Wine Press Northwest Spring 2021

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Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year — Page 22

IN THIS ISSUE SPRING 2021 | VOL. 23, NO. 1

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COVER STORY King Estate Winery in Eugene, Oregon, has been named Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year.

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IN MEMORIAM: GREGG MCCONNELL

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THE WINE KNOWS BY ANDY PERDUE

Wine Press pays tribute to editor.

Meritage-style red blends in Washington merit attention.

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SWIRL, SNIFF & SIP BY KEN ROBERTSON

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ELLEN ON WINE BY ELLEN LANDIS

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Good wine can thrive for decades.

Tantalizing Muscat is one of the oldest vines still cultivated today around the globe.

CRUSHING IT IN OREGON Ximena Orrego, Aurora Coria and Gabriela Vignes are Latina Strong.

Match Makers — Page 50 Corey Orange offers his catfish PoBoy near the banks of the Columbia River.

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VEER WINE PROJECT: IDAHO WINERY TO WATCH

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MATCH MAKERS

CARDWELL HILL CELLARS: OREGON WINERY OF THE YEAR AWEN WINECRAFT: OREGON WINERY TO WATCH MELLISONI VINEYARDS: WASHINGTON WINERY OF THE YEAR VALDEMAR ESTATES: WASHINGTON WINERY TO WATCH NORTHWEST TEMPRANILLOS RATED Competition results and tasting notes.

Winemaker and chef team up to lead Food Truck Plaza at Columbia Gardens Urban Wine & Artisan Village

ON THE COVER

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SPOILED DOG’S FRENCH APPROACH

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VINE 46: IDAHO WINERY OF THE YEAR

Winemaker is a Pinot Noir fanatic.

Co-founder Ed King and winemaker Brent Stone, with a bottle of King Estate Winery 2019 Domaine Pinot Gris, stand in front of the winery and tasting room that was established in 1992 and inspired by French Renaissance architecture. See page 22.

PHOTO BY ANDY NELSON/ANDYNELSONPHOTOS.COM

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Wine Press Northwest is for those with an interest in wine — from the novice to the veteran. We focus on Washington, Oregon and Idaho’s talented winemakers and the wineries, vintners and restaurants that showcase Northwest wines. We are dedicated to all who savor the fruits of their labor.

General Manager / Editor Jerry Hug jhug@tricityherald.com editor@winepressnw.com Editor In memoriam: Gregg McConnell Contributors Tamara Belgard Eric Degerman Dan Radil Columnists Ellen Landis Andy Perdue Ken Robertson Contributing photographers Bob Brawdy Richard Duval Jennifer King Andy Nelson In memoriam: Bob Woehler Advertising sales Aaron Rindeikis (817) 291-3455 To subscribe: Subscriptions cost $20 U.S. per year for four issues per year.

Mail check or money order to the address below, subscribe securely online at winepressnw.com or call customer service at 800-538-5619.

Free weekly newsletter: Sign up for our free Pacific Northwest Wine of the Week e-mail newsletter at winepressnw.com Address 4253 W. 24th Ave., #120 Kennewick, WA 99338 © 2021 Wine Press Northwest A Tri-City Herald publication

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IN MEMORIAM

GREGG MCCONNELL PUT ‘HIS HEART AND SOUL’ INTO WINE PRESS

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regg McConnell, editor of Wine Press Northwest magazine and retired publisher of the Tri-City Herald, died Jan. 12 at his winter home in Arizona after a brief battle with cancer.

McConnell, after retiring from the Herald in 2017, spent winters in Arizona with his wife, Diane, but remained editor of the quarterly magazine based in the Tri-Cities. His focus on leading the Northwest’s premier wine magazine and reporting on the region’s burgeoning wine industry had only sharpened in the three years after retiring.

In late November, he was pressing to complete the Winter 2020 edition containing the magazine’s 21st Annual Platinum awards celebrating the best wines of the year and had already begun planning the publication’s 2021 calendar year with his staff and freelancers.

That was interrupted when he learned in December he had developed an aggressive form of cancer. But after conferring with doctors, he remained optimistic. Sadly, within a few weeks, cancer claimed him. He had just turned 64 over the Christmas holidays.

“Gregg loved Wine Press and all of the contacts and friends he made along the way,” said Jerry Hug, general manager of the Tri-City Herald and Wine Press Northwest. “When he first came to the Tri-Cities, he became really enamored with the magazine and was fully on-board to make it better. He jumped right in and took classes at Yakima Valley College to better understand wine and all that went into the making and evaluation. He has put his heart and soul into the publication, and we will miss his creativity and his contributions. He had a great deal of fun and took it all very seriously.”

In his role as the magazine’s leader, “Gregg had become a great advocate for and supporter of the industry,” said Ken Robertson, a columnist for the magazine since its founding in 1998 and retired executive editor of the Herald.

“In a rather short time, he’d become a devoted follower of Northwest wines.”

McConnell quickly became a capable wine evaluator and played a major role in organizing and coordinating the magazine’s four peer judgings each year, with results reported in the magazine. He also had begun serving on the magazine’s judging panels, “where he was respected for his quick insights and enjoyed for his dry humor,” Robertson said.

McConnell held management and executive roles at newspapers in Montana, Washington 8

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COURTESY OF DIANE MCCONNELL

Gregg McConnell and former NFL great Jerry Rice teed it up together at a fundraiser in California wine country. and California in his 42-year career.

During six years at the Herald and after retiring, he was active on boards of the Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC), the Washington State University Tri-Cities Advisory Council, Visit Tri-Cities and the Regional Affairs Committee for the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce.

He also focused on improving mental health organizations and other nonprofits, and was passionate about golf and ice hockey, cheering on the San Jose Sharks and Tri-City Americans.

Lori Mattson, president and CEO of the Tri-City Regional Chamber, said she thought the world of McConnell and was shocked and saddened by his death.

“I had the pleasure of working with Gregg very closely on our MyTri 2030 regional project several years ago and just really enjoyed getting to know him,” Mattson told the Herald. “I was really inspired by the passion he had for the Tri-Cities; what a big thinker he was.”

Tri-City Realtor Dave Retter said he first met McConnell through their jobs, but the two soon became friends and occasionally golfed together.

“Gregg had as much class as anybody that I have run into in my life. He was fair, he had an

understanding of business and an understanding of partnerships, and how it’s going to be a win-win for everybody,” said Retter, broker/ owner of Retter and Co., Sotheby’s International Realty.

“It’s a big loss. He’s just one of those people who will sorely be missed.”

McConnell was born and raised in Western Montana, starting his career in 1975 at his hometown weekly in Polson. He was a reporterphotographer, and then moved across the state to the same job at the twice-weekly Glendive Ranger-Review.

Early on, McConnell decided he would become the chief executive at a newspaper. His then-publisher had refused to run a column and told McConnell that if he wanted to be in the position to decide what runs in the paper, he needed to be a publisher.

McConnell said he accepted the challenge and started his first management job in 1977 as editor and general manager of a free-distribution weekly in Ronan, Mont. He joined Scripps League Newspapers in 1979 as advertising director in Hamilton, Mont.

He was in his late 20s when Scripps promoted him to publisher of a small daily in Taft, Calif., then publisher at the larger Petaluma Argus-Courier.

He moved to Washington in 1992 to work with Sound Publishing and spent five years as general manager for non-daily operations with Skagit Publishing in Mount Vernon. From 2002 to 2005, McConnell served on the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association board of directors.

He joined MediaNews Group in 2005 and returned to Northern California to lead the Lake County Record-Bee. In 2008, he was promoted to group publisher for The Reporter in Vacaville and the Daily Democrat in Woodland, and a year later became publisher of three MediaNews Group papers — the daily Enterprise-Record in Chico, the Oroville MercuryRegister and the thrice-weekly Paradise Post.

He was hired by The McClatchy Co. to lead the Tri-City Herald in October 2011. He was president and publisher of the Herald until retiring.

“I didn’t work with Gregg long, but he was a hard-working, sincere man who had his job as publisher at a time no one could envy,” said Jack Briggs, another retired Herald publisher and member of the editorial board. “He left this world much too early.”

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COLUMN | the wine knows

MERITAGE BOTTLINGS MERIT ATTENTION erhaps no region in the wine world is as well-equipped to make quality Meritage-style red blends as Washington state.

We are a red-heavy region with a particular affinity for Bordeaux varieties and one of the regions able to grow all the approved grapes.

A group of U.S. producers created The Meritage Association in 1988, and its guidelines for bottling a Meritage require any combination of the “noble” Bordeaux varieties.

For a red, that would be Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Carménère and the little-known Gros Verdot and St. Macaire. A white Meritage is limited to Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle du Bordelais. No grape can contribute more than 90% of the final blend.

Each gives a winemaker tremendous flexibility in creating a high-quality final blend. It is as if this style of red blend was made for Washington vineyards.

The Cabernet-heavy vineyards of the Columbia Valley and abundance of Merlot are the bedrock of Washington reds. A variety of microclimates and soils provide the working material. The addition of drought-resistant Cabernet Franc offers smooth spices, adding complexity without bringing heaviness.

The discovery and re-emergence of Carménère during the 1990s was another valuable piece for a Washington winery’s Meritage program. Until 1994, Carménère was thought to be a lost variety, a victim of the phylloxera scourge that destroyed the vineyards in much of Europe 150 years ago. It turns out that a grape planted in Chile, thought to be Merlot, actually was Carménère. This happy accident of history led to it being imported and replanted in Washington.

Malbec, best known in Argentina’s Mendoza region and France’s Cahors region, gets its structure from acidity rather than tannins.

This makes it easier to drink and a great blender to smooth out Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The Northwest is particularly well-suited for growing this big red, so Malbec’s inclusion in blends is a benefit. And Washington Malbec can compete on the

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global stage.

It’s not surprising red blends have become the state’s biggest wine category, with a large amount of the grapes from the Columbia Valley. Among the finest examples in my memory is from DeLille Cellars

BY ANDY in Woodinville with its PERDUE Harrison Hill red blend.

Its namesake vineyard is near downtown Sunnyside in the Snipes Mountain American Viticultural Area. All the grapes come from the same hillside vineyard overlooking Interstate 82.

Each of the past 25 vintages of Harrison Hill Red Wine has brought a bold, structured red built for the long haul. Repeated tastings show it’s very cellar-worthy, gaining complexity over time. I was fortunate enough to find some older vintages via an auction at below-market prices.

They are among my most prized bottles.

The word Meritage is a mashup of “meritorious heritage,” and such wines aim to emulate Bordeaux traditions. They are designed to be the best wines from a particular winery. A red Meritage is expected to be a producer’s most expensive wine. This for the most part is true, especially in programs that put great care in nurturing vineyards.

In the case of Harrison Hill, the Cabernet Sauvignon vines are among the state’s oldest, dating to the early days of the state’s wine industry and thus adding complexity to the finished product. Harrison Hill isn’t the only Meritage-style wine from DeLille, but I believe it is the most distinctive and should be among the most treasured in the Pacific Northwest.

The recently released 2018 Harrison Hill at $105 is a classic example, blending Cabernet Sauvignon (61%), Merlot (26%) and Cabernet Franc (13%). The vineyard, farmed by the Newhouse family, is among the state’s best and most historically interesting, adding to the wine’s allure.

As with any red wine, the ability to age is based mostly on its acidity or pH levels. In Washington, this isn’t much of an issue. The

grapes have naturally high acidity, so their ability to age is quite good. American wine consumption habits, however, mean that aging a red wine often involves nothing more than driving home from the store or winery, popping the cork and enjoying it with dinner.

Aged red wines rarely appeal to the more casual wine drinker, so aging wine is rare. But if you really like a particular wine, buy a case to drink over the course of at least three years — or more — and note how the wine evolves.

Or buy a half case of one vintage and a half case of the following vintage to see if the wine is consistently delicious.

One weakness of the Meritage approach is the requirement to use only Bordeaux varieties. For example, including Syrah can add mid-palate weight that other varieties may not provide. The same rings true with blending the Italian grape Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon into an intriguing style of wine called Super Tuscan in the Chianti region. But Meritage rules don’t allow either, because Syrah and Sangiovese aren’t Bordeaux grapes.

An early and steadfast supporter of The Meritage Association was the late Harry McWatters, the Okanagan Valley vintner dubbed by Canadian wine critics as “the Robert Mondavi of British Columbia.” He was the first in Canada to produce both red and white Meritage wines, long viewed as some of the country’s most age-worthy.

Alas, fewer producers are using the term “Meritage” for these styles of wine. Among them is Dr. Brian Petersen at Mosquito Fleet Winery in Belfair, Wash. He uses Starboard Meritage for his Merlot-led Right Bank–styled red wine and Meritage Portside to designate his Left Bank-favoring Cabernet Sauvignon.

As you get out and about this summer — wearing a mask, of course — consider Meritage-style blends a natural extension of our region’s wine landscape. I hope you find some to celebrate.

ANDY PERDUE is the founding editor of Wine Press Northwest magazine. A stroke survivor, he lives in the heart of Washington wine country with his wife, teen daughter, a rescue dog and three unhappy cats.

COLUMN | swirl, sniff & sip

HOW LONG CAN A BOTTLE OF WINE BE AGED?

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ne of my life’s lessons from the COVID-19 year is this: Good wine, well taken care of, can remain remarkably youthful for a couple decades or more.

Starting in April 2020, I began working, more or less diligently, to reorganize and trim back the roughly 1,000 bottles of wine in my basement. I finally expected to have more time to devote to it.

So far, I’ve had mixed success, but at least the total has been trimmed by 150 bottles, maybe more. And no, my wife and I didn’t stop buying wine, but we did buy a bit less.

I would estimate we opened about 350 bottles during 2020, which meant more diligent exploring of the two 300-bottle, temperature-controlled wine cabinets downstairs and the 50-bottle one in our kitchen reserved for whites and rosés.

Along the way, I discovered more than a dozen red wines, all about 15 to 20 years old, languishing in the back row of the downstairs cabinets. I opened them fully expecting some would have faded.

Instead, most had thrived despite my negligence and were delightful. Among them were a 1999 and a 2000 Waterbrook Red Mountain Meritage. Both of these Bordeauxstyle blends seemed able to age even a bit longer and were nowhere near collapse. And we were happy to rediscover some delightful wines from the era when Eric Rindal was still Waterbrook’s owner-winemaker.

In the same area of the cabinet were a 2002 Gordon Brothers (now Gordon Estates) Tradition (a Columbia Valley red blend), two bottles of Barnard Griffin 2005 Reserve Merlot and two of 2004 Sagemoor Partners red blend from Barnard Griffin.

The Gordon was still quite good, but by evening’s end was fading a bit. The BG Reserve Merlot and Sagemoor Partners both were outstanding, showing off great fruit, smooth tannins and a complex, layered structure.

Still waiting to be opened soon are the second bottles of the two Barnard Griffin wines and a 2005 Meritage from Chateau Ste.

Michelle, unless there are more undiscovered nooks in the two cabinets’ crannies.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a word or two about white wines and their ability to age.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with two whites

BY KEN that have some promise ROBERTSON to age well — Riesling and Semillon.

Chateau Ste. Michelle agrees with that. It has established an aged Eroica Riesling program in which it re-releases some of its Eroica six or more years after its original release date. I have kept a few bottles of a few vintages for five to 10 years, and they are a bit less fruity, more rounded and mellow, but appear to have lost little charm and gained some finesse.

As for Semillon, I had some that I clearly aged too long in the past — 15 years or more — and it had mostly lost its acidity and fruit.

However, this past year, I rediscovered a bottle of 2011 from Chinook made from Yakima Valley fruit. It remained lively, acidic and showed off its varietal character. We drank it with seafood, and it was superb.

A 2013 Semillon from L’Ecole made with Columbia Valley fruit also was excellent despite being eight years old.

I should note that none of these wines were bargain basement. Quality does count in choosing wines to age.

In addition, all these wines had been stored properly and not accidentally abused.

Leave a bottle of wine in your car for a sunny, 100-degree summer holiday weekend in the Tri-Cities of Washington, where I live, and it may well be baked past its prime.

In my much younger days, I left some favored reds in a rack atop my kitchen refrigerator and ruined them over a few months because of the heat dumped out the refrigerator’s backside 24/7.

One of my favorite grocery stores some years ago had fluorescent lights just inches

above its wine shelves. Not knowing any better, I bought a bottle of oaked Chardonnay positioned right under those lights. When poured, it was the color of apple cider and far less palatable, though it was only two or three years old.

Some folks may offer more exact guidelines about aging, but the more I learn about older wines, the less confidence I have in precision. There are too many variables. I can say that much somewhat confidently, roughly 50 years since I discovered interesting wines during dinners given by a few of my college professors.

WINE WORD: FINING As wine ferments and then ages, whether in stainless steel, oak barrels, amphora or any other vessel, every day is a chemistry lesson.

That’s why winemakers monitor their work regularly to ensure nothing has gone awry.

Even as the fermentation winds down and the wine begins to resolve into what it will eventually become after time in the tank or barrel, the winemaker’s work isn’t done.

Along the way to the bottle, one of the important processes required for the attractive, gem-like clarity we all desire is fining, which assists in removing cloudiness and haziness.

Fining agents work by adhering to the cloudy or hazy matter, either physically or by electrolytic attraction, forming tiny colloidal groups that drop to the bottom of the tanks or barrels as sediment. The agents most commonly used are bentonite, egg white, gelatin, isinglass, casein and tannin, according to The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia.

Egg whites, for example, carry a positive charge that will remove anthocyanins and tannins.

Bentonite, with its negative charge, will remove protein haze, often seen in white wines as fermentation winds down, even after cold fermentation and chilling.

KEN ROBERTSON, the retired editor of the Tri-City Herald, has been sipping Northwest wines and writing about them since 1976.

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COLUMN | ellen on wine

VERSATILE, EXPRESSIVE, TANTALIZING MUSCAT hile in Spain’s Canary Islands several years ago, I had the pleasure of tasting a memorable Moscatel de Alejandría at Bodegas Monje. This winery is in the Tacoronte-Acentejo wine region on the northeastern coast of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, and the one that produces the most wines.

It got me wondering where else in the world this family of grapes may be successfully grown. Soon after, the “Godfather of Paso Robles,” Gary Eberle, (who was named an “American Wine Legend” in 2020 by Wine Enthusiast’s Wine Star Awards), shared a glass of his engaging Muscat Canelli grown in Paso Robles, Calif., at his Eberle Winery estate.

And then came a delectable after-dinner duo from California’s Quady Winery: fortified Essencia Orange Muscat and fortified Elysium Black Muscat. (The family also produces wines at its Quady North vineyards and winery in Southern Oregon.) My heightened appreciation for this fascinating variety drove me to explore other areas where this grape thrives.

Muscat, a family of more than 200 grapes belonging to the vitis vinifera species, is one of the oldest vines still cultivated today around the globe — if not the oldest.

Muscat vines include (but are not limited to): A Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Greece, Australia, USA — Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas) A Orange Muscat (Australia, Italy, France, USA — Oregon, Washington, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas) A Black Muscat (France, Greece, Australia, India, China, Canada, USA — Oregon, Washington, California, New York, Virginia) A Muscat of Hamburg (Germany, Britain, France, Israel, China) A Moscatel de Alejandría (Egypt, Spain, Portugal, France, Australia, South Africa, Bolivia, Canada, USA — Washington, New Mexico, Missouri, Texas) A Muscat Ottonel (France, Austria, Bulga-

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ria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania, Canada, USA — Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, New York) A Early Muscat (Austria, France, USA — Idaho, Oregon, California)

BY ELLEN A Muscat Canelli LANDIS (Greece, France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, USA — Oregon, Washington, California, Michigan, Oklahoma) Come to find out there are splendid examples being produced in the Northwest. Here are a few standouts to consider adding to your table: A Ste. Chapelle Winery 2019 Open Air Muscat Blanc ($20), Snake River Valley, Idaho: This exhilarating Muscat Blanc from Skyline Vineyard shines brightly with its floral white fruit aromatic. A sunny burst of lemonsplashed white peaches interlaces with honeysuckle, Mandarin orange, and delicate herbs sashaying across the taste buds. It is graceful as it fills the mouth, and dynamic acidity persists through the zesty finish.

A Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards 2019 Moscato ($22), Umpqua Valley, Ore.: The mouth-watering tropical fruit, citrus blossom aroma and spicy entry of this estate Muscat Blanc captivate the senses. Bright flavors of lychee, rosewater sorbet, peach nectar, exotic spice, ripe pear and candied lime dance elegantly through the palate, supported by a frame of brisk acidity. It’s brilliantly balanced and structured, and the wine remains compelling through the lengthy finale.

A Chateau Ste. Michelle 2018 Limited Release Muscat Canelli ($20), Columbia Valley, Wash.: A beautifully perfumed aroma of royal jasmine sets the stage for this nicely sweet (but not at all cloying) rendition of Muscat. Delicious layers of ripe guava, orange blossoms, apricot preserves and underlying Meyer lemon meld in harmony, and the fitting level of acidity keeps it bright and lifted.

MUSCAT, A FAMILY OF MORE THAN 200 GRAPES BELONGING TO THE VITIS VINIFERA SPECIES, IS ONE OF THE OLDEST VINES STILL CULTIVATED TODAY AROUND THE GLOBE — IF NOT THE OLDEST. A Chateau Ste. Michelle 2019 Cold Creek Vineyard Dry Muscat Canelli ($24), Columbia Valley, Wash.: The sparkling hue is eye catching, and the aroma of delicate white flowers is inviting. At first sip this wine is crisp and lively, remaining energetic with notes of lemon-lime, nectarines, honeysuckle and Oro Blanco grapefruit bursting brightly on the palate. It is well-defined, and the vivacious finish never gives up.

A Latah Creek Wine Cellars 2020 Lonesome Spring Vineyard Orange Moscato ($16), Yakima Valley, Wash.: This snappy wine with a touch of effervescence opens with an unmistakably classic orange blossom aroma. Creamy pears, Valencia oranges, spiced peach compote and lemon drops entwine with a subtle hint of mint. It is viscous with good balancing acidity, and the gratifying finish offers a nice touch of honeycomb.

A Silvan Ridge Winery 2019 Early Muscat Semi-Sparkling ($16), Willamette Valley, Ore.: Early Muscat is a cross of Muscat Hamburg and Queen of the Vineyard.

This lovely example broadcasts a heady aroma of a fresh bouquet of flowers and tropical fruit. Remarkably refreshing, it is light on its feet, while boasting vivid flavors of honeysuckle, lychee, citrus blossom and crisp pears from the first tasty sip to the glowing last one.

A Hat Ranch Winery 2020 Dry Moscato ($20), Snake River Valley, Idaho: This striking, floral-fragranced wine is crafted of fruit from Hat Ranch Winery’s estate Muscat Ottonel vineyard. Brimming with juicy pineapple, dried mango and mandarin orange

COLUMN | ellen on wine fruit and a touch of savoriness, it boasts an expansive mouthfeel and immaculate balance. This stylish bone-dry wine delivers a savory sage flower accent extending through the long finish.

A Abacela Winery 2020 Fault Line Vineyards Muscat ($19), Umpqua Valley, Ore.: This perky wine is crafted from 75% Early Muscat and 25% Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains estate-grown grapes. The gleaming aroma of citrus blossom and sun-kissed stone fruit leads to a finely balanced wine. Sweet layers of ripe apricot, lemon curd, clingstone peaches, candied orange and a pinch of lemongrass coat the palate and remain juicy through the vibrant close.

This versatile grape, crafted from dry to decadently sweet in sparkling, still and dessert wines, appeals to a wide range of consumers. I believe there is a Muscat wine that will suit every wine aficionado’s palate. Are you up for the adventure?

ELLEN LANDIS is a wine journalist, certified sommelier, Certified Wine Specialist, wine educator and professional wine judge. Reach Ellen at ellen@ellenonwine.com.

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FEATURES | latina strong

THREE WOMAN WINEMAKERS CRUSHING IT IN OREGON

By Tamara Belgard ew World cultures influenced by Spain and Portugal have long played a vital role in the Northwest’s wine industry.

While historically, Latino immigrants were most prevalent in the more physical vineyard roles, many have moved into management, winemaking and ownership.

In Oregon, interviews with three women winemakers show their culture continues to have an influence on their winemaking and how they overcome the obstacles they’ve encountered navigating the wine industry.

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XIMENA ORREGO: CO-OWNER/WINEMAKER ATTICUS WINE Ximena Orrego was born in Peru and raised throughout Latin America. Combined, she and her husband have lived in more than 10 countries. So while she’s of South American heritage, she sees herself as more international, bringing a rich history into her winemaking.

For her, family influenced her winemaking more than her culture.

“I feel that I have inspiration from several strong women in my family who I adore and admire,” she said. “They are strong, yet elegant, and that is what I am always striving for in our wines — that balance between power and elegance.”

Ximena got her winemaking start in 2007 as a harvest intern at Raptor Ridge Winery. She recalls that during that year’s fall, though she was constantly wet and cold, any discomfort would be completely forgotten when it was time for tank punchdowns.

“I fell in love with the aromas of the Pinot Noir grapes as they were going through primary fermentation,” she recalled. “I was completely seduced by that experience, even though it was hard. To this day, one of my favorite things to do is to smell the fermenters every day and see the various expressions of our fruit as they develop.”

When asked about her experience with the wine industry, she said it’s been very positive.

“I don’t think being a woman or being of a South American background impacted the opportunities or the welcome I received when I joined the wine industry,” she said.

When they first moved to Oregon 16 years ago, she was invited to join the marketing committee of the Yamhill-Carlton Wine Growers Association.

“Those were the early days of the AVA, and it was a great way for me to learn, share and meet some of the pioneers in our area,” she said. While she was a harvest intern for Raptor Ridge, owners Annie and Scott Shull were very helpful, inviting her to events and suggesting opportunities for her to get involved, meet more people and expand 14

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COURTESY CAROLYN WELLS-KRAMER CWK PHOTOGRAPHY FOR ATTICUS WINE

Ximena Orrego: Co-Owner/Winemaker Atticus Wine in Yamhill, Ore.

her knowledge.

She said the biggest challenge she faced while establishing Atticus Wine was simply balancing the needs of a small business with the demands of having a family and holding a corporate job in the tech sector. Some aspects became easier, but she did not retire from the corporate world until 2017.

“Although I really loved my last ‘day’ job and the people I got to work with, it has really been great to just focus on our family and

FEATURES | latina strong Atticus,” she added.

She loves that she’s creating something that she hopes will bring people joy.

“It is really humbling, and it makes me so happy to see people choosing to share our wines at their dinner tables, or as gifts or at special occasions to celebrate with their friends and families,” she said. “I also love that every vintage is different, and that I am always learning. There is always the question: What can I do differently to make our wine even better?”

Ximena recognized that as the industry continues to grow there are many aspects and opportunities — winemaking, vineyard management, sales and marketing and more. She believes education is key and would advise those wanting to pursue a career as a winemaker to complete a degree in winemaking studies, work harvests in different parts of the world, visit different wine regions to learn as much as possible and be ready to put in a lot of long hours of hard work.

“As in everything, it is also important to find mentors or role models that can support you and can provide inspiration,” she added. “All these things will enrich you and lead to more opportunities and success.”

AURORA CORIA: WINEMAKER CORIA ESTATES Aurora Coria grew up in the vineyard, but never thought she would go into winemaking. She originally chose a path that led her to a completely different career in public health administration. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Portland State University and working in that field for more than a year, she and her mom flirted with the idea of starting their own label.

“It seemed like a logical next step for us as our vineyard was a mature 14 years old at the time, and I was at a bit of a standstill in my job.” She decided to go back to school and begin a degree in winemaking. “I absolutely fell in love and never looked back!”

Coria Estates bottled its first vintage two years later under a custom-crush contract with Eola Hills. And in 2017, they moved the winemaking home to their own facility. Her goal is to make wine in a way that feels true to herself, their estate vineyard and their family brand.

“My winemaking style is Old World stylistically, driven by expressing the vineyard, not by manipulation,” she said. “In a way, my family values parallel this ideology, to be naturally and uniquely yourself.”

Though Aurora experienced fewer cultural challenges, perhaps because of her bicultural family that’s Mexican and American, she acknowledges that there remain some barriers she’s had to overcome.

“I feel I have always had to work harder at being taken seriously as a young woman entering this industry on the production side.”

That still happens today, she added. “Someone will arrive at our facility for a delivery and ask if there’s a man around to unload something with the forklift. I say, ‘I can do it!’ and jump right on!”

Women must speak louder and work harder to overcome some prejudices facing them, particularly in production.

“I have felt looked down upon or perceived as I should be in a different position because of my gender,” she said. “I feel that by simply doing my job every day, I am helping push through boundaries that women are facing by getting my hands dirty and working hard and showing other women they can do this, too!”

Aurora loves the challenges she’s found in winemaking.

“Mother Nature calls the shots in farming, and as a winemaker I choose to bend to her will and let the vintage direct what happens with the wine,” she said. “We never know what any year may bring and

COURTESY CAROLYN WELLS­KRAMER CWK PHOTOGRAPHY

Aurora Coria: Winemaker for Coria Estates in Salem, Ore.

what the vineyard will do, but during harvest there are so many decisions to make that help shape the wine.”

She embraces that excitement and challenge of crucial and timesensitive decision-making.

“It’s a passion and love affair that keeps on growing.”

GABRIELA VIGNES: WINEMAKER ANNE AMIE VINEYARDS Gabriela originally studied agriculture engineering where she grew up in Santiago, Chile, where she discovered that growing fruit just for the color or size was not as interesting as growing fruit that can create a product with great diversity of flavors and aromas. She appreciated that fruit can be so different, depending on the region, climate and the people who worked to make it happen. Because each region is different, you can see a cultural aspect in the wine as well, she believes.

She studied winemaking in both Chile and France. She worked in Casablanca and Leyda in Chile, in Central Otago and Marlborough in New Zealand, in the Barossa Valley in Australia, in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley in France and in Napa Valley before bringing her experience to Oregon.

“Most of my experience is a mix of different places and cultures and winery sizes, and I am still discovering and trying to learn new things,” she said. She’s discovered that different wine regions have their own character. Exploring them makes a person more tolerant, able to see things, open-minded and more creative, she has found.

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FEATURES | latina strong

COURTESY CAROLYN WELLS­KRAMER CWK PHOTOGRAPHY

Gabriela Vignes is the winemaker at Anne Amie Vineyards in Carlton, Ore.

The multi-cultural experiences from being in different wine regions made her realize there is no single good way to do things.

“That opened my mind to feel that there

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are so many options and ways of creating in this industry,” she said. “I also like that the appreciation of the wine is related to where you live and what you drink more often; it

makes it more subjective and personal to each wine and each person.”

Her interest in cooler climate regions led her to the Willamette Valley. She liked that Oregon offers many other good things — beautiful forests, amazing hikes, tons of outdoor activities. It made her think Oregon is a great place to live and to make and enjoy good wine. She likes the connection with nature, the infinite ways of doing things and the necessity of people to create a fine product.

She says she fortunately hasn’t had many challenges because of her culture or gender.

“I’ve worked mostly with men in this industry that shows that it used to be more a male industry, but I feel like it is changing drastically these days and more women are involved. In Chile, there are still difficulties; they would prefer a man over a woman in most situations, but I am hoping this is changing.”

TAMARA BELGARD is a freelance writer based in Portland, Ore. She is a regular contributor to www.satiatepdx.com and several northwest publications.

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FEATURE | spoiled dog winery

DAN RADIL

From left, Karen, Jake and Lindsay Krug have plenty of Platinum medals to their credit.

PINOT NOIR FANATIC AIMS FOR ‘FRENCH APPROACH’ TO WINEMAKING

By Dan Radil

S

trike up a conversation with Karen Krug, founder, owner and winemaker at Spoiled Dog Winery in Langley, Wash., and the topic will almost certainly turn to Pinot Noir. She might even be considered a bit of a Pinot fanatic, growing it at her estate vineyard, sourcing it

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from a trio of up-and-coming Whidbey Island vineyards and even tapping into a small amount from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Krug represents a tiny, yet steadily increasing number of Western Washington winemakers whose primary focus is producing high-quality Pinot Noir from the state’s cooler Puget Sound American Viticultural Area. But her passion for the notoriously

difficult-to-grow grape extends to other, warm-weather varietals as well, and she has eight Wine Press Northwest Platinum medals to prove it.

LOCATION AND LEARNING Karen and her husband Jack came to the Pacific Northwest from Colorado with the specific purpose of looking for property on

FEATURE | spoiled dog winery

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Morning light bathes Spoiled Dog Winery, which practices sustainable viticulture to grow Pinot Noir on Washington’s Whidbey Island.

which to start a winery. They purchased a 25-acre parcel on the southern end of Whidbey Island, which now includes their residence, family farm, vineyards, production facility and tasting room.

Finding the perfect vineyard location was the driving force in choosing their property.

In addition to meeting the soil-testing requirements for wine grapes, Karen noted the area’s microclimate was also a key factor.

“One of the interesting things on the island is that the closer you are to the ocean (Puget Sound), it’s a very different climate than here, where we’re more inland. Four miles from here near Langley, fog is an issue, even during the summer — and fog brings powdery mildew. We’re lucky; we get eastern sun right at the beginning of the day, all day without the fog.”

The vineyards also benefit from a bit of the rain shadow effect of the Olympic Mountains to the west. Karen estimates her site receives only about 15 inches of rain per year, less than half that of Seattle about 40 miles to the south.

She planted Pinot Noir in 2003 and released her first wines in 2007. That four-year period gave her time to hone her winemaking skills by taking classes and working with University of California-Davis-trained winemakers in the area.

Today’s estate vineyard consists of about 2 acres of seven Pinot Noir clones, which Karen notes are grown in an eco-friendly environment using sustainable and organic practices.

She aims for a self-described “French approach” to her winemaking and leans toward earlier grape picking at lower Brix levels, resulting in more balanced wines.

AT ITS CORE: A FAMILY OPERATION The Krugs’s son Jake, and his wife, Lindsay, moved from Denver in October 2015 to join the Spoiled Dog team and take on the duties of co-owners, employees and whatever else the winery requires of them.

“I would say we wear a lot of different hats,” said Jake, who worked in landscape design and architecture. “What I enjoy the most is the winemaking portion of it. But

being a small, family business, we personally maintain the whole vineyard start to finish.”

And in the tasting room, “I am definitely the barback,” he says with a grin. “And he even washes the dishes occasionally,” Karen laughs.

Lindsay, who was a law enforcement crisis responder while in Colorado says that her change in work environments has been amazing.

“I was so used to high-stress, high-drama situations, and when I came here everyone was so happy,” she said with a smile. Her primary responsibilities include managing the tasting room and wine club, and overseeing the winery’s marketing program, including online and social media outlets.

GETTING THERE, THEN WINDING DOWN Located a short 10- to 15-minute drive north of the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry landing just west of Everett, Spoiled Dog Winery is tucked away among the evergreen trees in a lush, bucolic setting.

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FEATURE | spoiled dog winery says Jake. “We’re not that visual winery you see off the main road. They come down the road and over the hill and see this hidden gem. We get a lot of people who come and taste and spend two or three hours, relaxing and enjoying (themselves).”

Noting the calming, “leave-your-laptopbehind” energy that seems to resonate from the area, Karen added. “You really dial down when you come here.”

She also pointed out a number of other activities for those considering a visit: water sports, trails and hiking, nearby off-leash beaches for dog owners and plenty of adult beverage-producing options.

“We have seven wineries, four breweries, three distilleries and a meadery on the south end of the island,” she says.

Spoiled Dog also launched its own small cider company, the island’s first, in 2017.

“And the dining here is incredible,” said Lindsay, with a special nod to several local restaurants that serve Penn Cove mussels, the signature shellfish of Whidbey Island.

OTHER VINEYARDS, OTHER VARIETALS Spoiled Dog’s current releases include plenty of other options for wine lovers, including a white blend of Puget Sound Siegerrebe and Yakima Valley Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Gris; and red wine choices such as Dolcetto, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, a Wine Press Northwest Platinum winner last year.

The Krugs’ Eastern Washington vineyard sources include Conner Lee, Klipsun and den Hoed, to name a few, with the majority of their grapes coming from Crawford Vineyard near Prosser, which they’ve worked with for the past 10 years.

Even with all these options, Pinot Noir is still first and foremost on the wine list. Karen notes that they’ve recently expanded production to include Pinot grown at three familyowned vineyards on Whidbey: Hezel, Kang and Le Champ Cru, and they also source the grape from Momtazi Vineyard in McMinnville, Ore. “People are surprised we have four different Pinots that we make,” Lindsay said. “And we started to do a Pinot flight based on demand just because everyone was requesting it.”

Not surprisingly, it’s turned out to be the winery’s best-selling flight, and it sometimes includes their stunning, estate-sourced rosé, another Platinum award-winner.

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BROADENING THE HORIZONS While Karen is content to maintain Spoiled Dog’s production at approximately 1,500 cases annually (nearly all of which is sold at the winery), her continuing journey into winemaking is hardly static.

She’s one of only 50 Pinot Noir winemakers from around the world who has been invited to the Steamboat Inn in Oregon for the past several years.

Karen says the invitational builds collaboration between Pinot Noir winemakers by blind tasting each other’s unfinished wines.

“The result is raising the bar and continually improving how Pinot Noir is made.”

Asked about her devotion to the finicky grape, she says that she loves working with it because it’s so challenging. And her eyes light up when she talks about the wine’s versatility.

“It’s absolutely magic with food — salmon, lamb, pork, beef. It always wins out.”

Wine enthusiasts take note: If you love Pinot Noir, Spoiled Dog Winery is your kind of place.

And for those with a neutral stance or perhaps even a mild aversion to the polarizing

SPOILED DOG WINERY 5881 Maxwelton Road Langley, Wash. 98260 Hours: Open year-round but hours vary seasonally Call the winery or check the website for details.

(360) 661-6226 SpoiledDogWinery.com

grape, be forewarned: The Krug family is out to convert you. Their mission is to make you a Pinot Noir drinker, and one taste of their award-winning wines might be all it takes.

DAN RADIL is a freelance wine writer based in Bellingham, Wash. He produces a wine blog, danthewineguy.com, and is president of the Bellingham Northwest Wine Festival competition.

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2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR | king estate winery

King Estate co-founder and CEO Ed King at the vineyard.

ANDY NELSON

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2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR | king estate winery

KING ESTATE WINERY

By Eric Degerman EUGENE, ORE. t’s been 30 years since Ed King filed the paperwork with Oregon’s Secretary of State to launch King Estate Winery.

And from the start, the King family has been one of the Oregon wine industry’s leaders in responsible, thoughtful and innovative ways, creating the template for a wine-touring destination in the Pacific Northwest that has not been matched.

More importantly for consumers and critics, King Estate is producing some of the best wines in its storied history as winemaker Brent Stone and his team are using Biodynamic and sustainable methods to win gold medals, best-of-class awards and Platinums.

The wines might be best enjoyed at the acclaimed on-premise restaurant that overlooks the organically farmed vineyard and features a wide variety of farm-to-table in-

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gredients from its greenhouse, orchard, bakery and cured meat house.

As a result of such accomplishments, King Estate is Wine Press Northwest magazine’s 2021 Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year.

“I am very biased, but there are only a handful of jobs out there that can check all of the boxes like this one does,” says Stone, who enjoys the 30-minute drive from Eugene that winery visitors view as a trip to the country.

“And it’s a very pretty commute. There are no traffic lights, and the deer and the turkeys are the biggest hazards.”

Last fall, the iconic winery earned Platinum awards in Wine Press Northwest’s “Best

of the Best” judging for its 2016 Pfeiffer Vineyard Designate Pinot Noir, 2018 Sauvignon Blanc, 2018 Pinot Gris and 2019 Rosé of Pinot Noir. Each wine earned its way into the judging by having earned a gold medal or better at one of leading wine competitions around the world during the previous 12 months.

That showing came on the heels of having won three Platinums during the 2019 judging, those for the 2017 Pinot Noir, 2017 Domaine Pinot Gris and 2018 Rosé of Pinot Noir.

And this winter, Stone earned an invitation to the 2021 Platinum with an Outstanding! rating during our historic Tempranillo tasting.

STONE’S PATH TO KING ESTATE It’s a bit ironic Stone would end up in the wine industry considering his childhood included living in Golden, Colo., not far from the Coors Brewing Co. While his parents both attended the Uni-

Brent Stone served as lab manager and then director of quality assurance before being name head winemaker in 2018.

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2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR | king estate winery

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Longtime vineyard manager Meliton Martinez oversees the largest Demeter-certified Biodynamic vineyard on the continent. He also directs the daily rounds of the estate’s sheep through the rows — their compost helps maintain the rich soil. versity of Idaho, Stone earned a science degree from Utah State and a master’s in agricultural, food and life science from the University of Arkansas. That background led him to a wide variety of opportunities. He landed a sweet job with the Oregon Ice Cream Co., in Eugene. His wife, Barbara, works in the hops industry.

“I took the road less traveled, I guess, but who doesn’t love ice cream?” Stone said with a chuckle. “I was involved with product development, and there are a lot of the same type of elements of focus with ice cream as there are in wine. There’s a similar farm-to-table type production, only here the grapes are grown right in front of you.”

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manage the lab for winemaker Jeff Kandarian, who is now at John Anthony Family of Wines in California’s Napa Valley. Along the way, Stone became the director of quality assurance.

Washington State University’s enology program helped prepare him for large-scale wine production. In 2018, Stone took on the role of chief operating officer and head winemaker.

“I had aspirations of working in the wine industry for a lot of years, and King Estate is certainly an attractive company,” Stone says.

“We’re given a lot of latitude and freedom to make the wine here, and I’ve never once struggled for a tool or a resource to make the best wine we possibly can. I absolutely give

Ed and the family credit for that.

“We’re a big team, and beyond me is a great group of talented winemakers who work here,” Stone added. “I’m just one of them, and I will gladly be here another 10 years if they will have me.”

Plant pathologist Raymond Nuclo began working at King Estate in 2011 — the same year Stone arrived — and now serves as the director of viticulture. King Estate’s network of vineyard partners is scattered throughout the Willamette Valley, which explains why Nuclo spends a considerable portion of his time beyond the estate.

“His territory is from the California border up to Walla Walla and then some,” Stone says. “We work with about 50 growers and

2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR | king estate winery

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Raymond Nuclo, director of viticulture, manages King Estate’s network of vineyard partners in Oregon and Washington.

25-plus varieties, which is why some years we’ll make 60 wines. We’ll do a 100 cases of Cabernet from Red Mountain and a Pinot Blanc from the Illinois Valley. And we pay as much attention to each lot of $20 Willamette Valley-sourced wine as we do the $60 vineyard-designation wine.

“I’m fortunate to get to experience so many different aspects of the wine industry, and to have such an exciting lineup that includes estate fruit and Biodynamic wines is a great tool to recruit winemakers here to come work for us,” he adds.

And then there’s Meliton Martinez, who marked the 1993 vintage as his first year at King Estate. He’s been the vineyard manager since 1999.

“He deserves a ton of the credit,” Stone says. “He knows every detail about each block, each clone and the condition of those vines. And he’s just an absolute gentleman.

I’m such a huge fan of his.”

In 2016, King Estate became home to the largest Demeter-certified Biodynamic vineyard on the continent, which means there are no herbicides, synthetic fertilizers or pesticides on the property. Instead, Nuclo, Martinez and their crew spread more than 1,000 tons of compost across the 460 acres of vines.

A whopping 300 acres are dedicated to Pinot Gris.

“I would say that about 25% of our wines carry the Biodynamic label,” Stone said. “Our biggest production Biodynamic wine would

be the Domaine Pinot Gris, but estate fruit still makes up the lion’s share of our King Estate Pinot Gris.”

King Estate continues to make history for its work with Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. Now, consumers need to pay attention to its Sauvignon Blanc program. Stone’s team — led by Andrew Belzer, Matt Danner and Barrett Rosteck — involved both stainless-steel and concrete fermentations, which made for a bright, yet rich, Sauvignon Blanc that earned gold medals across the country with a bottling that highlighted Croft Vineyard in Salem and went beyond club-only production for the first time.

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2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR | king estate winery

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.

Past Pacific Northwest Wineries of the Year 2020: Clearwater Canyon Cellars, Lewiston, Idaho 2019: Palencia Wine Co., Kennewick 2018: Long Shadows Vintners, Walla Walla 2017: Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards, Roseburg, Ore. 2016: Walla Walla Vintners, Walla Walla, Wash.

2015: Maryhill Winery, Goldendale, Wash.

2014: Stoller Family Estate, Dayton, Ore. 2013: Chateau Ste. Michelle, Woodinville, Wash.

2012: Thurston Wolfe Winery, Prosser, Wash.

2011: Zerba Cellars, Milton-Freewater, Ore. 2010: Vin du Lac, Chelan, Wash.

2009: Wild Goose Vineyards, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia 2008: Dunham Cellars, Walla Walla, Wash.

2007: Elk Cove Vineyards, Gaston, Ore. 2006: Barnard Griffin, Richland, Wash.

2005: Ken Wright Cellars, Carlton, Ore. 2004: L’Ecole No. 41, Lowden, Wash.

2003: Sumac Ridge Estate Winery, Summerland, British Columbia 2002: Columbia Crest, Paterson, Wash.

How the regional wineries of the year are chosen Regional wineries of the year are selected by Wine Press Northwest based on blind tastings, visits, accolades and other considerations. Wineries of the Year must have completed five vintages, while Wineries to Watch must have been in the business for five commercial vintages or fewer.

Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year King Estate Winery, Lorane, Ore. Washington Winery of the Year Mellisoni Vineyards, Chelan Washington Winery to Watch Valdemar Estates, Walla Walla Oregon Winery of the Year Cardwell Hill Cellars, Philomath Oregon Winery to Watch Awen Winecraft, Jacksonville Idaho Winery of the Year Vine 46, Lewiston Idaho Winery to Watch Veer Wine Project, Caldwell

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2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR | king estate winery

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Surrounding the winery and restaurant, beds of lavender are also part of the Biodynamic practice, diversifying the vineyard beyond wine grapes and drawing pollinating bees.

so little of it planted in the state, and we thought this could be a pretty good opportunity to help define a style for Oregon Sauvignon Blanc.”

And while there was self-applied scrutiny to put its best foot forward with Sauvignon Blanc, there’s significant internal pressure to maintain the standard for the Domaine Pinot Gris program.

“It’s also Ed’s favorite wine, so we can’t mess up,” Stone chuckled.

FROM KING RADIO TO KINGS OF PINOT The natural beauty throughout the Willamette Valley proved to be irresistible to King, who decided to transition from practicing law in Alaska and focus on becoming an entrepreneur. His father, Ed Jr., turned King Radio in

Kansas City, Mo., into a global titan in aircraft electronics.

Inspired by a business degree from the University of Oregon and looking to do more than own a couple of small vineyards, the son soon agreed with his father’s vision to do something more ambitious.

“I was involved in other businesses and projects at the time, and I didn’t realize where we would want to go in terms of scale,” King said. “In other words, I thought (Ed Jr.) was thinking about a modest project, but after we talked about it, we realized we wanted to be part of a national presence for Oregon wine.

We were very interested in being a national brand, and that meant being bigger than the neighborhood winery.”

The King family now are stewards of the

1,033 acres that surround the winery, visitors center and restaurant, the latter of which opened in 2006. Vineyards only make up about half of the estate, which includes 40 acres of native oak woodlands and 150 acres of marshes, riparian habitat and wet prairie.

“It’s important to our family that King Estate Winery lives its philosophy of respecting our land,” King says.

Visitors to the property can easily spot the series of raptor boxes that have been placed throughout the estate since 2009 as a joint project with the Cascades Raptor Center.

That collaboration includes a release program for rehabilitated birds of prey. They help control pests in the vineyard.

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2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR | king estate winery

King Estate vineyard covers 460 acres of vines with 300 acres dedicated to Pinot Gris.

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2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR | king estate winery

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Coming out of winter, a vineyard crew prunes and prepares the vines for the growing season.

of a program that installed 4,100 panels across 4 acres, generating enough electricity to power 100 homes.

The family’s care of the land, their wholesome approach to farming and the natural beauty of the property have made it a special place for various members of the King family to gather and spend a portion of their lives on the estate.

And they share it with nearly 200 species of flora and fauna. Kincaid’s lupine is among the handful of species on King Estate that are listed as endangered species by the federal government.

All of those natural features come together to provide a stage for a level of agri-tourism that is unmatched in the Pacific Northwest, a showcase of the natural bounty for the state’s wine industry.

“Oregon’s cool climate and cool sites offer possibilities matched by only a few places on earth,” King says, adding, “Although as we all note, climate change seems to be happening so fast that many of our assumptions are under pressure.”

Stone points out that one of the best barometers King Estate has for its Pinot Noir program can be found at Pfeiffer Vineyard.

“It’s the single oldest partner of King Estate Winery, and Robin Pfeiffer and Ed King’s relationship dates back to the beginning 30 years ago,” Stone said. “In fact, the first vintage of King Estate was entirely Pfeiffer fruit, and we still have a great personal relationship with them. It’s almost an extension of the estate, we know it so well. And Robin still delivers the fruit to us here a lot of the days.”

EXTENDING THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY APPELLATION On a number of occasions, efforts by King Estate have benefited those beyond Territorial Road. Among those was its support of the petition to the U.S. government for the Willamette Valley American Viticultural Area to be expanded south.

That work, which King Estate began in 2013, was approved in early 2016. It allowed King Estate to list its 100% estate bottlings with “Willamette Valley” as the AVA, rather than simply “Oregon.”

Among the most successful stories at King Estate was the Acrobat brand, which the King family launched in 2008 and subsequently sold in 2018 to West Coast giant Foley Family Wines.

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2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR | king estate winery

KING ESTATE WINERY 80854 Territorial Highway Eugene, OR 97405 (541) 685-5189 Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day KingEstate.com

wines during the Great Recession, demand prompted Acrobat’s production to top 150,000 cases, approaching that of King Estate.

“Selling Acrobat was great for the company, but I was sad to see it go,” Stone said. “As a winemaker, you get attached to brands and products, but it had grown beyond what it was ever intended to be.”

And yet the King family continues to take a regional approach to its program. Its North

By Northwest brand showcases its interest in Washington state, featuring fruit from the Walla Walla Valley and Horse Heaven Hills.

And Stone’s young Tempranillo program relies on Sonrisa Vineyard, an emerging site in the Yakima Valley’s Rattlesnake Hills. At one point, Ed King considered building a winery and tasting room north of the Columbia River.

“We preferred having the wines at the home winery on many occasions because we were just simply able to do a better job that way,” King said, “And the distances — sending staff across Oregon and Washington — just absorbed time and energy in an inefficient way. We still believe in the future of Washington wines, very much so.”

There could be additional exploration with two white varieties, Albariño and the Austrian star Grüner Veltliner.

“I have been a fan of Grüner since I first tried it at Chris Israel’s restaurant in Portland — Grüner,” King said.

Last year, King Estate also got behind legislation in Oregon that permits a winery to operate as many as five tasting rooms. Until the bill became law, the limit was three.

Domaine Serene seems poised to be the first to benefit from the legislation when it is scheduled to open a satellite tasting room in Bend, giving Grace Evenstad a fourth retail presence in Oregon.

“The tasting room/lounge/shop model is one that I am very interested in,” King notes.

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A tractor works the land at King Estate Winery.

“I value this idea for Eugene, Bend, Portland and perhaps Lake Oswego or West Linn.”

Meanwhile, bottles of award-winning King Estate wines are available in all 50 states.

That allows the Kings to serve as ambassadors for the rest of Oregon — particularly with fish-friendly Pinot Gris. It’s been a poignant project on many levels for King Estate and a

2021 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINERY OF THE YEAR delicious homage to the late David “Papa Pinot” Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards, who paved the way in the Willamette Valley for both Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.

“We had a friendly, collegial relationship,” King says. “He gave me an inscribed bottle of his 1994 Eyrie Pinot Noir that I still have. A true pioneer of Oregon wine, one of the joyful originals.”

Many of Oregon’s most famous wineries benefit from the involvement of multiple generations, and while family is more involved than ever at King Estate Winery, alas, Ed Jr., died in 2012.

“My wife Jodee handles a great deal of our direct business, including the wine club,” King said. “My son Justin is national sales manager and has really done a strong job.

And son Taylor handles our graphics and design work — and has had a hand in many package designs and marketing deliverables.”

Stone says that family touch is appreciated inside the cellar and beyond.

“Ed is very hands-on with the company, but not the winemaking,” he says. “Ed knows everyone’s name when he walks through the winery, and even though this is a nationally

distributed winery with a big footprint, there’s still this small-family winery feel around here.”

The only time there might be any conflict is when college rivalries get stirred up between Oregon State and Oregon. Stone is happy to stay on the sidelines.

“I’d say the winemaking side is very heavily Beaver Nation, while Ed and the marketing folks and the financial folks are Duck alumni, so there’s a great representation of both schools,” Stone said.

When King looks back on the concept that he and his late father dreamed for this remarkable winery along Territorial Road more than 30 years ago, it now seems to be more sustainable than ever as King Estate prepares to once again welcome visitors for dining and indoor tasting in the wake of the pandemic.

“There has been plenty of change and now outright disruption,” King said, “but it is a resilient business — thanks to the industry and thanks to our customers.”

ERIC DEGERMAN operates Great Northwest Wine, an award-winning media company.

Learn more about wine at GreatNorthwestWine.com.

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2021 IDAHO WINERY OF THE YEAR | vine 46 winery

VINE 46 WINERY

By Eric Degerman LEWISTON, IDAHO daho’s side of the historic Lewis-Clark Valley has been making headlines for its winemaking and earning gold medals, so perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise when tiny Vine 46 emerged from the 2020 Cascadia International Wine Competition with a double gold medal and best of class for the big Spanish red Tempranillo.

In early October came another international competition — the Great Northwest Invitational — where Jeff Ebel and Mike Yates commanded the attention of judges, not just once or twice, but three times. There was a double gold and best of class for its 2016 Latitude Red Wine, a best of class for its 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon and another best-of-class for that 2017 Tempranillo.

At the end of the month, that Tempranillo grown on Washington’s Wahluke Slope turned into Vine 46’s first career Platinum, and the string of success prompted Wine Press Northwest to select Vine 46 as its 2021 Idaho Winery of the Year.

“We’ve made Tempranillo before, but we’ve always used it as a blender and didn’t think it was worth a standalone bottling of Tempranillo,” Yates said. “The thing about it is that it doesn’t have much acidity to it, which makes it a great blender and use for some barrel topping.

“But we thought that this would be the year when we’d make it stand alone,” Yates added. “It really took to the barrels of American oak with medium toast. We added a bit of tartaric acid, and that really brought it to life.”

Growers and winemakers appreciate the early-ripening nature of Tempranillo, and in 2017, those grapes came off Rosebud Vineyard on Sept. 15. And while some might worry about losing the contract for award-winning grapes, Ebel is not concerned when it comes

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RICHARD DUVAL

Owners and winemakers Mike Yates and Jeff Ebel, winners of several best of class awards in 2020, toast their soon-to-open new winery and tasting room in downtown Lewiston, Idaho.

2021 IDAHO WINERY OF THE YEAR | vine 46 winery to Rosebud.

“We’re really fortunate that my son-inlaw’s aunt and uncle own the vineyard and treat us like royalty,” he said. “Roy’s dad started it; Roy has run it for years, and now his son Chip (Dobson) is in charge.”

Rosebud is a historic yet overlooked 400acre site established in 1979 on the Wahluke Slope by Don and Norma Toci. It’s near acclaimed Weinbau Vineyard in the northeast corner of the slope, which ranks as one of — if not the — hottest growing regions in the state.

Norma’s son Roy Dobson and wife Sharon took over in 1986.

And with 21 varieties planted at Rosebud, there would seem to be possibilities for growth and more exploration for Vine 46, which has come to view it as a breadbasket for much of its program. That special Cabernet Sauvignon came from some of the Dobson family’s first plantings. It also served as the base for the 2016 Latitude Red, followed primarily by Syrah, Malbec and Petit Verdot. And all of their fruit is hand-harvested.

“We buy two tons of Tempranillo every year, but they’ve never questioned the amount we need,” Ebel said.

With Vine 46 winning the Idaho Winery of the Year, it means Lewis-Clark Valley producers have received three of Wine Press Northwest’s top regional awards in the past two years. Clearwater Canyon Cellars in Lewiston, led by Karl and Coco Umiker, saw their reign end as the Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year with this issue.

“They are great people and very helpful,” Ebel says. “It seems like my wife talks to Coco about once a month with questions about TTB paperwork.”

Vine 46 picks up the baton from Colter’s Creek — a few miles upstream from Lewiston near the Clearwater River — as the Idaho Winery of the Year.

And with the Lewis-Clark Valley somewhat in an eye of the hurricane when it comes to the pandemic, tourism is down and the economy is off, which means Vine 46 hasn’t been able to capitalize on the buzz earned from the gold medals won in 2020.

There is palpable excitement, however, as Vine 46 moves into a former Chevrolet dealership garage across the street from its current tasting room in downtown Lewiston’s Newberry Square between Pioneer Park and the Clearwater.

“It was built in 1956, we purchased it in 2014 and have been chipping away at it ever

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The team of Jeff and Barb Ebel and Mike and Coda Yates manage all facets of the small winery.

VINE 46 WINERY 818 F St., Lewiston, Idaho 83501 (208) 790-8556 vine46.com

since,” Ebel said. The down time created by the pandemic “has given us more time to work on the building, which has been a good thing. Lucky for us, sales have been good enough to keep the lights on.”

The bond between Ebel and Yates began when they were school chums who grew up a block away from each other and graduated from Lewiston High in 1979.

Yates has spent three decades working for the local Coca-Cola distributor, while Ebel has been in his family’s remodeling contractor business. Ebel and Yates began as home brewers, but stepped away from that while raising their families.

Then in the late 1990s, Yates and a friend started making wine with grapes from the Yakima Valley, while Ebel found local grapes — and Rosebud fruit — to work with.

In 2014, they went commercial with 450 cases and three partners, whom they bought out a few years ago, leaving Mike and his wife

Coda, and Jeff and his wife, Barb.

It was Barb who cried when she learned they had been chosen as the Idaho Winery of the Year.

“We have day jobs, so we’re only able to work on this on nights and weekends, that’s why it’s taken us a lot of time to get things going,” Ebel said. “The new building will be a game changer for us.”

Among the wines served will be a Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, rosé of Syrah, 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon and a handful of big reds from the 2018 vintage, including a Petit Verdot, Mourvèdre, Malbec and — of course — Tempranillo.

“We’re super excited about the 2017 Cab,” Ebel said.

And in October, Vine 46 has a chance to make some more history with that 2017 Tempranillo. It received the equivalent of a gold medal in Wine Press Northwest’s February tasting of Tempranillos from Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

If they chose to enter, that same 2017 Tempranillo could wear a Platinum medal for a second straight year, making it one of the Northwest’s best wines of the past few years.

ERIC DEGERMAN operates Great Northwest Wine, an award-winning media company.

Learn more about wine at GreatNorthwestWine.com.

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2021 IDAHO WINERY TO WATCH | veer wine project

RICHARD DUVAL

Owner winemaker Will Wetmore and his Veer Wine Project has worked with three award­winning wineries with connections to the University of Idaho incubator including Hat Ranch Winery, where he is the assistant winemaker.

VEER WINE PROJECT

By Eric Degerman CALDWELL, IDAHO he University of Idaho’s Agribusiness Incubator on Chicago Street in Caldwell has provided the critical spark for a number of the Snake River Valley’s award-winning winemakers.

This year, Will Wetmore and his Veer Wine Project join that list as Wine Press Northwest’s Idaho Winery to Watch.

“Veer has been really small up to this point, but this is the year when I move into one of the open bays,” Wetmore said. “It’s going to be more than just a project.”

Veer Wine Project is the sixth brand with ties to the UI incubator to have earned either the Winery to Watch or Winery of the Year

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award. Wetmore, 34, has worked with three of them, most importantly Hat Ranch Winery, where he is the assistant winemaker for Tim and Dr. Helen Harless.

“They are so great to me,” Wetmore said.

“I ask Tim a lot of life questions, and we’re together almost 30 hours a week.”

Wetmore’s second vintage under his own label earned a gold medal at the 2020 Idaho Wine Competition for the Veer Wine Project

2017 Avignon Red Wine, a GSM blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre from Red Heaven Vineyard on Washington’s famous Red Mountain. With a production of 98 cases, that bottling ranks as Wetmore’s largest release to date.

Veer Wine Project also received praise from critics for his 2016 Le Compére Red Wine, a two-barrel blend driven by Syrah and Mourvèdre, two other reds from Red Mountain and a 2018 Gewürztraminer.

The story surrounding his Gewürz helps explain Wetmore’s approach to making delicious wines that are executed in distinctly different ways. Some of his inspiration stems from working the 2018-2019 harvest in New Zealand for Dom Maxwell at Greystone Winery, renowned internationally for taking innovative angles to fermentation.

2021 IDAHO WINERY TO WATCH | veer wine project

VEER WINE PROJECT 1904 E. Chicago St., Caldwell, Idaho 83605 veerwineproject.com

“He’s really into skin-fermented white wines and will ferment Pinot Noir in bins in the middle of the vineyard they were picked in,” Wetmore said. “So I’ve done 30-day ferments on the skins with Gewürztraminer.

I’ve barrel-fermented rosé from Sangiovese where some of the barrels were wild ferments and some were with commercial yeast. Last year, I did a whole-cluster, wild fermentation of Malbec for a month on the skins out there in the vineyard. I’ve done whole-berry cluster Merlot, which added some spice and interesting flavors and tannins.

“Ever since my trip to New Zealand, I’ve been more interested in trying different things, and the name of my brand is Veer Wine Project,” he added. “The name is literally a reminder for me. It’s just a project, and you can change it.”

There’s no doubting Wetmore’s work ethic. When he began working at Hat Ranch in 2014, he was already bartending and helping in the cellar at Cloud 9 Brewery in Boise — which claims to be the state’s first and only certified-organic brewery.

“I was five days a week at Hat Ranch and five days at the brewery in the evenings, so I was working 40 to 80 hours a week,” Wetmore said.

At the same time, his wife, Dr. Jaclyn Cooperrider, was in her residency program for family medicine followed by a fellowship in sports medicine in Boise. She grew up in nearby Garden City, starred on the soccer pitch and played two years at the University of Redlands near Los Angeles, where she graduated with honors in biology ahead of medical school at the University of Washington.

Coincidentally, Wetmore was also a student-athlete, starting for the University of San Francisco baseball team until a torn rotator cuff and labrum led to time off and transferring to Redlands, where he played for four years.

“Sports had been my whole life up to that point,” Wetmore said wistfully, “so I thought that I should study what I liked. I always liked science.”

He met Jaclyn in an organic chemistry class.

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Veer Wine Project’s roster of acclaimed wines includes the Avignon Red Wine — a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre — and his 2018 Gewürztraminer.

“I’m kind of the opposite of her,” Wetmore said with a chuckle. “I’m slow, and I don’t always have the best plan to get where it is I want to go. We complement each other, I should say.”

Even though the Santa Cruz native moonlighted for a time as a brewmaster, it would seem that wine has been Wetmore’s destiny.

“My father was the tasting room manager for Korbel Winery and then Simi Winery until I was 8,” Wetmore said. “I have memories of running around wineries as a child, so that might have planted the seed for what I do!”

A distant relative is Charles Wetmore, viewed by some as the founder of the California wine industry. He led the state’s viticulture commission and made the white wine that won the Grand Prix at the 1889 International Paris Exposition.

Wente Winery in the Livermore Valley produces an estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Wetmore Vineyard.

This year, Will Wetmore plans to double the production of Veer to about 400 cases and open his own office space at the Agribusiness Incubator. While the industrial park doesn’t offer the ambiance of wine country, it will be a more convenient location for Wet-

more and his supporters at just half a mile north of Interstate 84.

Down the road, don’t be surprised to see Veer buy a ton or two from the Lewis-Clark Valley where his golfing buddy Lane Hewett is helping to make wine at family-owned Rivaura Estate Vineyard and Winery. They spent several years working together at Hat Ranch.

“Yeah, I want to get my hands on Rivaura fruit,” Wetmore says.

More gold medals may follow the one he earned last year at the Idaho Wine Competition, but Wetmore will never forget what the 2020 vintage brought him and Jaclyn — a baby girl who carries a unique name with a story behind it.

“Ngaire means ‘little flower’ in New Zealand,” Wetmore said. “She was created there, so we wanted to pay homage, and she was born right here in the middle of the lockdown.

I bottled my sparkling wine the day before she was born.”

ERIC DEGERMAN operates Great Northwest Wine, an award-winning media company.

Learn more about wine at GreatNorthwestWine.com.

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2021 OREGON WINERY OF THE YEAR | cardwell hill cellars

RICHARD DUVAL

Owner and winemaker Dan Chapel has racked up 12 Platinums in the past five years and each wine came off the 40-acre Chapel estate vineyard.

CARDWELL HILL CELLARS Story by Eric Degerman | Photography by Richard Duval PHILOMATH, ORE. efore news of vintner Dan Chapel’s award as Oregon Winery of the Year for 2021 was released, Cardwell Hill Cellars provided validation.

Chapel and his wife, Nancy, earned the trophy for Best Chardonnay and a double gold medal for their 2019 The Bard Chard at the McMinnville Wine Classic, a Willamette Valley competition judged by a panel of wine buyers, sommeliers and journalists recruited from across the country.

That wasn’t all. There was also a double gold — a unanimous vote for gold — placed on

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the Cardwell Hill 2016 Pommard Block Pinot Noir, as well as gold medals for the 2016 Reserve Pinot Noir and 2016 Monet Block Pinot Noir.

Such a showing came as no surprise considering Chapel earned a trio of Platinum awards last fall at the 21st annual Platinum Judging for Wine Press Northwest. It boosted his career total of Platinums to 12, with nine of those coming in the past five years. And each came off the Chapel estate, helping to elevate the status of the fledgling Heart of the

Willamette Wineries Association — a largely overlooked pocket of underrated producers along the foothills of the Coastal Range west of Salem, Corvallis and Junction City.

“I have dual degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry from the University of Michigan, so some of the winemaking came naturally to me, but I never really worked with a food product before,” he said. “And this was the first time that I’d ever farmed.”

Dan spent 42 years as a petrochemical engineer for Fluor Corp., based in Southern California, and he remembers exactly where he was when Nancy prompted him to pursue his interest in growing and producing Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.

Although they found the future home of Cardwell Hill in 1998, Dan had just earned

2021 OREGON WINERY OF THE YEAR | cardwell hill cellars his promotion to become Fluor’s senior vice president of technology.

“Then in 1999, we went hiking in five areas of Switzerland and the Swiss vineyards were farmed in such a beautiful way,” Dan recalls. “We kept seeing them, and I asked Nancy, ‘How about if we go back and look at that property near Corvallis?’ ” That 20-acre parcel, known as Monet Vineyard, had been abandoned for about a decade. Ironically, those vines, established in 1984, included the Swiss clone of Pinot Noir known as Wädenswil. Their plantings also feature Pommard and Dijon clones 115 and 777.

Pinot Gris and Chardonnay play minor but obviously not insignificant roles, and the Chapels’ investment near the town of Philomath in the shadow of Marys Peak — at 4,097 feet the highest in the Coastal Range — seems to have been a prescient one.

“We’re only about 40 miles from the ocean, and ours is a cooler site, which I think helps us a great deal to develop Burgundytype wines,” Dan says.

These are not tiny lots the Chapels dote on. Rather, their award-winners emerge from programs that range from 10 to 15 barrels in size. And Cardwell Hill’s size might come as a surprise because Dan and Nancy produce on average about 7,000 cases per year. That’s more than several of Wine Press Northwest’s recent Oregon Winery to the Year recipients.

“We’ve got 40 acres planted now, and I feel very lucky to have this,” he said. “I love this land, and Nancy and I are happy to be here.”

They’ve also used their brand to honor the legacy of Byron Cardwell, an early settler in the region, whom President Abraham Lincoln appointed to serve as a tax collector.

Winemaking consultants early on included Jim Kakacek, formerly of Van Duzer Vineyards near Salem, and the Chapels also count viticulturist Dai Crisp of Lumos Wine Co., as both neighbor and friend.

There also have been investments in the vineyard and personnel.

“My right-hand man, David Ramirez, has been with us since 2001, and we have a permanent crew,” Chapel said. “They get benefits and work year-round. I’m not a hire-andfire guy. I like to have consistent employees.”

There’s little doubt that Chapel ranks among the most educated winemakers in the Pacific Northwest. He also received a business certificate from UCLA and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the

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Dan and Nancy Chapel produce on average about 7,000 cases per year including award-winning Pinot Noir.

University of Southern California.

Had it not been for the pandemic, last year the University of Michigan would have held the 60th class reunion for Dan and his fellow Go Blue graduates.

“Several times Cardwell wine has been featured at the Engineering School Homecoming alumni banquet,” he said.

The Chapels still reside part-time in Orange County, where they actively market their wines, which remained nicely priced even after earning a spot on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list in 2006.

“I like repeat customers,” he said. “I’m not trying to make a killing. I’m just trying to get a fair price for my wines.”

Beyond the life of vignerons, Dan and Nancy are avid readers who enjoy revisiting their stamp collection. They acquired many of them first-hand.

“We like to travel,” he said. “We’ve been in about 96 countries, and a lot of that travel was on business.”

In the Willamette Valley, the Chapels particularly admire the sparkling wines of Argyle and the Pinot Noir from Beaux Frères.

In fact, Cardwell Hill uses barrels purchased from the cellar of those famous broth-

CARDWELL HILL CELLARS 24241 Cardwell Hill Drive, Philomath, OR 97370 (541) 929-9463 cardwellhillwine.com

ers-in-law — winemaker Michael Etzel and acclaimed critic Robert Parker.

“Nancy said that I needed an active retirement,” Dan says. “Well, here I am. We’ve poured our blood, sweat and tears into this, and it’s been a delight. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. We want to have fun and make really good wine.”

Judging by competition results, Cardwell Hill Cellars is making some of the Northwest’s best wine.

ERIC DEGERMAN operates Great Northwest Wine, an award-winning media company.

Learn more about wine at GreatNorthwestWine.com.

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2021 OREGON WINERY TO WATCH | awen winecraft

RICHARD DUVAL

Awen Winecraft now pours its wine in The McCully House in historic downtown Jacksonville.

AWEN WINECRAFT

By Eric Degerman JACKSONVILLE, ORE. om Homewood and Sean Hopkins already were making music and award-winning wine together when this winter they found a home for Awen Winecraft at The McCully House in historic Jacksonville.

The move provides these guitarists with a stage they’ve never had, pandemic notwithstanding, yet that hasn’t stopped their wines from going gold and Platinum, earning them some buzz as Wine Press Northwest magazine’s 2021 Oregon Winery to Watch.

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“It’s so much fun to be able to share our passions with people,” Homewood said.

“We’ll pick up our guitars and play music for people who enjoy our wine and want to learn about what we’re doing. And we’ll go anywhere from Portland to Ashland. For example, I can’t tell you how many times we’ve taken our guitars and our wines and gone into

retirement homes. People really seem to enjoy what we do, and it’s always fun. We’ve missed doing that.”

The personal preferences of the two hightech workers with clients around the world could be seen as a bit divergent. Homewood’s tastes tilt toward big Zins from California, the classic rock of Rush and funk metal from Primus. Hopkins is more into bluegrass, the blues and the wines of Provence, yet their intuition and talent as winemakers has allowed them to steadily grow from 500 cases in 2016 to 1,500 cases last year.

Their entries into the Oregon Wine Competition have left a remarkable impression on

2021 OREGON WINERY TO WATCH | awen winecraft

AWEN WINECRAFT 240 E. California St., Jacksonville, Ore. 97530 (541) 702 2164 awenwinecraft.com

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Longtime friends Sean Hopkins and Tom Homewood moved from the Bay Area to Southern Oregon to make wine in the famed Rogue Valley.

the Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers from across the U.S. who judge that event. In 2018, the Awen Winecraft 2017 was voted as the Best White. Their Grenache Blanc program has been celebrated at each of the past two competitions.

Last year, the 2018 Grenache Blanc went on to win Best White at the 2020 Sip McMinnville judging. That wine and the Awen Winecraft 2018 Albariño earned Platinum awards from Wine Press Northwest.

“I don’t mind winning medals, and it does make me proud as a winemaker,” Hopkins said.

For their brand, they arrived upon the Celtic symbol “awen,” which is pronounced “ahhh oooo whennn” — just as the druids would have chanted. In a roundabout way, it serves as another tie-in with the synergy between Homewood and Hopkins.

“Awen is the divine spark of creativity, flowing spirit and symbol of all creatives, poets and musicians,” Hopkins says. “The ‘W’ reflects three bottles of wine pouring into three wine glasses.”

It began in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 2006 with Hopkins, his brother-in-law, and six barrels of wine.

Homewood, who worked with Hopkins at various start-ups in the Silicon Valley, hopped on in 2007. Four years later, Hopkins moved to Southern Oregon.

“I came up in 2009 and again in 2010 for a high school friend’s wedding,” Hopkins said. “I went wine tasting with my wife and fell in love with the grapes, the wines and the scenery.”

In 2016, Homewood also fled the Bay Area for Southern Oregon, so they turned their notion into action by launching Awen Winecraft.

“One of the great things about this area is that you can do pretty much any variety that we wanted to work with,” Hopkins says. “We tend to decide based on how the vintage is going.”

And it is the Barrel 42 custom-crush facility in Medford — owned and operated by Herb Quady and Brian Gruber — where the magic happens.

“Brian helped us not fall into the pitfalls when you are crossing that chasm from amateur to commercial winemaking,” Hopkins says. “It’s just been great. We couldn’t have picked a better partner.”

For Homewood, making their wine at Barrel 42 has allowed him to renew a friendship with Gruber.

“We were in the Air Force Academy at the same time, and I’d guess we were in about 20 classes together. Brian never got in trouble. I did,” Homewood says with a chuckle. “And Barrel 42 has allowed us to do the things we want to do, but I don’t think there’s another

client of theirs who has asked to crush grapes and leave them on the skins 15 hours.”

And while their original business plan didn’t include it, the Awen Winecraft empire includes managing a 1.5-acre vineyard off Camp Baker Road in Medford, giving them tiny lots of Viognier, Zinfandel, Primitivo and three clones of Syrah to play with.

On any given year, their lineup will include Dolcetto, Sangiovese, Vermentino, Bordeaux reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec, Chardonnay, Albariño and Grenache Blanc. There’s even a sparkling Grenache Blanc in the works.

“We decided to plant our flag with Grenache Blanc,” Homewood says.

During the past decade, Hopkins also developed an affinity for Albariño.

“I worked for a Spanish technology company and spent a lot of time in Spain,” Hopkins said. “I learned about the Galician wine industry, Albariño, Tempranillo and the beautiful wines of Spain.”

The growth plan for Awen Winecraft is to top out at 5,000 cases. The McCully House will boost sales, particularly when the acclaimed Britt Music & Arts Festival reopens for concerts just a few blocks up the hill.

Awen’s tasting room hours are what you might expect from a pair of wine-loving guitarists. Saturdays, for example, are “noon to 9ish,” so there’s a jam karet concept of closing time, last call or an encore.

“It’s a pretty cool location, especially in the summer and fall months when people are going to the Britt Festival,” Homewood said.

“We’re really excited about this.”

And it’s a natural fit with the brick tasting room for Quady North directly across the street. In 2012, Quady North was named our Oregon Winery to Watch, so the corner of California and Fifth now serves as an intersection of greatness in the Rogue Valley.

ERIC DEGERMAN operates Great Northwest Wine, an award-winning media company.

Learn more about wine at GreatNorthwestWine.com.

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2021 WASHINGTON WINERY OF THE YEAR | mellisoni vineyards

MELLISONI VINEYARDS

By Eric Degerman CHELAN, WASH. t’s an exchange that the cheerful Rob Mellison often hears while pouring for guests at Mellisoni Vineyards, and it goes something like this: “This is amazing! I’ve never gone to a winery where every one of your wines is really good. At your place, we like every single wine!”

Throughout the course of 2020, judges at Northwest wine competitions and Lake Chelan wine lovers were saying the same thing, and that translated to eight Platinum awards last fall at Wine Press Northwest’s 21st annual judging of gold-medal winners. That showing prompted the selection of Mellisoni Vineyards as the 2021 Washington Winery of the Year.

“I love that people love our wines, and I love that we don’t have a dog in the bunch,” says Mellison, a Seattle native who owns and operates the winery and vineyards with his wife, Donna.

Indeed, the delicious diversity among their Platinum winners was particularly impressive.

They earned unanimous Double Platinums for their 2016 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and 2017 Forte Rosso Red Wine Blend. Mellisoni’s 2017 Merlot and 2019 180 Degrees Rosé achieved Platinum, as did four white wines from the 2019 vintage — Chardonnay, Riesling, the Mellarci White Table Wine and 3 Bastards White Table Wine.

Now, whether everyone can afford to buy more than a few of those bottles at Mellisoni Vineyards is another story. The Riesling was $35, the Rosé $45 and two Double Platinum reds sold for $125. And each reference of past tense is accurate, although there are a few bottles of that Cab-Malbec blend now at $150.

“We sold out of some wines before we opened in June,” he says. “People were so supportive of us during the pandemic.”

Those who have not spent time at Mellisoni Vineyards may not understand the price structure, but so many well-heeled wine tour-

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Owners and winemakers Rob and Donna Mellison found their place in the sun along the south shore of Lake Chelan.

ists visit Lake Chelan that if the bottles were not prohibitively priced, the wines would be sold out by the end of summer.

“We’re not stuffy or pretentious,” says Donna. “If anything, we’re the opposite of pretentious.”

Much of their 2,500-case production is in small-lot bottlings for club members. They produce more than 20 wines, and varieties include Barbera, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Syrah,

Petit Verdot, Pinot Noir and two examples of Muscat.

The Italian varieties are grown at their 60 Degree Vineyard. Their Lakeside Estate 45 Degree site is loaded with aromatic whites.

Larc Hill Vineyard Ranch, owned by Seattle attorney Jennifer Dunn Cobb and planted in 2016 with the Mellisons, includes Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Malbec, Syrah and the Muscat Blanc for their Moscato program.

2021 WASHINGTON WINERY OF THE YEAR | mellisoni vineyards “We need to figure out how to grow slowly, because I’m literally out of space,” Rob said. “I’m having to suck in my belly when I walk between the barrels!”

While the Mellisons haven’t received any formal training, they are quick to credit consulting winemakers Katy Perry across the lake in Manson and Erica Orr in Woodinville for guidance starting in 2006 with their first commercial vintage for their breathtakingly steep vineyard overlooking Lake Chelan. And longtime viticulturist Ed Kelly, who manages their contracts for Stillwater Creek Vineyard on the Royal Slope, continues to consult on the Mellisons’ vineyard projects along the south shore of Lake Chelan.

“Ed has taken us to the next level,” Donna says. “He’s been in the industry for 40 years, and since coming up here from Napa, he’s been a major asset to the state of Washington.”

However, Rob also credits Donna, who grew up in California’s Orange County and graduated from Oregon State University’s pharmacy college, for helping to turn those 2019 whites into Platinum. She was able to devote more time to the winery and vineyards after retiring as a pharmacist for 20 years.

“We were able to do some really cool things in 2019, and she’s very, very analytical about testing this and trying that during the bench trials,” Rob said. “She wouldn’t stop until it was absolutely perfect.”

While they now share the winemaking responsibilities, Rob’s background as the consummate salesman remains on display in the tasting room and on the grounds that overlook the lake. He spent two successful decades as a rep for Arturo Salice, an innovative manufacturer in Italy of concealed, self-closing furniture hinges. When he resigned, his boss chided him not for his new wine project, but for how it would be spelled.

“He said, ‘In true Italian, Mellisoni would have an ‘e’ at the end rather the ‘i,’ ” Rob says. “But I told him that Americans wouldn’t know how to pronounce it!”

Mellison’s business travel introduced him to many of Europe’s finest wines and ultimately provided him and Donna with the inspiration to build their second careers around the concept of agri-tourism. He would be honored if someone would compare his Pinot Gris or Gewürztraminer to those of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace or his Riesling with Mosel producer J.J. Prüm.

“I met Rob on a dance floor in Sunriver, and that’s where this all started,” Donna says.

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Mellisoni’s 60 Degree Vineyard — a degree of slope that proves particularly formidable during harvest — is populated with Italian varietals Barbera, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese.

MELLISONI VINEYARDS 3155 US­97 ALT, Chelan, Wash. 98816 (509) 885­8466 mellisonivineyards.com

“In 2002, we took a trip to Italy and visited wineries where they created this very social, very personal and very genuine experience.

We love people and we love entertaining.

Wouldn’t it be cool to offer this agriturismo experience? That’s all we talked about flying home.”

There’s obviously something in the water at Lake Chelan as acclaim continues to pour in for wines grown within the 10-year-old American Viticultural Area and the producers around the region.

The 2020 Washington Winery of Year was Tsillan Cellars. The year before, Rocky Pond Winery was named Wine Press Northwest’s Washington Winery to Watch. In 2018, Succession Wines in Manson received the award given to wineries with five or fewer commercial vintages. And in 2010, the year that the federal government established the AVA, Vin du Lac in Chelan made the cover of Wine Press Northwest as the Pacific Northwest

Winery of the Year.

“We’ve gotten a lot of support from my neighbors and heeded everyone’s advice,” Rob says.

They’ve managed it without the stress of debt, although Donna more than paid her dues by managing the Shopko pharmacy in Chelan, living in a fifth-wheel for seven years and navigating that nail-biting driveway leading up to Rob’s bulldozing and excavating it to develop the steep vineyard site.

“I didn’t mind it for the first three years,” Donna said with a chuckle.

Rob adds, “Fortunately, I didn’t roll any boulders out onto the highway.”

That RV pad and the lawn surrounding it became the setting for their fire pits, spacious patio, ground-floor tasting room, winery cellar and home upstairs.

“I roll out of bed at 5 a.m., and by 7:30 a.m. I’m working for Mellisoni,” Donna said.

“I feel really blessed to be able to live here and be here all day long and be here with Rob to help and hang with my two cats. We envision ourselves doing this into our 70s and 80s — standing on the deck, greeting the customers below and waving them upstairs to tell them some of our stories.”

ERIC DEGERMAN operates Great Northwest Wine, an award-winning media company. Learn more about wine at GreatNorthwestWine.com.

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2021 WASHINGTON WINERY TO WATCH | valdemar estates

VALDEMAR ESTATES

By Eric Degerman WALLA WALLA sense of history is one of the wine world’s many attractions, and almost no one in the Pacific Northwest wine industry can match that of the Martínez-Bujanda family at young Valdemar Estates in the Walla Walla Valley.

For those who want to know how long the family has been producing wine in Spain’s Rioja region, they can just look at the flag of the state of Washington. The same year Washington Territory became the 42nd state in the U.S. — 1889 — is when Jesús MartínezBujanda’s great-great grandfather launched Bodegas Valdemar.

“We realized we were going to become the first internationally owned winery in Washington, which was a bit surprising for us in the beginning,” said the fifth-generation vintner.

“We are still surprised about it, to be honest, considering the amazing potential we see in Washington. I think this is going to change for sure, and Washington is going to attract future international investment soon, which will help the development of exports.”

While the family attracted attention with its plans for the Walla Walla Valley and broke ground in 2018, they earned immediate respect when they hired Marie-Eve Gilla as their winemaker. The 2021 vintage will be the Burgundy native’s 30th in Washington state, and she became Valdemar’s first U.S. employee.

“It was exhilarating but also very scary to leave my 18-year tenure at Forgeron,” Gilla said. “My children especially were very confused and concerned as they had only known me working there. It was worth the risk for sure.”

Were it not for an exchange program that led Jesús to study at the University of Washington in Seattle, there would be no Valdemar Estates near the state line. Even though he and his wife have started their family in Walla Walla, Jesús — the owner and CEO of Valde-

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The team at Valdemar boasts a truly European flair: winemaker Marie-Eve Gilla, a Burgundy native who has been making wines in Washington for 30 years, and owner/CEO Jesús Martínez-Bujanda, whose family produced its first wines in Spain in 1889. mar Estates — continues to direct Bodegas Valdemar.

“One semester plus one summer was enough to fall in love with this beautiful state,” he said.

His father and sister, Ana, are involved in their Walla Walla project, and the family owns about 700 acres in the Rioja, where Bodegas Valdemar produces about 130,000 cases. Their level of investment in the Walla Walla Valley goes beyond the remarkable winery, tasting room and restaurant.

They’ve purchased a 9-acre vineyard site in The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater that’s destined to grow not only Rhône varieties but also the white Rioja grape Viura.

There’s also their 40-acre North Fork site in the Blue Mountain foothills that will produce Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Syrah, Grenache, Grenache Blanc and Spanish varie-

ties Maturana and White Tempranillo, a grape that Bodegas Valdemar has pioneered back home.

Will the family ever produce a Northwestgrown Tempranillo?

“Short answer — no,” replied MartínezBujanda. “Long answer — never say never, but it’s definitely not in our plans right now.”

Gilla forms the distaff half of one of the Washington wine industry’s power couples.

Her husband is Gilles Nicault, director of winemaking at internationally acclaimed Long Shadows Vintners in Walla Walla, and the state-of-the-art facility and access to top vineyards at Valdemar Estates are strikingly similar.

“I now feel the pressure, and it will be like the Battle of the Titans to determine who makes the highest quality wine possible,” Nicault said.

2021 WASHINGTON WINERY TO WATCH | valdemar estates

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The Valdemar team sort grapes during crush with Devyani Gupta, Chris Wood, Jordan Ketchersid and Jesús Martínez-Bujanda getting hands-on.

A recent example is the soon-to-be-released 2018 Klipsun Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that exhibits the dense, ageworthy power of Red Mountain fruit yet is made approachable thanks to Gilla’s superb tannin management. And her remarkable touch with Chardonnay continues to shine with DuBrul Vineyard from the Yakima Valley.

“We sent the first wines to Spain, and we started to sell them in Europe, and so far the response of our partners has been great,” Martínez-Bujanda said. “We hope with our distribution network in Europe that we can contribute to making Washington state and Walla Walla more known there.”

The attention to detail literally extends to every corner of the winery and the facility.

Gilla and assistant winemaker Devyani Isabel Gupta, a product of Walla Walla Community College and a rising star, work out of a lab where nothing is out of place. Even the winery floor is so pristine and sterile it seems impossible that Gilla and Gupta already have used it for two harvests.

“I feel like I am making wines at the Ritz-

Carlton!” Gilla says.

Upstairs is the stage where their wines are showcased alongside the cuisine of chef Arturo Tello. The graduate of Walla Walla Community College’s Wine Country Culinary Institute has developed a menu of Spanishinspired tapas that reaches a level rarely seen in the Pacific Northwest. Pulling it all together is Kaleigh Brook, a Montana native who arrived at Valdemar after working at Long Shadows and who is studying to become a Master of Wine and a Master Sommelier.

“She demonstrated such skill and energy to build the reputation of the restaurant from the ground up that she is now the winery general manager,” Gilla said.

The sense of chic and understatement includes the corner of their retail shop that offers nicely priced kitchen and food items from Europe that are reminiscent of a Sur la Table store. Offerings include Matiz olive oil from Spain, a paella gift box and a bone-in jámon with stand.

Another feature that makes Valdemar Estates unique is the availability of Bodegas Valdemar wines. In fact, there is a Spanish

VALDEMAR ESTATES 3808 Rolling Hills Lane, Walla Walla, Wash.

(509) 956-4926 valdemarestates.com

tier to the club program at Valdemar Estates.

Those Old World wines provide perspective, and for those with a sense of Gilla’s legacy, the opportunity to taste them side-by-side is world-class stuff.

“The goal is to get to 10,000 cases in 10 years,” Gilla said. “We are taking things slow in order to not sacrifice quality for quantity.

The Valdemar wines are about longevity and quality, and the Martínez-Bujanda family has enough history to understand that it takes time and resources to accomplish that.”

ERIC DEGERMAN operates Great Northwest Wine, an award-winning media company. Learn more about wine at GreatNorthwestWine.com.

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TASTING RESULTS | tempranillo

NO TEMPORARY THING: TEMPRANILLO HERE TO STAY IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST

By Eric Degerman ast fall when Wine Press Northwest staged its 21st Platinum Judging, it became apparent that the Spanish red variety Tempranillo deserved to be the focus of a region-wide tasting.

There were 26 examples of Northwestgrown Tempranillo that earned a gold medal at one of the qualifying wine competitions around the world during the pandemicplagued 2020. Seven of those went on to merit a Platinum.

So in March, we conducted what is believed to be the largest tasting of Tempranillo produced in Pacific Northwest as winemakers entered 73 bottlings of red table wine. That’s one more than the first peer-judging we staged in 2015. The Oregon Tempranillo Alliance evaluated a record 58 examples for its critical evaluation in 2017.

It ranks as the planet’s third-most popular red variety in terms of acreage, and Tempranillo has been a growing concern in the Pacific Northwest since 1995 when Earl and Hilda Jones of Abacela in Southern Oregon’s Umpqua Valley established the first commercial planting.

International acclaim began streaming in for the Jones family’s Fault Line Vineyard Tempranillo almost immediately, and their nicely priced Fiesta remains the Northwest’s flagship example of Tempranillo at nearly 2,000 cases.

Statewide, according to the 2019 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Report, acreage devoted to Tempranillo has slipped from 414 acres in 2015 to 352, falling just behind Cabernet Franc as the state’s sixth-most planted red variety.

However, the Oregon Tempranillo Alliance reports that more than 100 tasting rooms across the state now offer a Tempranillo. It’s finding favor among growers, winemakers and consumers in Washington and Idaho, too.

The results of our latest overview of Tempranillo once again were delicious, promising and fascinating, with eight American Viticultural Areas represented among the top 11 entries. Two of the highest-scoring entries

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shared a source on Washington’s Wahluke Slope as historic Rosebud Vineyard contributed to the Rio Vista Vines 2018 Tempranillo and the Vine 46 2017 Tempranillo. And five of the leading wines are very much in their adolescence, products of the 2018 vintage.

One of our panelists, Kent FitzGerald, has been interested in Tempranillo throughout his four-decade career as an executive in the wine industry, which included five years as a senior national buyer for Cost Plus World Market and more than twice that with The Henry Wine Group ahead of its acquisition by Winebow. He’s now a consultant living in Walla Walla.

“What struck me about the tasting was how much tannin control most of the wineries exercised without the use of Garnacha, the traditional Spanish blending grape,” he said. “Without the Grenache, the wines lacked the strawberry elements and tended toward black cherry, blue fruits and figs with a little leather/cedar thrown in for good measure. The better ones also seemed to have the balance to mature nicely over the next 10 or so years. A surprise all around.”

However, one of the top wines included another Spanish grape — late-ripening Graciano. The Coyote Canyon Winery 2018 Coyote Canyon Vineyard Tempranillo from the Horse Heaven Hills has Graciano as 5% of its final blend.

“I definitely like what those two grapes do together, and I think there’s a lot of similarity between the Rioja and the Horse Heavens

with high-desert plains areas,” said Justin Michaud, who makes the wines for Coyote Canyon owner Mike Andrews. “I put a little bit of Graciano in our Tempranillo every year, and I think it benefits from a hotter site more than Tempranillo.”

As a result, the Andrews family grabs its Graciano in early October, after the Tempranillo comes in. It’s interesting to note that the Tempranillo in 2018 was machine-harvested for the first time.

And while the Horse Heaven Hills are famous for Cabernet Sauvignon, Andrews and his son, Jeff, continue to use Coyote Canyon Vineyard to showcase their AVA’s versatility. In 2017, Mike was named Grower of the Year by the Washington Winegrowers Association.

They planted Tempranillo in 2007, a year after becoming the first in Washington state to plant Albariño — a white grape native to Spain that’s also rising in popularity in the Northwest. Clone 2 has been the star for Coyote Canyon, just as it has been for Abacela’s Fiesta program.

“I was definitely a little pushy with Mike on the Tempranillo,” Michaud said. “It’s a varietal that’s earning more recognition of late, and while not a lot of them are huge SKUs (bottlings), we’re still seeing enough interest in Tempranillo that we can sell it in the $30-$35 price range.”

Michaud prefers to work with 1- and 2-ton ferments, and since the Andrews family sells more than 90% of its 10-acre planting of

TASTING RESULTS | tempranillo Tempranillo to Ste. Michelle’s high-tier program, don’t look for Coyote Canyon to grow its Tempranillo program much — despite the critical success.

“When you look at a lot of those Spanish wines, you can buy a nice one for $12,” Mike Andrews said. “We can’t compete with that market.”

For perspective, there were four Old World examples inserted into this blind tasting, which saw the wines tasted by vintage, with the more mature examples evaluated early on. Three of those were Gran Reserva styles from the Rioja and nearly a decade beyond vintage. Two of them finished near the top.

Tempranillo, whether youthful or mature, ranks among the world’s most versatile and food-friendly wines, which helps explain its rising popularity in the New World. It pairs deliciously with cured meats and barbecued fare, tomato-influenced dishes and Latininspired tapas, including burritos, nachos and tacos.

Gordy Venneri, co-founder of Walla Walla Vintners, also was among the judges for this tasting. While he never worked with Tempranillo during his ownership of Walla Walla Vintners, he came away impressed with the overall quality of the winemaking behind those he evaluated.

“There were a lot of good silver medals,” Venneri said. “Even though they didn’t make it to gold, they were very solid wines.”

Our judges for this tasting were: Kent FitzGerald, KW FitzGerald Consulting, Walla Walla, Wash.; Richard Larsen, research winemaker/enologist emeritus, Washington State University, Puyallup, Wash.; Philippe Michel, founder, Oak Traditions, associate, Metis Northwest, Walla Walla; Ken Robertson, Wine Press Northwest columnist, Kennewick, Wash.; Gordy Venneri, retired co-founder, Walla Walla Vintners, Walla Walla; and Kaleigh Brook, general manager, Valdemar Estates, Walla Walla.

The socially distanced judging took place in early March at the Kennewick home of Jerry Hug, Publisher of Wine Press Northwest.

Here are the results:

UNANIMOUSLY OUTSTANDING! Rio Vista Wines 2018 Tempranillo, Columbia Valley • $36 The history of John Little’s vineyard site along the Columbia River eight miles upstream from the Bybee Bridge near Chelan Falls began as vacation property 25 years ago.

In recent years, his winemaking has contin-

Top-notch wines with particularly high qualities.

bottle the Spanish white variety Albariño would also achieve success with Tempranillo.

And Justin Michaud, who makes the wine for Mike Andrews, earned a Platinum in 2019 from Wine Press Northwest for his 2016 Tempranillo. Michaud takes a traditional angle with this Tempranillo, first planted in 2007, by blending it with Graciano (5%), and aging the wine in a trio of neutral French oak barrels for 20 months. Aromas of boysenberry pie, cassis, chocolate and baking spices lead to a gush of blue and purple fruit, led by plum. Well-integrated tannins and toast from the oak meld nicely with finishing flavors of Marionberry. (72 cases, 14.7% alc.)

RECOMMENDED

OUTSTANDING!

WINE RATINGS All rated wines are tasted blind then placed in the following categories:

OUTSTANDING! These wines have superior characteristics and should be highly sought after.

EXCELLENT

Delicious, well-made wines with true varietal characteristics.

Prices are suggested retail.

ued to display the versatility of the region.

And some of the vines at Rio Vista, combined with fruit from historic Rosebud Vineyard on the Wahluke Slope, produced one of this tasting’s unanimous votes for a gold medal.

Its big and complex nose of blackcurrant, raspberry and blueberry includes tobacco leaf and anise. There’s remarkable depth to the structure as bright and juicy black and purple fruit come with silky tannins and a long, mouthwatering finish. One judge described it as “downright delicious.” (175 cases, 13.8% alc.)

Coyote Canyon Winery 2018 Coyote Canyon Vineyard Tempranillo, Horse Heaven Hills • $32 It makes sense that the first commercial vineyard in Washington state to grow and

King Estate Winery 2017 Sonrisa Vine­ yard Tempranillo, Columbia Valley • $50 The reigning Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year adds more acclaim to the résumé of winemaker Brent Stone with this remarkable example of Tempranillo from Sonrisa Vineyard — a site devoted to Iberian Peninsula varieties and organically farmed by Washington State University product Nick Loeffler in Washington’s Rattlesnake Hills above the Yakima Valley. The juice spent 27 months in a barrel program of nearly 50% new oak, revealing tones of spiced plum, cherry and red currant. There’s brightness and remarkable balance to the structure, and it shows best at this youthful stage with some decanting and time in the glass. (220 cases, 13.5% alc.)

Adamant Cellars 2018 Philips Vine­ yard Tempranillo, Walla Walla Valley • $40 Devin and Debra Stinger have been pulling their Tempranillo from the same site as their Albariño, and this vintage signaled the 10th anniversary of this planting along Whiteley Road. Fascinating and diverse floral notes Spring 2021 • Wine Press Northwest

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TASTING RESULTS | tempranillo of orange peel, purple iris, carnation and clove blend with juicy fruit akin to Rainier cherry, boysenberry and pomegranate. But perhaps the hallmark of this example of Tempranillo is the tannin management that provides a sandy texture, making for a rather enjoyable experience from top to bottom.

(140 cases, 14.2% alc.)

Indian Creek Wine Cellars 2018 Tem­ pranillo, Snake River Valley • $27 The late Bill Stowe, founder of Indian Creek and viewed by many as the godfather of the Idaho wine industry, passed away not long after the 2018 harvest was brought in by his winemaking son-in-law Mike McClure.

And here’s a fitting tribute with Tempranillo — a fruit-forward, balanced and low-alcohol approach. It broadcasts notes of blueberry juice, blackcurrant, baking spice and fresh dill as those dark purple fruits meld with a background of softly integrated oak and held up with a long finish that’s just as attractive as the price per bottle. There’s consistency with the Stowe family’s program, too. Indian Creek’s 2012 Temp earned an “Outstanding!” rating back in our 2015 tasting. (200 cases, 12.4% alc.)

Raptor Ridge Winery 2016 Folin Vine­ yard Reserva Tempranillo, Rogue Valley • $35 One of the Willamette Valley’s most versatile winemaking talents, high-tech refugee Scott Shull, worked with Folin family fruit for the sixth time in this bottling. This site below the Table Rocks near Medford is a classic example of Southern Oregon Tempranillo, creating a mood of sweet cherries, strawberries, plum and rose petal. Its soft tannins make for a medium structure and a long, pleasing finish. Shull also earned an “Outstanding!” rating in our 2015 judging with his bottling of Folin from the 2013 vintage. (360 cases, 13.9% alc.)

Valley View Vineyard & Winery 2016 Pure Native Wine Tempranillo, Applegate Valley • $40 Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of this Jacksonville, Ore., winery operated by the Wisnovsky family and led by their longtime winemaker John Guerrero. Their Pure Native label pays tribute to 19th century pioneer Peter Britt, viewed as Oregon’s first commercial winemaker, and the blend of Duero and clone 1 fruit spent a year in French oak. That influence shows up with perfumy aromas of cherries and toast with Jolly Rancher grape candy. There’s a wealth of purple fruit on the palate, led by blackcurrant and plum, and the marvelous tannin management makes for an impressively balanced drink.

(250 cases, 13.4% alc.)

Belle Fiore Estate Winery 2016 Tem­ pranillo, Rogue Valley • $36 46

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Gallo-trained biochemist Heather Nenow spent just two vintages as Ed Kerwin’s winemaker, and she left a delicious cellar at this 55-acre showpiece in Ashland, Ore. Her work with this Iberian grape fits nicely alongside the Italian varieties that continue to show promise since they were planted by Kerwin in 2007. Aromas of dusty cherry and plum pick up thyme and spice amid the dense structure that includes loganberry, vanilla and ageworthy tannins. (218 cases, 14.1% alc.)

Wilridge Vineyard Winery & Distillery 2018 Conley Vineyard Tempranillo, Co­ lumbia Valley • $25 Two years ago, Paul Beveridge won bestof-class at the Washington State Wine Competition with his 2016 Tempranillo from Pat and Polly Conley’s vineyard near the Naches Heights. Beveridge’s viticulturist at Wilridge, Abraham Gonzalez, also works with Conley Vineyard, so connections run deep. Think of cherry, plum and fig with hints of vanilla and leather as integrated tannins and rewarding oak treatment lead out with a slice of blackberry pie. (310 cases, 13.7% alc.)

Rizzo Winery 2013 Echo West Vine­ yard Tempranillo, Oregon • $36 Patience in the cellar routinely pays off for Tempranillo, and these Eola-Amity Hills producers of estate Pinot Noir work with Echo West Vineyard across the state near Hermiston for heat-loving Tempranillo. After two years in barrel and a handful in bottle, David Rizzo’s example is redolent of blueberry, Bing cherry and toast with secondary notes of mocha, black olive and cigar leaf.

There’s an abundance of structure to carry the day, including a long trail of pomegranate. (160 cases, 15.69% alc.)

Vine 46 2017 Tempranillo, Washington • $27 Wine Press Northwest’s 2021 Idaho Winery of the Year uses its remarkable Tempranillo program to get off to a running start.

Family ties to historic Rosebud Vineyard on the sun-baked Wahluke Slope deliver two barrels worth of a wine that earned best-ofclass honors at the Cascadia and the Great Northwest Invitational on its way to a 2019 Platinum. There’s a sense of charm to this, something not often associated with Tempranillo, as red-toned cherries and dusty berries are joined by dried herbs and vanilla to achieve balance. Food-friendly tannins and a sense of Old World leanness allow it to be enjoyed before and during dinner. And by earning the equivalent of a gold medal in this tasting, Jeff Ebel and Mike Yates have qualified for our year-end “best of the best” judging and a shot for this same Tempranillo to earn a Platinum in consecutive years. (46 cases, 14.8% alc.)

TEMPRANILLO

BY THE NUMBERS Here’s a look at the numbers behind the wines tasted for this article.

Total wines judged: 74 Percentage of “Outstanding” wines: 15 Percentage of “Excellent” wines: 58 Percentage of “Recommended” wines: 26 Average price: $35 Average price of “Outstanding!” wine: $33 Average alcohol: 14% Total cases represented: 18,491 Median case production: 190 Average case production: 249 American Viticultural Areas represented: 18 Entries by AVA: Columbia Valley (13), Umpqua Valley (10), Rogue Valley (7), Snake River Valley (7), Wahluke Slope (6), Applegate Valley (5), Eola-Amity Hills (4), Horse Heaven Hills (4), Rattlesnake Hills (3), Walla Walla Valley (3), Willamette Valley (3), Yakima Valley (3), Snipes Mountain (2), Yamhill-Carlton (2), Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley (1), Lake Chelan (1), Oregon (1) and Washington (1).

EXPLORE NORTHWEST TEMPRANILLO The Oregon Tempranillo Celebration was last staged Jan. 18-19, 2020, just two months before the pandemic scrambled public events around the globe. Prior to that, the OTC enjoyed a five-year run as the public tasting portion of the Oregon Tempranillo Alliance, which has gathered in either Ashland or Portland.

Proceeds have been presented to Children’s Miracle Network and other Oregon healthcare initiatives supported by the Asanté Foundation.

For more information on the grape and to watch for a public announcement regarding the next OTC, go to OregonTempranilloAlliance.com.

In the meantime, plan to toast the grape with the rest of the world during the next International Tempranillo Day, which is Nov. 11, 2021. Each year, ITD is the second Thursday of November.

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MATCH MAKERS | food trucks

A GARDEN SPOT ALONG THE COLUMBIA FOR WINE, FOOD TRUCKS

By Eric Degerman | Photography by Richard Duval and Jennifer King KENNEWICK, WASH. wo decades ago, when Nena Cosic arrived in the Tri-Cities after fleeing war-torn Bosnia, she didn’t see much of a wine and food culture.

Fortunately, her sister, friends and her colleagues at Kadlec Regional Medical Center convinced Cosic to put down roots in the Columbia Valley and transform her childhood passion for baking and cooking into a professional career. Now, Cosic has teamed up with one of the Pacific Northwest’s top winemakers — Victor Palencia — to form a vibrant mobile catering company they’ve named Culture Shock Bistro.

Their new business also has become a featured attraction at the Columbia Gardens Wine & Artisan Village and serves as the anchor for the Port of Kennewick’s Food Truck Plaza.

“Victor and I want to highlight our background, who we are and where we come from,” Cosic said. “We want to highlight some of the dishes that come from his culture and my culture.”

Inspired by her Mediterranean heritage and Palencia’s ties to not only the Yakima Valley where he grew up but also his native state of Michoacán in Mexico, Culture Shock Bistro offers tapas and charcuterie. It’s an ideal match for the Columbia Gardens Wine Village where their business is one of six food trucks providing options for wine lovers visiting the four tasting rooms.

Forming the cluster are two wineries — Monarcha by Palencia and Bart Fawbush’s Bartholomew Winery — and satellite tasting rooms for Cave B Estate Winery in Quincy and Gordon Estate in Pasco.

A few years ago, the Port of Kennewick acquired and cleared 16 acres on Kennewick’s waterfront to create the Columbia Gardens Wine & Artisan Village. The intent was to leverage wine production and tasting rooms to bring new jobs and economic vibrancy to the historic downtown, says Tim Arntzen, Port of Kennewick CEO. “Those businesses are helping transform the neighborhood into a regional destination with award-winning artworks, great food, wonderful wines and recreational paths — all nestled alongside a scenic waterfront,” Arntzen says. “The port is now working to sell or ground-lease the remaining shovel-ready parcels to help encourage additional, complementary development such as cafés, boutique shops, breweries, production wineries or more tasting rooms.”

Alas, the pandemic took its toll on the Columbia Gardens Wine Village, particularly during weekends when wineries generate most of their tasting room sales. On weekdays, the Food Truck Plaza often does a bustling lunch business beyond wine tourists.

However, not all of the food trucks operate consistently or are open on the weekends, and that didn’t match up with Palencia’s stated mission for Monarcha at Columbia Gardens, which is to build upon the food-and-wine culture in the Tri-Cities, so he bought a food truck.

“It was hard to coordinate the food trucks’ schedules with ours,” Palencia said. “A lot of our traffic is on the weekends, whereas a lot of the food truck business is during the week. I needed to make this in-

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Chef Nena Cosic and winemaker Victor Palencia teamed to launch Culture Shock Bistro — a mobile catering company that is a featured attraction at the Columbia Gardens Wine & Artisan Village. vestment, and we want to help all of the wineries in the group. We encourage our winery customers to try the other wineries in the area and find their taste.”

Freddy Arredondo, award-winning winemaker for Cave B and a professional chef who studied at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Asti, points out not only are wine lovers benefiting from the arrival of Culture Shock Bistro, but so are the neighboring wineries.

“We at Cave B are so thankful that Victor and Nena took the plunge into the food truck world in order to provide consistent food options for all of the Columbia Gardens tasting room guests,” Arredondo said.

“Culture Shock Bistro has a consistent schedule, and we feel confident in telling people when they call to inquire about food options near us while they are visiting us to taste our wines.”

The assortment of fare at the Food Truck Plaza is as diverse as the wines available at Columbia Gardens.

A Culture Shock Bistro is the latest addition to Cosic’s business portfolio, which includes European Dessert and Appetizers by Nena in Kennewick.

A Swampy’s BBQ is owned and operated by Ron Swanby.

A Ninja Bistro, which features an Asian fusion menu, is owned and operated by David Phongsa.

A Ann’s Best Creole is owned and inspired by Ann Lockhart, whose Southern menu is also available at the popular Ann’s Best Café at the Richland Airport.

A Bobablastic Tri-Cities, operated by Joseph Beltran, creates bubble tea, rice bowls and portable frozen desserts. Bobablastic is part of a regional company with its bright red food trucks in more than a dozen Northwest cities.

MATCH MAKERS | food trucks A Don Taco serves Mexican fare created by owner Mario Zuniga.

Each winery tasting room offers seating outdoors within a lightly fenced area adjacent to its tasting bar, and because of the nature of the business, state laws dictate strict protocols.

“We allow food from anywhere on our outdoor deck area, and there are no restrictions as to which food is allowed,” Arredondo says. “Of course, wine cannot leave our licensed area, but anyone is welcome to bring food to eat while they are enjoying Cave B wine.

This is not open seating if they are not purchasing wine.”

Cosic’s popular selections of charcuterie — a tribute to her father’s special touch with cured meat — are easily transportable. Beyond that, one of the features Culture Shock Bistro provides across the four tasting rooms is a pager-type system that alerts patrons to know when their order is ready for pickup.

“Baking is my passion and my therapy, but I’ve loved to cook ever since I was 5 years old,” Cosic says. “I worked at Kadlec as an endoscopy tech, and we would have these potlucks every week. So I would take my food and all the doctors and nurses and the other techs would always tell me, ‘You have to start your own business!’ They basically pushed me.”

So in 2018 she began catering, launching European Dessert and Appetizers by Nena not long after. Her culinary work led her to the kitchen at the Walter Clore Wine & Culinary Center in Prosser, where she credits Rachel Mercer with much of her success.

“I knew absolutely nothing about wine, and I had no idea who Victor was!” Cosic says.

“Rachel was my boss, and she said, ‘Victor is going to be here today and you have to meet him. You are going to love him.’ So I walked up to Victor and handed him my business card and said, ‘You have to hire me for your events!’ ” A month later, she began catering for him, including the grand opening of his Bodega Palencia.

“I saw her amazing talent and energy right off the bat,” Palencia says. “We were always looking for a great caterer, and, of course, I loved her story. It aligns with our story. It was a perfect fit.

“COVID changed the way we were doing business and selling wine, so I think it pushed us both over the edge to take the plunge of faith for the food truck,” Palencia continues.

“The dots started connecting. We talked about it over a glass of wine, and I said, ‘If I build it, you’ll run it, right?’ ” And Palencia also stayed right in Kenne-

wick by having Western Food Trucks & Trailers create the mobile stage for Cosic.

“With COVID, so much of the food industry has been take-out, even for a lot of restaurants,” Palencia said. “They’ve needed to rethink how they prep the food and repackage the food so that it still has the same quality.”

Cosic works six days a week, devoting her one day off to exploring the food and wine culture in the region.

“Rachel gave me so much confidence and taught me a lot about cooking with wine,” Cosic said. “I didn’t know anything about wine. My dad made brandy back home. Well, it’s moonshine. We lived in the mountain region, and we didn’t consume wine.”

Now, Cosic has the benefit of working with Palencia’s wines, which rank among the best on the continent year after year.

“Monarcha will be the guinea pig customer of Culture Shock,” Palencia said. “We will start rolling out these around-the-world winemaker dinners, food-and-wine pairing classes, charcuterie classes, open-air dining. And I hope these will inspire others to do the same things.”

For her Match Maker assignment, Cosic worked with the Vino la Monarcha 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon and the Palencia Wine Co., 2018 El Viñador Albariño.

“We picked our two favorites and also super-easy dishes to make at home — Mussels in Albariño and Margherita flatbread,” Cosic said.

The ingredients and approach serve as extensions of what Culture Shock is about.

“We want these dishes to be more of a lifestyle than a special occasion thing,” said Palencia. “We want people to enjoy this life on a daily basis.

“Albariño in general is such a good appetizer wine, and it’s delicious with the mussels and the richness of them together,” Palencia added. “There’s the minerality and brininess of the Albariño with the saltiness of the mussels, and Nena sautés them with a little bit of the Albariño. It’s just a really good way to enjoy the Spanish/Iberian theme.”

Of the Albariño, Cosic said, “This is the most perfect pairing of wine and food I have come across in the last five years!”

Historically, many Old World wines carried some residual sugar, and one of the underlying thoughts when pairing dessert wines is that the food must not be as sweet as the wine. Phongsa at Ninja Bistro deals with that dilemma deliciously by presenting his Kimchi Quesadilla, a savory and lightly spicy dish, with the Gordon Estate 2019 Estate Gewürztraminer Ice Wine.

Social media, particularly via Facebook, is the best way to check in with each food truck for its menu of the day and hours of operation: Culture Shock Bistro facebook.com/cultureshockbistro Mussels in Albariño with the Palencia Wine Co. 2018 El Viñador Albariño palenciawine.com/palencia-winery Margherita Flatbread with the Monarcha Winery 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon palenciawine.com/monarcha-winery Ninja Asian Fusion facebook.com/ninjabistro Kimchi Quesadilla with the Gordon Estate 2019 Estate Gewürztraminer Ice Wine gordonwines.com Swampy’s BBQ Sauce and Catering facebook.com/swampysbbqsauce BabyBack Sammie with the Cave B Estate Winery 2017 Cave B Vineyard Caveman Red Wine, Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley caveb.com Ann’s Best Creole and Soul Food facebook.com/AnnsBestcsf Catfish PoBoy with Bartholomew Winery 2018 Carménère, Red Mountain bartholomewwinery.com Don Taco facebook.com/DonTacoWa A shrimp or Ensenada-style fish taco filled with shaved cabbage, fresh guacamole, Mexican cream, and both red and green salsa with the Cave B Estate Winery 2019 Cave B Vineyard Gewürztraminer, Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley caveb.com Bobablastic Tri­Cities facebook.com/Bobablastic-Tri-Cities Cheesecake Chocolate Dipper with Nuts with the Chimeric Coffee Club Bold by Rockabilly Roasting Co. chimericcoffee.com

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MATCH MAKERS | food trucks tomato sauce, olive oil and sugar for one minute.

2. Spread this on your naan bread, place mozzarella and fresh slices of tomatoes on top.

3. Sprinkle sea salt and bake in a preheated oven at 400F for 10 minutes.

4. Once baked, drizzle balsamic glaze and sprinkle freshly chopped basil.

RICHARD DUVAL

Mussels in Albariño paired with the Palencia Winery 2018 El Viñador Albariño and Margherita Flatbread paired with the Monarcha 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon, both by Nena Cosic of Culture Shock Bistro.

JENNIFER KING

Ron Swanby, owner/chef of Swampy’s BBQ in Kennewick, pairs his BabyBack Sammie with the Cave B Estate Winery 2017 Cave B Vineyard Caveman Red Wine from the Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley.

MUSSELS IN ALBARIÑO

By Nena Cosic of Culture Shock Bistro paired with the Palencia Winery 2018 El Viñador Albariño A

1 pound of your favorite mussels in the shell cup extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon fresh garlic 1-2 stalks of thyme 1 cup of Albariño from Palencia Wine Co.

A 1⁄4 A A A

1. In a medium sauté pan, heat up olive oil, add garlic and brown it before adding stalks of thyme.

2. Once you add your thyme and you start to smell the aroma of garlic and herbs, it’s time to pour in the Albariño. Then drop in your bag of frozen mussels.

3. Place a lid and let it steam for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

4. Don’t forget to sip on the remaining Albariño

MARGHERITA FLATBREAD

By Nena Cosic of Culture Shock Bistro paired with the Monarcha 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon A A A A A A A A A

One store-bought naan bread 1 tablespoon olive oil 3 tablespoons pizza sauce 1 teaspoon sugar Fresh mozzarella Fresh tomatoes Fresh basil Balsamic glaze One pinch of sea salt

1. In a small microwaveable dish heat up 52

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JENNIFER KING

Pasco High graduate David Phongsa, chef/owner of Ninja Bistro in Kennewick, offers his Kimchi Quesadilla with the Gordon Estate 2019 Estate Gewürztraminer Ice Wine.

KIMCHI QUESADILLA

By David Phongsa of Ninja Bistro paired with the Gordon Estate 2019 Estate Gewürztraminer Ice Wine A A A

A

A A

A

1 large flour tortilla 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese 1 cup of seasoned cooked protein of choice (we offer Kalua Pork, Sesame Beef, Shoyu Chicken or fried tofu) 1 ⁄4 cup of diced kimchi (Beyond Pickles in the Tri-Cities offers a great KoreanKimchi) 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil 2 tablespoons of spicy mayonnaise (optional, for topping. Lee Kum Kee Sriracha Mayo is a great choice, or you can make your own like we do) 1 tablespoon of chopped green onions (optional for garnish)

1. Heat your oil in a skillet on medium heat.

Once oil is hot, place the flour tortilla on the skillet to lay flat.

2. Add the shredded mozzarella cheese to cover the entire tortilla 3. Add seasoned cooked protein of choice and diced kimchi to cover half of the tortilla 4. Once cheese starts to melt, fold your tortilla in half to cover the protein and kimchi. Your tortilla should be brown and crispy from the heat on the skillet.

5. Remove tortilla from skillet and cut into four large triangle pieces, like pizza.

6. Arrange cut pieces on serving dish, add spicy mayo on top (optional) and chopped green onions for garnish (optional).

7. Serve with your favorite hot sauces or salsa for dipping. (We serve ours with our Pineapple Habañero and Chili Garlic sauces.)

BABYBACK SAMMIE

By Ron Swanby of Swampy’s BBQ paired with the Cave B Estate Winery nonvintage Caveman Red A A A A A A A

1 rack of babyback ribs Your favorite dry rub Bacon Sweet onion Brown sugar Maple syrup Hoagie-style buns

1. Peel membrane from back of the ribs.

2. Apply rub generously 3. Place ribs directly in the smoker at 250 degrees for three hours. Wrap in foil and cook them for another 11⁄2 to 2 hours, until the bones slide out clean.

CANDIED BACON AND ONIONS 1. Dice bacon and onions, equal amount of each.

2. Cook bacon, then sauté onions with the bacon. When the onions are translucent, drain grease. Add 1⁄4 cup of brown sugar and syrup and heat on low, until the mixture has reduced and thickened.

3. Cut the rack of ribs in quarters, then place on a toasted bun.

4. Top it with the candied bacon and onions.

MATCH MAKERS | food trucks “David is very familiar with our wines, and our ice wine would likely pair well with most anything from Ninja Bistro’s menu,” said Katie Gordon Nelson.

For the Cave B Estate Winery’s 2017 Caveman Red, Swanby offers up his BabyBack Sammie, which features bacon and pork. And a trip to Cave B patio brought an additional delight with a glass of Tempranillo that tasting room manager Linda Moran points out plays quite well with the dairy component in the Smoked Macaroni and Cheese, which Swanby serves as a side to the BabyBack Sammie.

Swanby declined to provide the recipe for his barbecue sauce or the method for the Smoked Mac and Cheese.

“I’ve won competitions with both, so I don’t want to help my competitors out there,” Swanby said with a smile that might seem a bit familiar for fans of Bergevin Lane Winery in Walla Walla. Annette Bergevin is a cousin.

Swampy’s doesn’t operate on Sundays and typically is open at the Food Truck Plaza on one Saturday each month to present its Cinco de Nachos.

“People line up early for them,” says Swanby. “And we sell out of them every time.”

Sharing the parking lot with Monarcha is Bartholomew Winery, and while both programs are routinely feted by Wine Press Northwest, their portfolios offer quite a contrast.

Last fall marked the 11th commercial vintage for owner/winemaker Bart Fawbush, and while he attracts acclaim with varieties such as Primitivo, Graciano, Aglianico and Souzão, his calling card is Carménère — an obscure red Bordeaux grape. He’ll soon be able to offer customers five vineyard-designate examples of Carménère from four AVAs, but this Match Maker spotlights his 2018 from Red Mountain.

“One of the things I like about Carménère is that it pairs with a lot of different foods,” he said. “It’s kind of like the curry of wine. There are a ton of different peppers and spices and flavors in there. It’s like a Cab Franc — a medium-bodied red wine that’s not going to overpower your food. I like it with barbecue, smoked meats or garlic. And creole food has a LOT of flavor, a lot of spice.”

At Ann’s Best Creole, the Catfish PoBoy, a Louisiana-inspired sandwich with blackened catfish, brings spices and pepper to the party, and it highlights a delicious boysenberry note in the Bartholomew 2018 Carm from Kiona’s Heart of the Hill Vineyard.

“I’ve found that most people like Carménère — I’d say about a 90/10 split,” Fawbush said. “Sure enough, we never have a problem selling out of it.”

The Fawbush family — but not Bartholomew Winery — provided the foil for those seeking dessert from the Food Truck Plaza.

And it involves Jaxon Fawbush, the son of Bartholomew’s winemaker. He expressed an interest in wanting to help market the family business, so amid the pandemic and at-home learning, Jaxon got on-the-job training last fall.

“It was his senior year, and we thought he should have some sort of project,” Fawbush said. “I saw a meme that said, ‘Start your day with coffee and finish it with wine.’ I thought, ‘Yeah, most of my customers do that — including myself.’

“So we decided to start a coffee company and do it by subscription — like what we do with our wine club,” he added.

It is Chimeric Coffee, a collaboration with Rockabilly Roasting Co. in Kennewick.

“Having online businesses that allow you to ship products out to people was our thought process,” Fawbush said. “If people are homebound, they are still going to have their coffee and their wine. And Rockabilly is a small company like us — and they’ve been a fantastic company to work with.”

For the Match Maker, Fawbush first wondered if Bobablastic offered coffee cake, but

then he thought, “chocolate and coffee.”

And while the core of menu for Bobablastic — which has grown to 15 locations throughout Oregon and Washington wine country since 2016 — revolves around Taiwan-inspired bubble tea, there are chocolate-covered desserts on a stick, and the Cheesecake Chocolate Dipper with chopped nuts plays nicely with the Chimeric Coffee Club Bold blend, bringing out notes of cinnamon, toast and earthiness.

Fawbush also offers a Medium blend, which are available via subscription and purchase in the Bartholomew tasting room. While coffee by the cup is not an option yet, there are plans to provide tastings and education on the second floor of the tasting room.

“When you have people come in for wine tastings, you often have a designated driver or someone who says they are a beer person,” Fawbush said. “So hey, what about offering them a cup of coffee or a cup of tea? We are looking to make sure that everyone has a great experience here — even the designated driver.”

ERIC DEGERMAN operates Great Northwest Wine, an award-winning media company. Learn more about wine at GreatNorthwestWine.com.

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