer Brothers.

PHOTO COURTESY GEHRINGER BROTHERS ESTATE WINERY

Next generation for Gehringer Brothers

Two years prior to Walter’s son, Brendon, leaving for the University of Adelaide to study winemaking, Wine Press Northwest magazine named Gehringer Brothers its British Columbia Winery of the Year for 2006.

“In hindsight it was probably a good choice because Australian winemaking techniques are better fit in the Okanagan than if I had gone to school in Germany,” Brendon says.

Howeve, there’s a German connection to Brendon’s first harvest job out of college with Australian winegrowers Stephen and Prue Henschke. One of Australia’s more esteemed producers, Henschke’s century-old Hill of Grace Vineyard in the Eden Valley produces buzzworthy Shiraz. At approximately $900 per bottle upon release, it’s often mentioned in the same sentence at Penfolds Grange — perhaps Australia’s equivalent to Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley producer Screaming Eagle ($4,000).

“Dad became friends of the Henschkes from studying together in Geisenheim,” Brendon said. “Dad told me at the time, ‘Australia may not be very applicable to what we’re doing here, but you will learn something different. It will probably create a bit of friction for us in the cellar when we’re trying to decide what to do, but it will be a good additional facet.’ ”

Not long before the 2023 harvest began, Brendon returned home. He married an Aussie; they’ve started a family and he built his own career with a six-year stint at Kellermeister, another esteemed producer in Australia. His work as cellar manager helped that family-owned winery win the award for Wine of the Year with a 2015 Shiraz at the 2019 London Wine Competition.

“When I left home, the reds grown here were primarily Merlot and Cab Franc — the typical cool-climate varieties that perform well in this climate,” Brendon says. “Now people have planted Syrah, Grenache and Mataro (Mourvèdre) — varieties that you’d see in the Barossa. That’s been interesting to see.”

Brendon and his young family have moved into his parents’ home next door to the winery and tasting room. He’s now living beside vines that have produced some of North America’s best white wines. His folks now reside in Penticton.

“The plan was that I would be coming back — and then I met someone,” Brendon says with a smile. “As far as Dad is concerned,

my decision to come back is a bit long in the tooth, but for my personal development I’ve preferred having done it this way.”

Three of the Platinums won by Gehringer have been for Pinot Noir, and two for Merlot. Syrah is not part of the family’s portfolio — yet.

“With my time in the Barossa, I’ve got a lot of red winemaking training, and there are certain things we can do to elevate our reds or create a new line,” Brendon says.

There is some uncertainty in terms of succession at Gehringer Brothers. Gordon’s children are not involved in the vineyard, so the family is grappling with questions that vex a number of the Pacific Northwest’s famous family-owned wineries.

“I’m working hard to hand this over to Brendon, and I feel confident that he can handle it because he’s very talented,” Walter says.

And yet, the topic of seeking a buyer for Gehringer Brothers has been in the background for a while. Back-to-back vintages of winter-damaged vines and skyrocketing real estate prices in the Okanagan have prompted approximately 30% of the province’s wine industry to be actively on the market for potential buyers.

“So many of the other wineries around us have done that, which is crazy how quickly that happened in a short period of time,” Walter says. “We’re one of the last ones hanging in there.

“We had decided that if Brendon’s answer ended up being ‘No’ to returning home, then

we’d sell,” Walter adds. “There really is no other option.”

Brendon admits, “Every time we would visit, there would always be this nagging question that would come up.

“It’s a massive lifestyle change. We were living in a more suburban area near Adelaide,” he says. “But it’s too big of an opportunity to not even try.”

For as long as he can remember, Brendon has watched his father work 60 hours per week for 50 weeks a year. There’s little chance Walter’s workload will subside in the short term as Brendon begins to take over.

“The question of ‘What if … ’ will eat you alive over a longer period of time, and I didn’t want that for him,” Walter says. “And it’s important enough for me to help him make it as successful as possible.

“Besides,” Walter adds, “If we were to sell, I’m not sure what I would do with my time and still be happy. I might get the jitters.”

Brendon replies, “Dad will never be gone from this place.”

Walter notes with a wry smile, “I’ve got to commute now. Before, I always just fell out of bed to get to work.”

That’s the best possible outlook for supporters of Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery, where gold has turned into platinum for more than 20 years.

Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery, 876 Road 8, Oliver, British Columbia, v0h 1t1, Canada, (250) 498-3537, GehringerWines.ca.

Gordon & Walter Gehringer who have nurtured and created delicious wines from vineyard to bottle.

PHOTO COURTESY GEHRINGER BROTHERS ESTATE WINERY

Bayernmoor Cellars

BY ERIC DEGERMAN

STANWOOD, Wash. — In a relatively short period of time, Bayernmoor Cellars has amassed awards and acclaim for its wines.

Some of those are easily explained considering the academic backgrounds of Larry and Kim Harris, the historic vineyards they purchase grapes from and their highly respected mentor.

However, what’s most remarkable is the astounding Pinot Noir that flourishes in the 6-acre vineyard that frames their home near

the Snohomish County town of Stanwood, Wash.

“The biggest surprise for us is the frequency we get asked, ‘You made this from where?’ ” Larry says. “ ‘Yes, this is Western Washington Pinot Noir.’ ”

Last fall, Bayernmoor Cellars dominated the 24th annual Platinum Awards, pulling down nine Platinums during the judging staged by Great Northwest Wine. No winery matched their total in 2023.

It was a remarkable showing by any standards, particularly from a young project

with an annual production of about 3,500 cases. And it capped a year with gold medals earned at competitions across the country, making Bayernmoor Cellars an easy choice as Great Northwest Wine’s 2024 Washington Winery of the Year.

Larry, who handles the day-to-day winemaking, emerged with one of the top-scoring Pinot Noirs when his 2019 Bayernmoor Vineyard Estate Reserve Pinot Noir scored 95 points after being awarded a Double Platinum.

His versatility showed with another Double Platinum for his suave 2018 Klipsun Vineyard

Larry and Kim Harris, owners of Bayernmoor Cellars, present some of the Northwest’s top wines at their young tasting room in Woodinville’s Woodin Creek Village.

RICHARD DUVAL IMAGES

Cabernet Sauvignon from Red Mountain, a region known around the world for bold Cabs. Bayernmoor’s collection of 2023 Platinums included the 2020 Celilo Vineyard Chardonnay and 2022 Estate Précoce Clone White Pinot Noir.

In all, Bayernmoor won a Platinum — or better — six times with Pinot Noir grown in Washington state. Beyond the Platinum and other Northwest judgings, that 2022 Estate White Pinot Noir and their 2022 Rosé grabbed gold at the Sunset International and the Klipsun Cab program shined at the Great American International in Florida.

As the one managing the guest services experiences, Kim appreciates the reception for their wines, which are paired with a seasonal menu at their tasting room/bistro in Woodinville.

“It’s validation for all the hard work, art and science, your stamp on those grapes and that wine,” she says.

When looking back to the beginning of Bayernmoor Cellars, it’s no surprise that Woodinville winemaker Brian Carter — the 2023 Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year — played a role in the Harris family project.

Larry says, “I love to learn and I’m a big

believer in leveraging knowledge, so as we were getting this started, I asked people in the industry, ‘Who is the best traditional winemaker in Washington state?’ and Brian’s name kept coming up.

“So I just called him and said, ‘I’d love for you to come up and see the property,’ ” Larry continued. “I told him that I already had contracted with Klipsun Vineyard for two tons of Cab, and then he saw the estate and realized this was not a mom-and-pop shop.”

As a vineyard, Bayernmoor was established in 2011 with two clones of Pinot Noir early-ripening Précoce and Dijon 777 — planted on 3309 rootstock. The Harrises were optimistic, crediting research by Washington State University throughout the Puget Sound American Viticultural Area.

“I enjoy the details, the deep minutiae — putting some plants in our ground was not done on a whim,” he says. “Before we planted the vineyard, I studied the research done on our microclimate by Gary Moulton, the WSU extension agent for Snohomish County, and Brent Charnley on Lopez Island, who had the first organic vineyard in Washington.”

Larry, a Texas native who grew up an hour’s drive north of Dallas, earned degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics at

Southern Methodist University. However, his decision to become an attorney and attend Santa Clara, a Jesuit school in the Bay Area, proved to be the turning point in his life. He met Kim at Santa Clara and together they developed an appreciation for wine.

“We really loved law school and had fun living in San Francisco,” Kim says.

Enjoyment and inspiration came with exploration of Napa and Sonoma. Larry later earned an MBA from the acclaimed Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Those layers of education were key to his legal work for Amazon, helping build its patent program from the ground up and managing the patent portfolios for many of Amazon’s high-profile projects.

“That period of my life was a blur, but I loved it and had the opportunity to learn from and work with some of the greatest minds in the business world,” he says.

Kim grew up in the Seattle area and is Class of ‘94 from the esteemed Lakeside School. She rowed crew in high school and at Smith College in Massachusetts, then transferred to Cornell and studied economics.

“I wanted to do something practical with my education,” she says.

Live music and light fare complement the award-winning wines at Bayernmoor Cellars in Woodinville, Wash.

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She has, including practicing law in San Francisco for several years before she and Larry decided to start their family.

“Two attorneys both working 80 to 90 hours a week was NOT going to work,” she says. “I was fortunate enough to be able to make a choice to stay home and raise our girls. And I’ve loved being ‘the classroom mom’ and taking them places.”

Success and Kim’s roots led them to Snohomish County. Bayernmoor is a blend of her family’s German and Dutch heritage. Much of the 100-acre farm, which her parents purchased 40 years ago, remains forested, a bit reminiscent of Bavaria. Moor honors the moor lands of Holland.

“It was so unique that it was easy to trademark,” Larry points out.

As a brand, Bayernmoor began with the 2016 vintage, a 40-case production of Cabernet Sauvignon off Destiny Ridge Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills. That first effort attracted the attention of the Seattle-area wine trade that judges for Sip Magazine.

Crush of the 2017 and 2018 vintages took place at Carter’s facility in Woodinville. In 2019, the Harrises began moving production to their Stanwood estate, starting with the Pinot Noir lots while keeping the Cab and whites at Carter’s. Each year, they moved more production north.

Starting in 2023, everything is processed and cellared at Bayernmoor, allowing them to state “Produced and bottled in Stanwood” on the back label. Carter remains listed on Bayernmoor.com as a contributor.

“I consider Brian a good friend and fantastic mentor,” Larry says. “I cleaned tanks and floors and learned everything from the ground up from him. It’s been a fantastic relationship. He’s still the first person I call if I have a question, and he’s going to be tasting barrels with us next week.”

Kim added, “He’s been so good to us, starting by talking with us about the style and profile we wanted to reflect — not his personal style, but ours. We’ve always been grateful to him for sharing the depth of his knowledge with us.”

The connection between Carter and the Harrises helps explain their continued synergy, operating tasting rooms next door to each other in Woodinville’s upscale Woodin Creek development. And while much of her focus is on the tasting room and organizing their business, Kim is in the cellar before the wine is bottled.

“She’s there with me for the final blending and adjustments to the wine,” Larry says. “We really enjoy doing that together.”

Her influence and background help her to manage the tasting room and kitchen in Woodinville, but growing up in a fun-loving and close-knit family may be the most important to the culture she’s created for Bayernmoor’s guests.

“You have to be genuine and excited and want everyone there to have a fantastic time,” Kim says. “We’re in the wine and hospitality business, and 99% of the people who show up at your door want to have a great time. My goal is for people to leave happy.”

Along the way, Kim’s electives in college included photography, painting and art. Her creativity comes together and sets the mood at Bayernmoor’s tasting room, which is upscale yet comfortable with traditional and modern touches.

“We want to show people that wine and food can be fun and exciting, and with my foundation in economics and hospitality and Larry overseeing the winery business and his background, we are making it successful,” she says.

The Harrises are quick to praise their sustainable practices and tireless efforts of their vineyard manager of the past nine years, Laramie Sykora. Their investments include their people, providing them healthcare and

benefits. They recently added an assistant winemaker, Grace Fenner, and they’ve only had one chef since they’ve opened, giving California-trained Tori Barr the advantage of pulling some ingredients from the Harris family garden and orchards.

This spring, club members get an early peek at Bayernmoor’s new Merlot program, a 2022 bottling from Coyote Canyon Vineyard, and Malbec from Red Mountain. They also are seeking long-term contracts in the storied Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley and other areas throughout the state to broaden their Pinot Noir program. Along the way, they’ve added sparkling wine, Albariño, Pinot Gris and a Rhone-focused rosé that blends Grenache and Mourvèdre.

At this point, though, the most satisfaction comes from their estate Pinot Noir program.

“At times, it’s a huge relief getting confirmation that what we’ve put a lot of money and energy into the last 12 years is worth it,” Larry says. “This has always been something that we’ve wanted to do. We don’t need to do this.”

Kim adds with a knowing smile, “And fortunately we’re not the only two who like our wines.”

Bayernmoor Cellars, 17140 135th Ave. NE, Woodinville, WA, 98027, bayernmoor. com, (425) 216-3300

Larry Harris of Bayernmoor Cellars amassed nine Platinum Awards last fall during Great Northwest Wine’s year-end judging of Pacific Northwest gold-medal winners.

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BY ERIC DEGERMAN

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Of late, it seems that it takes a celebrity, a professional athlete or a descendant of a famous winemaker to receive immediate attention from critics and acclaim from the trade.

It’s been different for co-owner/chef/ sommelier Michael Ruhland and co-owner/ viticulturist/winemaker Matías Kúsulas. The buzz for their wines under Valo and sister label Massalto has been well-earned. And the virtuous formula begins with premier grapes, talent, friendship and the guts to open a tasting room in downtown Vancouver, Wash., during a pandemic.

“We’re really good friends,“ Kúsulas says. “He officiated my wedding, and he taught me how to make ceviche.”

A friendship that began in 2016, when they met working harvest for Giesen Wines in New Zealand’s Marlborough region, blossomed into the partnership that prompted Great Northwest Wine to select Valo as the 2024 Washington Winery to Watch.

“We’re excited that we achieved what we have with the first couple of vintages and starting in 2020 during the pandemic,” Ruhland says. “Our portfolio is very strong between Valo and Massalto, and we took a risk opening our tasting room during the pandemic, but Vancouver is a great place to introduce our wines — particularly with its proximity to Portland.”

Early on, Valo attracted the attention of Anthony Mueller, the Napa-based writer/ critic who covered Washington state for Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

And for the past two years, West Coast sommeliers and wine merchants judging the Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition in Hood River have hung gold medals on wines made by Kúsulas for Valo, Massalto and his employer — the Lawrence family’s Gård Vintners.

The consistency of the Valo/Massalto wines was uncanny. In 2022, the Valo 2019 Right Bank from Conner Lee Vineyard was awarded Best Red Blend and the 2019 Reserve Chardonnay from Conner Lee a gold medal. Royal Slope grapes, part of Kúsulas’s responsibilities as the Lawrence Vineyards head viticulturist, helped the Massalto 2019 Interstellar Mourvèdre go double gold and 2020 Extravaganza Cinsaut win a gold. That Mourvèdre landed on The Seattle Times Top 20 list for 2022.

Last year, at the 2023 Invite, the Valo 2020 Conner Lee Vineyard Right Bank Red Wine won a best-of-class honor and the 2020 Conner Lee Vineyard Reserve Chardonnay was gold. The Massalto 2020 Interstellar Mourvèdre also earned a gold medal for the second straight vintage.

“The best varieties out of Conner Lee, which is a sandy-soil vineyard, are Merlot and Cab Franc,” Kúsulas says. “It’s a fantastic site, in the middle of nowhere, in pure sand and surrounded by blueberries.”

Massalto will continue to be a blank canvas for Kúsulas to explore where Royal Slope grapes, including Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc, lead him. The slogan for his brand —“Be fearless. Drink fearlessly” — lines up with someone who is a skydiving instructor and a black belt in judo.

“Massalto is kind of like a playground,” Kusulas says. “We try to be unorthodox, playing around with extended maceration, carbonic maceration, using different techniques and working with different varieties. They are not A-B-C wines.”

At the 2023 Invite, Kúsulas also proved himself to be one of the Northwest’s rising stars with more traditional wines, winning a gold medal or better with four Gård Vintners bottles for Josh and Lisa Lawrence. The 2021 Lawrence Estate Riesling Ice Wine was Best Sweet Wine after a double gold. There were

Chef/vintner Michael Ruhland operates Valo’s tasting rooms in downtown Vancouver, Wash., and the Columbia Gorge community of Bingen, Wash., as a joint venture with Columbia Valley winemaking talent Matías Kúsulas.

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Matías Kúsulas shows his fondness for Australian artist Loui Jover by featuring his colorful work on bottles of Massalto.

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golds for the 2021 Estate Franc Blanc, 2022

Lawrence Estate Grand Klasse Rosé and 2021 Lawrence Estate Skål sparkling wine.

“My relationship with Josh and Lisa has been great since the beginning,” Kúsulas says. “When they hired me to take over the winemaking for Gård, I was already head viticulturist, and they knew Michael and I had this project going. They’ve been a great resource for us business-wise, too.”

Ruhland, 45, grew up in Memphis but is no stranger to the cellar, having worked a harvest in Walla Walla for Tranche. And neither is Kúsulas’s wife, Taylor Ramsey. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a science degree and then Walla Walla Community College’s winemaking program, followed by five harvests for Sleight of Hand Cellars as assistant winemaker. Now, she spearheads sales and marketing for Valo/Massalto, Gård Vintners and Desert Wind Winery in Prosser. That’s where Kúsulas, 43, now crafts all the wines he’s involved in.

“This is Matías, Taylor and me,” Ruhland says. “She’s helped us along the way, and she’ll continue to be a big part of it.”

Kúsulas adds, “She’s really good with marketing and sales. Personally, I’m not very good at it.”

Ruhland opened Valo’s second tasting room last summer in the Columbia Gorge town of Bingen, Wash. Building upon the synergy between the partners and the Lawrence family, and this summer they plan to add a third tasting gallery for Valo/Massalto in downtown Ellensburg, near where Gård Vintners has poured for several years.

“We began Valo in 2018 with about 1,000 cases and started releasing right around the pandemic,” Ruhland says. “Right now we’re about 3,000 cases.”

Winemaking and wanderlust led Kúsulas around the world after he retired from the Chilean military and then studied agricultural engineering. He worked in his native country’s wine industry for three years, then earned master’s degrees in Bordeaux and Montpellier. Those led him to cellars in the Rhône, Italy, Spain, South Africa and New Zealand, where he first connected with Ruhland and Ramsay. Later in 2016, Ruhland would meet them again in Walla Walla after Kúsulas was hired by winemaker Aryn Morell.

Valo — which refers to light in Finnish — represents much of Ruhland’s ethos. The concept for Valo emerged during his two decades in Montana as chef for the Yellowstone Club and Rainbow Ranch Lodge.

Sky country is a key market for Valo, but it was a club member in Vancouver who suggested Ruhland consider launching across the river from Portland.

“I lived in Montana for a long time, and I still enjoy the hunting and fishing and skiing,” Ruhland says. “While I still do private dinners for clients there, this feels very much like the thing I should be doing, including incorporating wild game into our winemaker dinners for Valo.

“We are constantly planning, focusing on branding, getting good tasting room managers and people in place,” Ruhland adds. “It’s all about trying to stand out in a sea of wineries that already exist.”

671 W. Columbia Way, Vancouver, WA 98660, 306-828-1046

114 W. Steuben St., Bingen, WA 98605, 509-774-4474, ValoCellars.com and Massalto.com

Big

The Valo and Massalto bottles are produced in Prosser, Wash., and poured at two tasting rooms along the Columbia River.

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Matías Kúsulas

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BY ERIC DEGERMAN

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — Behind the winemaking of Aaron Lieberman, Iris Vineyards in the southern end of the Willamette Valley has reached new heights in both acclaim and production.

While others were pulling back, owner Pamela Frye supported general manager David Cordtz in the pursuit of distribution and gave Lieberman the green light to grow production at their Cottage Grove production facility from 7,000 to its capacity of 27,000 cases.

The string of awards and recognition, along with the growth and new ventures, prompted Great Northwest Wine to name Iris Vineyards as its 2024 Oregon Winery of the Year.

“Aaron is curious and desires to experiment and innovate,” Frye says. “We give him room to try approaches and techniques that another producer might not be willing to risk. Aaron has never disappointed, and we love sharing this journey with him. Maybe that’s why we continue together.”

Lieberman’s craftsmanship with Chalice Estate Vineyard led to a string of awards last year, and his creativity developing the wine-based cocktails adds to the appeal of their young wine bar that opened in 2022 on Main Street in downtown Springfield.

Iris Vineyards

And earlier this year, Iris Vineyards was among those selected to pour at the annual Oregon Chardonnay Celebration at The Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg.

The support he’s received from Frye and longtime vineyard manager Arpad Walker have created a winning formula.

“Arpad predates me, and he’s amazing,” Lieberman says. “The guy knows every inch of that vineyard, and he’s got a good crew and has good rapport with his crew. My role is minimal

because he really doesn’t need my help.”

Last fall, the 24th annual Platinum Awards served to spotlight the Areté 2021 Pinot Noir ($50), Iris Vineyards 2021 Pinot Noir ($25) and 2020 House Call Red Blend ($19.99).

The year prior, the Areté 2018 Chardonnay returned a Double Platinum and the Iris Vineyard 2020 Pinot Gris was voted Best of Show at the 2022 McMinnville Wine Classic.

At this point, there’s no doubting the

tradition of quality of Chalice Vineyard, which shares a fence line with King Estate.

Frye and her husband, Richard Boyles, achieved remarkable success almost immediately when their initial branding, Iris Hill, used a 2002 Pinot Gris to emerge as the Best of The Best — the No. 1 wine — from Wine Press Northwest’s 2004 Platinum Judging.

“That was our second vintage, and it was made entirely from fruit grown at our estate vineyard,” Frye says. “The recognition for that Pinot Gris was a big deal for us. Most importantly, it affirmed the potential we saw in the Chalice Vineyard site, the potential that led to our decision to acquire this site and develop our estate vineyard.”

She points to 2007-08 as a key period, which included creating a winemaking space in Cottage Grove and taking the brand in a different direction.

“The name change marked a transition from an exploration of what might be to a determination to be all that we could be,” she says. “We changed our label from folksy to a little bit edgy.”

Vineyard manager Arpad Walker and winemaker Aaron Lieberman of Iris Vineyards.

PHOTO COURTESY OF IRIS VINEYARDS

Aaron Lieberman, award-winning winemaker with the Areté Brut Rosé.

PHOTO COURTESY OF IRIS VINEYARDS

More importantly, Lieberman came on board.

“We wanted someone who shared our desire to experiment, iterate and improve,” Frye says. “We were fortunate to find a kindred spirit in Aaron.”

Lieberman helped Oregon State to a share of the Pacific-10 Conference wrestling title in 1992 while on his way to a degree in crop and soil science from the Corvallis school. That was the same year when Frye and her partner — hospitality executive Richard Boyle — purchased their 870-acre estate west of Eugene near the Lorane Valley. In a fascinating move, they quickly began by planting 500 acres of Douglas Fir trees.

Lieberman joined Frye’s cellar as the winemaker in 2008, bringing the talent he acquired by working at storied brands such as Amity Vineyards, DePonte Cellars and Owen Roe. His first job reference came in 1996 — after he returned from the Peace Corps — from historic Amity Vineyards and maverick/ owner Myron Redford.

“Myron made stuff happen and was very generous with his time in the short time I was there,” Lieberman says.

He spent a couple of years as vineyard manager for Durant Vineyard before he helped open the DePonte Cellars facility, led by Isabelle Dutartre,

“I only spent one year with Isabelle, but I would still say she might be the biggest influence on me stylistically.”

Some might look to his five years with David O’Reilly of Owen Roe fame as an inspiration to his remarkable value-driven House Call Red Blend — a $19.99 bottle.

“Our team wanted to make something to fit in the category of a glass pour at a restaurant — $25 — to make it drink like a $40 bottle,” Lieberman says. “We were on a marketing trip and noticed that there were almost no red blends from Oregon — anywhere.”

Along the way, Lieberman and his father, Phil, continued to produce tiny lots under their Cottonwood Winery of Oregon brand, which stemmed from their 2-acre estate vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. Sparkling wine was a twinkle in their eye at some point.

“I’ve always loved sparkling wine and wondered why we hadn’t done a sparkling wine yet,” Lieberman said. “My Dad and I still have our label going, and I bought grapes from Chalice Estate. The owners tasted it, and I sold it back to them as wine.”

It ended up as the Areté 2015 Brut Rosé

because it still fit the criteria of that label as wines made from Chalice Estate only.

In 1992, Frye and her husband, hospitality executive Richard Boyles, bought 870 acres. Raised in Eugene, she graduated from the University of Oregon and worked in finance in Washington state before returning to her alma mater as a business manager for 12 years. Her focus now is on Iris Vineyards and Areté.

“Richard has always had a ton of projects and business interests in addition to Iris,” Frye says. “Some years ago, I became the sole owner of the wine business and increasingly the public face representing Iris from an

ownership perspective.”

Lieberman also became a leader for Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) for the Willamette Valley Wineries Association, helping with training akin to Remy Drabkin of Remy Wines in Dundee.

“The work is important because it shapes the way the public perceives our industry,” Frye says. “The DEI work is one aspect that is important to Aaron. I support him in that work as I do all his industry work.”

Iris Vineyards Wine Bar, 322 Main St., Springfield, OR, 97477, IrisVineyards.com, (541) 242-6588.

Winemaker Aaron Lieberman and owner Pamela Frye of Iris Vineyards.

PHOTO COURTESY OF IRIS VINEYARDS

Chalice Vineyard in the Lorane Valley is the estate planting for Iris Vineyards.

PHOTO COURTESY OF IRIS VINEYARDS

BY ERIC DEGERMAN

MONROE, Ore. — It’s become impossible to overlook quaint and bucolic Bluebird Hill Cellars when discussing some of the Willamette Valley’s best examples of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris because the wines by Neil and Sue Shay continue to stand out.

Recent examples include their trio of gold medals at 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and the collaboration with Elena Delle Donne, a Women’s National Basketball Association superstar.

And in a four-week span last fall, Bluebird Hill received two Platinum Awards from Great Northwest Wine as well as two double gold medals and a gold at Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition, the international judging staged in Oregon on behalf of West Coast wine buyers and media.

Those results from the San Francisco Chronicle judging in January merely added validation to Great Northwest Wine’s selection of Bluebird Hill Cellars as our 2024 Oregon Winery to Watch.

“When you have a small winery and you work the tasting room, you get to know the repeat visitors and they become friends,” Neil says, “and they will tell you your wine is good — whether or not it is. It’s good to have the validation of judgings and comparisons by magazines and professional tasters.”

Last summer, the Shays also received praise from Delle Donne, who specifically wanted a Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley for a new cause she’s supporting.

“We were excited to be invited to submit samples for the Deldon project and even more excited to have our 2021 Pinot Noir chosen,” Sue says. “Neil and I were the winemakers, and the fruit was sourced from Bluebird Hill and Zenith vineyards.”

And judges at the San Francisco Chronicle agreed with Delle Donne’s palate. The Bluebird Hill Cellars 2021 Barrel Select Pinot Noir ($54) that won a double gold this year is from the same lot as the Deldon 2021 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. The competition in Sonoma also awarded a gold to the Bluebird Hill 2021 Reserve Chardonnay ($54) and the 2021 Flagship Pinot Noir ($35). Last fall, their Platinums were for the 2021 Pinot Gris ($25) and 2021 Chardonnay ($35).

The Shays have undoubtedly been a delicious run, having won nine Platinum awards in the past five years. And even at the age of 69, it’s rather heady stuff for the native

of Fairfield, Conn.

“I remember growing up in the 60s as a kid, Almaden wine was a big deal,” Neil says. “It really wasn’t until I met Sue 24 years ago that I started getting more deeply into wine.”

When looking back on his career, it makes sense Neil is producing some of the Willamette Valley’s most delicious wines. The professor emeritus at Oregon State University specialized in nutritional biochemistry and molecular biology.

“Some of the award-winners you really like to pour for guests, and when you finish, the person will tell you that every one of those wines was really good,” Neil says. “Sometimes, they will tell you, ‘I was prepared to not like this wine, but it’s really good!’ Those strokes and rewards are really important.”

As one might expect from a lifelong educator, it’s been a methodical learning process. From 2002 to 2013, the Shays were hobby winemakers.

“We made wine every year — 10- to 20-gallon batches to individual barrels — and would send wines to judgings, first to Michigan and later to the Indy International and WineMaker Magazine,” he said.

They learned they had a knack for it, especially early on with Cabernet Franc, which brought the Shays back gold medals.

In 2010, Neil accepted a position at Oregon State, and that sparked Bluebird Hill Cellars, named for the birds that greeted them from the start.

“It was really our property that inspired us,” he says. “We just wanted to find a decent home with a nice view. We looked everywhere from Salem to far south of Corvallis. When we found this 6-acre property near the village of Alpine, it was covered with overgrown Christmas trees. And we figured if we took out those trees, it would probably be a good place to grow wine grapes.”

By 2013, they cleared enough land to plant the first block and turn it into a hobby vineyard with 2,500 cuttings. They planted about a similar number the next year, but they didn’t want to wait for estate grapes.

“Our first purchase was from Tim Ramey at Zenith Vineyard outside of Salem,” Neil says. “We made a 2014 Pinot Noir and a 2015 Pinot Gris and Chardonnay, which enabled us to open a tasting room during Memorial Day weekend of 2016.”

It wasn’t until 2017 when there was enough estate fruit to make an appreciable amount

Sue and Neil Shay own and operate Bluebird Hill Cellars near Monroe, Ore.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUEBIRD HILL CELLARS

of wine. And the clones include Pommard, Wädenswil and Dijon clones 115, 667, 777 of Pinot Noir.

“We made an unfined and unfiltered Pinot Noir from 2017 and at that point, we said to ourselves, ‘Hey, there is something good going on here.’ We still pull bottles out from our library. I love that style, but we don’t practice it year in and year out.”

The pressure, it would seem, is to match their goals in terms of long-term quality rather than rush the bottles out for financial gain.

“Starting in 2017, aside from 2020, all of the Pinot Noir spends two full years in barrel,” he says. “We believe that helps the wine mature nicely in the second year. And our barrel program is 15% to 20% new French oak.”

They’ve incrementally increased to about 1,500 cases of production per year.

“We’re as big as we can be with our current facility and fermentation bins,” says Sue, who grew up a Hoosier and met Neil while he was teaching at Notre Dame. “And more than that, and we’d have to make our wines somewhere else.”

In recent years, to fill a desire for bolder red

wines from the Columbia Valley, the Shays have collaborated with Rebecca De Kleine and her Four Feathers Wine Services team in Prosser on projects. In particular, there were three-barrels worth of a 2019 Syrah that brought back double gold medal from the Los Angeles Wine & Spirits Challenge, the Cascadia International and the Oregon judging in McMinnville.

“We’ve been sourcing Syrah for our Red Wine Blend from Four Feathers for several years now, and they do a wonderful job,” Sue says. “When we were tasting samples for our Red Wine Blend, we tasted both the 2019 Syrah from their Studio program — and we had to have it!”

And yet they are proud of the young winemakers and vineyard managers they’ve employed during the first decade of Bluebird Hill Cellars.

Josh Price, their associate winemaker and vineyard manager, is a 2015 graduate of Oregon State’s viticulture and enology program. During the 2018, 2020 and 2021 vintages, Nick Cheatham, a food science grad from Oregon State, served in those roles and opened his own wine shop in Corvallis. Alexis Doyle, an assistant in the cellar and vineyard, now works for Willamette Valley Vineyards.

“We hear negative things about the work ethic of kids these days, but we’ve been impressed with all of the kids who have helped us,” Sue says. “It’s been really fun to watch them grow within the industry.”

Bluebird Hill supports the young MidWillamette Valley Food Trail, and at this point, the vineyard only falls within the larger Willamette Valley American Viticultural Area. It is just beyond the Long Tom AVA, yet the Shays’s success with estate wines makes one believe that a “Monroe Hills AVA petition” has merit. A key feature is the channel that brings in cool air from the Coast Range akin to the Van Duzer Corridor, which earned its AVA in 2018.

“At about 4 o’clock every afternoon a breeze starts up, and the temperature drops 10 degrees,” Sue says.

And where Bluebird Hill Cellars is within the valley makes it a rather equal mix of green and orange — known as Civil War territory in the state’s most bitter school rivalry.

“The Corvallis newspaper box is orange, and the Eugene Register-Guard is green, and the boxes are about a 50/50 split. Five miles to the south of here, and all of the newspaper boxes are green,” Neil says.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUEBIRD HILL CELLARS

For a time, Sue also operated a picturesque B&B on their estate, but now with Neil’s retirement from the university — although he still teaches part-time a bit — the Shays have decided to spend more of that time together. A classic example is their winemaker cruise with AmaWaterways and DreamVacation.com along the Douro River in Portugal this spring. And Neil plans to devote more time to playing golf, a sport he picked up in junior high school as a caddy — his first paying job.

“When we started this, we told ourselves, ‘Well, we know what we’re going to be doing on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from now on,” Neil says with a laugh. “But now, we have great help to get some time off to get away.”

Among those was a work trip to Fort Mason near the Golden Gate Bridge where they poured their gold medal winners from the San Francisco Chronicle judging — including the Deldon 2021 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, aka Bluebird Hill 2021 Barrel Select Pinot Noir.

Bluebird Hill Cellars, 25059 Larson Road, Monroe, OR 97456, BluebirdHillCellars.wine, (541) 424-2478

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUEBIRD HILL CELLARS

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUEBIRD HILL CELLARS

Bluebird Hill Cellars North Block Pinot Noir Vineyard.

Veer Wine Project

BY ERIC DEGERMAN

GARDEN CITY, Idaho — Those who track Northwest wine judgings will know that 2023 was a very good year for Veer Wine Project and owner/winemaker Will Wetmore.

In the case of the Cascadia International Wine Competition, a panel featuring some of the Pacific Northwest’s top winemakers selected the Veer Wine Project 2021 Garnacha as the No. 1 wine of the judging.

In addition to that, Wetmore’s approach to wine as practical, precise and eclectic led to the selection of Veer Wine Project as the 2024 Idaho Winery of the Year.

“I have to say that I think he is making some of the best wines in Idaho!” notes Damon LaLonde, who manages acclaimed Force Majeure Vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley and is viewed as one of the Northwest’s leading viticulturists. “It was refreshing to taste such wines with energy and aromatics that had not been over blown by oak.”

Wetmore’s results from the University of Idaho Agribusiness incubator in downtown Caldwell for Veer, Hat Ranch Winery, Vale Wine Co., and Kerry Hill Winery repeatedly received praise during the Cascadia.

“With the work that I do for Hat Ranch and Kerry Hill, I’m getting to make something like 35 wines a year,” Wetmore says. “I want my wines to be different, so I constantly ask myself, ‘How can I make it my own and how can I learn and be creative?’

“You can be experimental — as long as you pay attention to the chemistry,” he adds.

Results from the 2023 Cascadia International and the 2023 Idaho Wine & Cider Competition support LaLonde’s case because regardless of the brand, Wetmore showed a Midas touch.

At the Cascadia …

• The Veer Wine Project 2021 Carménère ($34) earned a double gold and best of class before it was beat out for Best Red.

• Veer’s off-dry 2022 Rêverie Riesling ($22) received a gold

• Wetmore’s 2022 Soigné Rosé of Grenache ($24) also received a gold

• The Hat Ranch 2020 Tempranillo topped its group

• The Hat Ranch 2020 Cabernet Franc won a double gold medal.

• There was also a double gold for the Vale 2020 Malbec.

As for the 2023 Idaho Wine & Cider Competition:

• The Hat Ranch 2022 Unoaked Chardonnay won a double gold, then Best Chardonnay and reached the sweepstakes as the Best White Wine at the Gem State judging.

• The award for Best Cab went to Hat

Ranch’s sister brand — Vale Wine Co. — for the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon that also won a double gold.

• The Hat Ranch 2020 Malbec was best of category after winning a double gold

• The Kerry Hill 2019 Vixen Cabernet Franc went double gold and best of class.

• And the Veer 2021 Mataro, the Spanish name for Mourvèdre, picked up a double gold medal.

It’s amazing to think that if Wetmore had not ripped up his shoulder playing varsity baseball at the University of San Francisco, it’s unlikely he would be an Idaho winemaker. He wouldn’t have met his future wife — Dr. Jaclyn Cooperrider — in an organic chemistry class at University of Redlands, where Wetmore transferred for the rest of his college career.

“We were study partners, but for a while I thought he was just copying my notes,” she says with a chuckle.

She played varsity soccer at Redlands, and she’s living out her dream by returning home

Dr. Jaclyn Cooperrider and her winemaking husband Will Wetmore launched Veer Wine Project in 2016. They recently opened a tasting room in the Boise bedroom community of Garden City.

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to the Boise area to practice sports medicine, raise a family and have a husband who makes some of the West Coast’s best wines for her wine-loving parents.

It was 2014 when Wetmore began working at Hat Ranch for owner/winemaker Tim Harless while also bartending and helping in the cellar at Cloud 9 Brewery.

“Tim has always supported my efforts to grow Veer in addition to my work with Hat Ranch. His trust in my abilities as a winemaker has given me independence and space to be creative in my winemaking.”

He launched Veer in 2016 with a rosé of Sangiovese with Idaho fruit and a Mourvèdre from Red Mountain.

“When we got back from New Zealand in 2019, that’s when we decided to make this a serious go because I had become more confident in what I could do,” Wetmore says. “We were more stable because she was finished with her residency and had a kid on the way.”

Those early wines merited attention and led to Veer as the 2021 Idaho Winery to Watch.

“His star is rising, but I know for Will there’s the pressure to maintain,” Cooperridder says. “It will present some fun challenges that are doable.”

As a couple, it’s kind of a case of opposites attracting. The physician is a stickler for grammar and smartly dressed. The winemaker’s wardrobe seems out of the untucked Jimmy Buffett collection, and that look fits behind the bar of Veer’s new tasting space in the Boise suburb of Garden City.

“Oh man, it’s going to be a lot busier for me,” he says. “I will be in front of customers more often, which is great, especially on the weekends.”

Among those who have helped make the move happen is Mark Nail, a longtime Boisearea CPA accountant who has gone from one of Wetmore’s first customers to a Veer investor and part-owner. He might go down as the No. 1 “Veerdo.”

“He’s been a huge partner and very, very important in the success of this place,” Wetmore says. “When we started the wine club, what would have taken me a month to do, well, it took him about five minutes.”

There are plenty of entry points for visitors to Veer in Garden City. They include a Sangiovese, a standalone Riesling, Grenache

rosé and the 2020 Vineyard Ferment. That’s the half-ton of Malbec that he crushed, left between the rows of Famici Estate Vineyard and nursed along a 40-day ferment that pushed into Thanksgiving. He finished the juice in barrel with Chardonnay lees.

The wine that he named after their son Ren is another Riesling that underwent six months of skin contact before Wetmore introduced some rosé of Carménère and Mourvèdre to boost the fruitiness.

His 2021 Venture is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. The 2022 Scavenger is similar — Syrah, Grenache then Mourvèdre. Under The Scavenger tier will be a rosé and a white blend.

“That is going to be our everyday brand, and it gives us flexibility. For example, the rosé is basically a saignée from every lot I made — but it tastes really good,” he adds with a grin.

Veer will ramp up to 1,600 cases from the 2023 vintage. Future offerings include Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay, a barrel-aged Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Cinsaut and a Syrah made with carbonic maceration, whole clusters and a wild ferment.

“Now my father-in-law is pushing for some Cab from Red Mountain again,” he says with a smile. “As long as someone goes and picks up the grapes for me, I’ll make wine from anything. Oregon Pinot Noir made in Idaho? We’ll see.”

Starting this spring, the alley known as Osage Street beyond the backdoor of Veer Wine Project and between the parking lot of acclaimed Cinder Wines will often be abuzz.

“I think it will be very helpful, and there will be block parties, for sure,” he says.

By the end of the decade, when Veer’s fiveyear lease expires in Garden City, expect to see Veer in its own facility.

“Somewhere,” Wetmore says. “I’ve got good contracts with Sawtooth Vineyard for Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and now Sauvignon Blanc. I always wanted Sauvignon Blanc after coming back from New Zealand.”

There are few bottles of the 2021 Garnacha available, and he’s nudged up the price since its Best of Show acclaim. That’s about as close as Wetmore gets to being boastful. Most of the time, he’s entertainingly selfdeprecating, which adds to his charm and explains why 20 friends helped him paint the walls on the former Par Terre tasting room.

“I’m good at making wine, and that’s about it,” Wetmore says. “I’m deficient in a lot of areas, and people kind of pick up on that, but I’m willing to ask for help. I don’t want to control everything. I just want to have a good time, make wine and have people be happy.”

Veer Wine Project, 4338 W. Chinden Blvd., Garden City, ID, 83714, VeerWineProject. com, (208) 254-0524

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BY ERIC DEGERMAN

CALDWELL, Idaho — A career as a Boise State University geoscientist who spent 20 years of summers teaching in Sardinia led C.J. Northrup to create an Italian-inspired gem in Idaho’s Snake River Valley — Famici Wine Company.

Northrup’s notion and inspiration became reality after he married Janet, a lifelong educator and self-described “rock hound.”

“We both love Italy and Italian culture and art and wine,” he says. “A common question in the tasting room is if I’m Italian? Well, my body is of Viking heritage, but my heart is of Italy.”

Based on early body of work as a winemaker and grower, including the Sardinian white variety Vermentino, made Famici a rock-solid choice as the 2024 Idaho Winery to Watch.

The Northrups branded their estate winery and vineyard as a portmanteau of the Italian words for family — famiglia — and friends amici. And it’s no coincidence they have a knack for creating award-winning proprietary blends.

Last fall, Famici used the 2020 Vineyard Blend Red Wine ($45) to win its first Platinum during Great Northwest Wine’s 24th annual Platinum Awards.

That Bordeaux-only estate-grown red, led by Petit Verdot, earned a spot at the Platinum via a gold medal at the 2023 Cascadia International — the largest international judging of Northwest wine staged in the Pacific Northwest with a slate of winemakers as the majority of that judging panel. This panel also awarded a double gold to the Famici 2020 estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon ($45) and a gold to the estategrown Vermentino ($26).

“In the world of science, the gold standard is the peer-review publication — it’s not a friend who read your manuscript,” he says, “so these types of awards mean a lot. And the Vermentino and Cabernet Sauvignon are the wines I’m most proud of.”

At the 2023 Idaho Wine & Cider Competition, Famici earned a best-of-class award after its Meritage-inspired 2018 Winemaker’s Reserve Vineyard Blend Red Wine ($68) received a double gold medal.

At this point, the Northrups have planted seven varieties across their 6-acre parcel that was purchased in 2012.

C.J.’s study of geoscience, his desire to

C.J. and Janet Northrup opened Famici Wine Company on Idaho’s Sunnyslope in the fall of 2022.

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become an educator and some parallels between the Snake River Valley and where he grew up in New Mexico made a 1998 job posting at Boise State appealing.

“I was a casual and sporadic consumer of wine up to that point,” he says. “My interest and passion for wine really developed from my time in Italy. It’s very much a part of the culture. It seems that every little town has their own unique varietal.”

Planting for Famici began in 2014. Bordeaux is represented in Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot. There’s the Spanish grape Graciano, and Italian varieties Primitivo and Vermentino.

“I taught a geology class in the summers for years in Sardinia,” he says. “We planted Vermentino because of the Vermentino di Gallura in northern Sardinia where we enjoyded conversations over calamari and a

glass of Vermentino. I joke with my friends there that because we got a gold medal on our first Vermentino that a DOCG of Idaho is on the way.”

The two most popular varieties in Sardinia now have a history of success in the Snake River Valley — Vermentino and Grenache aka Cannonau.

“We would need to use Grenache or Garnacha on the front label because Cannonau is not approved for use in our country, but we could tell our story about Cannonau on the back label,” he says. “That would be fun.”

Sangiovese is another variety that’s done well for the Northrups, as has Primitivo.

“I’d say Primitivo has the most natural affinity for our site,” he says. “I just get out of the way and let it make the wine.”

RICHARD

However, it was an estate 2021 rosé from Graciano that led to Famici’s first gold medal via the 2022 Idaho Wine & Cider Competition, a panel that included noted judges from California and Florida.

“When I was a kid, my folks encouraged us to be curious. Being a scientist is asking questions and then trying to find the answers to those questions,” C.J. says. “Geology is really a combination of physics, chemistry and biology applied to the history of the Earth. My training in chemistry factors into winemaking really well.

“The gold for that rosé was very reaffirming that we’re on the right track to make reasonably quality wines,” he adds.

When Janet met C.J., he already had a vision for Famici after taking winemaking classes at Treasure Valley Community College from Martin Fujishin of Fujishin Family Cellars. Hands-on training began by working at Hat Ranch Winery for Tim Harless and with Will Wetmore at their production facility in downtown Caldwell.

“Martin is a fantastic winemaker and viticulturist, and he’s also just a great human,” C.J. says. “And it’s been an incredible opportunity to be a small part in helping Will and Tim at Hat Ranch and Vale through the years and learn the ropes.”

Janet, a third-generation Idahoan, spent three decades as an educator, first at the middle-school level and later training teachers to use technology in their classrooms. Now

that she’s retired, she runs the tasting room they opened in fall 2022 and helps with the vineyard and in the cellar.

“The vision and energy for Famici didn’t arrive until after Janet and I got together,” C.J. said. “We have built the brand as a joint, creative effort.

“It’s been a whirlwind couple of years, but dust doesn’t gather under Janet’s feet,” he added.

That’s proven by the time she carves out to lead the Sunnyslope Wine Trail.

“We need better signage and more vineyards on Highway 55,” Janet says. “Even though we are only 30 miles west of Boise, 50% or more of the population has no idea there is an award-winning wine region so close.”

And she is now also one of the winemakers for Famici, starting with Cabernet Franc in the 2022 and 2023 vintages.

“She will add a few other wines to her portfolio starting next year,” C.J. says. “I’m available as a consultant, but she is the winemaker for those projects and makes all the decisions.”

At this point, the tightly planted vineyard — with a spacing of 6 feet between the rows and 4 feet between the vines — accounts for about 800 cases of wine each vintage.

“That’s the tightest vineyard density that I know of in Idaho, but it’s very common

with the small, family-owned vineyards in Europe,” he says.

They will contract with folks such as the Williamson family for the rest of their projected annual production of 1,800 cases.

“We think that the sweet spot for our winery in order to maintain the quality with the estate wines,” he says. “We have a small area yet to plant,” he says. “It hasn’t been determined if it will be Sangiovese or Grenache.”

He also wonders about the potential of the Sicilian star Nero d’Avola in the Snake River Valley because of the increasingly warm summers.

“It’s a good time to be in the Idaho wine industry, and we’re standing on the shoulders of some giants,” he says. “There is a growing awareness of Idaho wines.”

As far as joining Janet as a retired educator, CJ hasn’t begun making plans for that yet.

“One of the first words of advice Martin Fujishin gave me was, ‘Don’t quit your day job,’ ” C.J. says. “There is so much reinvestment that happens in the first years of a winery, so we’ll see — maybe in a relatively small number of years — working in the vineyard is a nice, therapeutic way to finish up a day.”

Famici Wine Company, 21026 Hoskins Road, Caldwell, ID 83607, FamiciWine.com, (208) 991-1152.

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2024 BRITISH COLUMBIA WINERY OF THE YEAR

BRITISH COLUMBIA

BY ERIC DEGERMAN

NVan Westen Vineyards

ARAMATA, British Columbia — Rob Van Westen is about as oldschool as it gets in this modern era of the British Columbia wine industry, and he believes that not enough people realize how difficult farming of any kind is in the Okanagan Valley.

“Some people think we all have helicopter pads and drive Lamborghinis,” he says. “I drive a 1997 Dodge pickup truck.”

These aren’t the salad days of the Okanagan Valley wine industry, and yet Van Westen and his team are producing some of the Pacific Northwest’s best wines as evidenced by the 24th annual Platinum Awards.

He entered three wines and achieved at least a Platinum with each.

The Van Westen Vineyards Estate 2022 Viognier ($30) received 95 points, a Double Platinum — reflecting a unanimous vote among judges — and emerged as best of class in a category that attracted 15 Northwest examples that won a gold medal in the previous 12 months.

“It’s all about being patient enough for the grapes to physically ripen,” Van Westen says. “In theory, Viognier is a red grape hiding in a white skin. It needs to ripen properly. I’ve tasted a lot of not physiologically ripe Viognier in my life.”

The 2021 Viscous Riesling ($27.50), a product of Mosel clone 21B, twice qualified for the Platinum, including a platinum award from the British Columbia Lt. Governor’s Awards program.

“It’s off-dry, but not by much,” he says.

Van Westen earned his third Platinum via his 2020 V Red Wine ($45), a Right Bank Bordeaux-inspired blend of five varieties — Merlot (47%), Cabernet Franc (25%), Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. It marked the 12th vintage for the blend known by the Roman numeral five.

Each of the wines qualified for the Platinum via a gold medal at the National Wine Awards of Canada.

“One hundred percent of the wines are grown by us — and I’m a wine grower, not a grape grower,” Van Westen says. “Every grape cluster has been looked at by me by the time there’s 95% veraison, and I do the final thinning myself across 17 acres. I’m ruthless in my thinning, and the balancing of the wine is done in the vineyard.”

In terms of viticulture, Van Westen looks back in appreciation upon the education he received at Okanagan College from Bill Eggert, who founded Fairview Cellars near Oliver.

“We planted grapes in 1999,” Van Westen says. “We did that to diversify from the apples

and cherries my Dad grew since he bought this land in 1972. It was the demise of the apple industry by 1999, and I decided that I didn’t want to prune the apple trees that winter. Grapes were the new thing up here.”

In the cellar, Van Westen essentially has two winemakers on his team — longtime friend Tom DiBello and Michael Sutherland.

DiBello, a New York native, grew up surfing in Southern California and landed a job at iconic Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in Napa after graduating from the University of California-Davis enology program. His journey led him to Washington’s Columbia Valley before being recruited to Canada in 2000, taking CedarCreek in Kelowna to new heights during his decade there. By 2011, he’d launched his own brand, embarked on a successful career as a consultant and became a Canadian citizen.

“We’ve known each other for 20-plus years, and he’s the godfather of my daughter,” Van Westen says. “I wouldn’t be making wine without him guiding me. He told me what varieties to plant, what clones to order, what rootstock to use, which barrels to buy and what yeasts to use.”

Sutherland graduated from Okanagan College’s winemaking program and spent seven years in the cellars of a number of the

Rob Van Westen is producing some of British Columbia’s most exciting wines from vines he tends on the Naramata Bench near Penticton.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VAN WESTEN VINEYARDS

“Tom and I are mentoring this nextgeneration winemaker in Mike, and ever since he came to join me four years back, my wines have definitely improved with his OCD winemaking,” Van Westen quipped.

When Van Westen began with the 2003 vintage, he opened with 135 cases and became the 16th winery on the Naramata Bench. There are three times that many now.

“Back then, I was just a farmer who was learning how to ferment,” says Van Westen, who has since added Pinot Noir, Malbec and Petit Verdot to his plantings. Thanks to DiBello and Sutherland, his production is from 1,800 to 2,200 cases now, depending upon the growing season.

“Can you believe Tom DiBello pours in my tasting room?” Van Westen says with a chuckle. “And his wife, Tari, told me that she would pay me for having him work in my tasting room.”

At 6-foot-6 1/2, Van Westen, 57, is an imposing figure in the British Columbia wine industry — even though he says he’s lost half an inch because of the weight of farming. And along the way, he’s developed a reputation of being a maverick, even by the standards of his neighborhood in the Okanagan Valley.

And while many of the Okanagan Valley wineries operate tasting galleries that are an architect’s dream, Van Westen pours his wines out of a facility on his farm that is known simply as “The Shed.” There are no frills, just barrels, bottles, competition medals, a moose head and Brew, Van Westen’s Lab/Akita mix who is 18 years old.

“It’s what’s in your glass that’s important,” he says. “Originally, I didn’t plan on having a tasting room, but I came up with one in 2008 when there was a housing crisis in the States and the media said people couldn’t afford to go out and eat and drink.”

Thanks to DiBello, praise from critics, a following among sommeliers across Canada and a thirsty wine club, Van Westen isn’t worried about his selling what he makes. The question isn’t quality, but quantity.

“Last year, we had the wildfires and the road closure because of them, and a low crop because of winter damage the year before,” he said. “Usually I sell 20-30 tons of my grapes, but I only had 60% of my normal crop, and I fermented 90% of that crop.

“This winter, we were minus-13 Fahrenheit at my place on Jan. 24,” Van Westen added. “Some people reached minus-30, which means you are replanting. I am hopeful we

up at 60 percent of a crop overall, and maybe 30% on Viognier, Malbec and Merlot, so we’ll see. I’ve got Cab Franc in canning jars that have buds pushing, which is shocking to see. And there’s life in the Riesling.”

Two years ago, Eggert sold his winery, and Van Westen said the Okanagan Valley wine industry seems to be at a tipping point.

“It’s a fact that more than 20% of the wineries in the province are on the open market, but who is going to pay $300,000 per acre when you’ve had back-to-back years of winter damage?” Van Westen asks. “If it happens again soon, I don’t mind turning a couple of my acres into cows, growing some hay and wearing a cowboy hat.”

At this point, however, despite the backto-back bodyblows from Arctic blasts, the reception for his wines by critics and supporters is heartwarming.

“If you are a farmer, you’ve got to be an optimist,” he says. “If I was a pessimist, then I wouldn’t be doing this. I’m going to give it another go because I can afford to — for now.”

Van Westen Vineyards, 2800 Aikins Loop, Naramata, BC V0H 1N0, VanWestenVineyards.com, (250) 496-0067. Spring 2024 • Great Northwest Wine |

Rob Van Westen began to transition some of his family’s orchards on the Naramata Bench to vineyards in 1999.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VAN WESTEN VINEYARDS

Winery to Watch |

BY ALLISON M. MARKIN

SUMMERLAND, British Columbia — The word winery is perhaps a misnomer for this wild, rustic and environmentally immersive experience above Summerland, British Columbia.

Yes, there are wines produced under a “less is more” philosophy by New Zealand native Matt Dumayne. But to paraphrase a Broadway musical, chicks and ducks may scurry as you make your way over the unpaved road to Garnet Valley Ranch, a 130-hectare (320 acre) site at nearly 600 meters (2,000 feet) altitude under the portfolio of Okanagan Crush Pad.

“It is unobtrusively there,” explains cofounder Christine Coletta. “It’s not slick. We are preserving the integrity of the land, and we want people to come explore, discover and become passionate about regenerative farming.”

Case in point: the chickens and ducks have been joined by a bevy of fauna.

A recent restoration effort rejuvenated an on-site pond, now stocked with trout, bringing animals back to the property — from great horned owls to other birds of prey, to songbirds, to land creatures; bears, deer, coyotes, and the odd cougar.

A heron and osprey are regular visitors to the pond, and more than 75 species of birds have been identified as part of an inventory of wildlife. Chilean terroir consultant Pedro Parra designed 15 unique vineyard blocks, each fenced separately, allowing freedom to roam.

Since the property was purchased in 2012, the focus at Garnet Valley Ranch has been to preserve the land, ensuring that the majority of the site remains in its pristine, natural state. In addition to vineyards, there are field crops tended by LocalMotive Farms, cultivating organic vegetables that supply local chefs and fruit stands, the Okanagan Valley Oasis Lavenders cooperative and a thriving beehive.

“We try not to get too close to the bees,” notes Coletta, but guests can explore the ranch in other ways, always with a guide at the helm.

Of course, with its name, there is the option to gently wander on horseback, thanks to the neighboring stable at Wildhorse Mountain Ranch. Electric bikes will be available this coming season, and an e-golf cart can ferry the small groups — the limit for any booking is six — of visitors around in comfort.

A walk-about hike would be ideal for many, and the end of an excursion, no matter

the method, finishes with a wine tasting at the Outlook Visitor Centre, which offers panoramic views of the South Okanagan.

This small, artisanal winery tasting area is one of very few structures at Garnet Valley Ranch, a deliberate choice in keeping with both preserving biodiversity and minimal intervention in winemaking.

The two premium wine portfolios, Free Form and Garnet Valley Ranch, begin with organic grapes. Coletta describes them both as “wholly unique.”

Concrete fermenting and aging tanks from Italian company Nico Velo, as well as clay amphorae, play a role, while various winemaking additives do not. The winery depends on healthy grapes, indigenous yeasts and occasionally, neutral French barrels.

The Free Form by Okanagan Crush Pad collection is available for tastings, and generally includes a blanc de blanc sparkler, Riesling, Cabernet Franc rosé, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Garnet Valley Ranch portfolio focuses on cool-climate wines made from the highest-elevation vineyard in the Okanagan Valley, with a nod to sparkling wines. The on-site vineyards are primarily planted with

Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes.

Dumayne, in his second decade as Okanagan Crush Pad winemaker, and his team allow the grapes to tell the story of the pocket terroir that is Garnet Valley, as does a welcome new neighbour, Solvero Wines, led by winemaker Alison Moyes.

“We’re so thrilled to have another winery committed to authentic wines of place,” Coletta says.

In fact, the three entities at the Ranch have joined with Solvero and Grape Escape Guest Cottage to create the Garnet Valley AgriTourism Association, dedicated to expanding the responsible use of land in

Garnet Valley. Coletta’s partner, Steve Lornie, is involved in this project.

“We need diversity,” Colletta says. “We need all shapes and sizes, and people will be impassioned by visiting unique places, not only a tasting room.

“We need to do what we can with the land we have for the next generation,” she adds. “And that’s not just for my kids, that’s for a younger generation of winemakers just starting out.”

Okanagan Crush Pad winemaker Matt Dumayne and co-owners/partners Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie have planted Pinot Noir, Gamay Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling and Chenin Blanc across 55 acres that are certified organically farmed.

PHOTO BY LIONEL TRUDEL / COURTESY OF OKANAGAN CRUSH PAD

Coletta spent nearly a decade as the first executive director of the BC Wine Institute and helped establish the Vintners Quality Alliance program. With the Garnet Valley Ranch project, the commitment to a sustainable future is evident: The company joined International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA), making it the first and only Canadian winery, so far, to do so. IWCA is available to any winery from any country.

Garnet Valley Ranch parent Okanagan Crush Pad has been accepted as an applicant member. Having completed a base line audit, the task now is to meet reduction requirements and become a silver- or goldlevel member.

Coletta points out that Garnet Valley Ranch not only tells a tale of winemaking, but also where our food comes from.

“It’s not just a store. Come see it here,” she says.

Rumour has it the farm grows the most delicious carrots found anywhere. When in season, some may end up on the complimentary charcuterie plate that accompanies a wine tasting.

Unconventional, quiet and surrounded by hills and mountains, the property could almost be called pastoral. The experience is certainly unlike most to be found in the Okanagan, and the wines are likely to be very intriguing for fans of Okanagan wines.

A certified organic site, Garnet Valley Ranch is open by appointment only from mid-June to mid-September from Wednesday to Saturday. And in keeping with its rugged serenity, only three private tour groups are available per day at specific times.

Garnet Valley Ranch/Okanagan Crush Pad, 16576 Fosbery Road, Summerland, British Columbia, Canada, v0h 1z6, OkanaganCrushPad.com, (250) 494-4445.

Garnet Valley Ranch in Summerland, British Columbia features estate vines that tickle 2,000 feet elevation, making it one of the highest plantings in the Okanagan Valley.

PHOTO BY SHARI SAYSOMSACK / COURTESY OF OKANAGAN CRUSH PAD

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THE EDUCATED CIGAR

Our store is located inside the Joker’s & Atomic Bowl Entertainment Complex 624 Wellsian Way, Richland, WA

We open at 10am, 7-days a week. Closing at 6pm Mon-Thurs, 5pm Fri-Sat and 4pm on Sunday. www.educatedcigar.com • email: educatedcigar@msn.com voice/text: 509-205-2876.

We open at 10am, 7-days a week. Closing at 6pm Mon-Thurs, 5pm Fri-Sat and 4pm on Sunday. www.educatedcigar.com • email: educatedcigar@msn.com voice/text: 509-205-2876.

Our store is located inside the Joker’s & Atomic Bowl Entertainment Complex 624 Wellsian Way, Richland, WA We accept all major credit/debit cards & Apple Pay. Family owned and operated since 1998. GOOGLE rating of 4.9/5.0 with 240+ reviews.

We accept all major credit/debit cards & Apple Pay. Family owned and operated since 1998. GOOGLE rating of 4.9/5.0 with 240+ reviews.