COVER | rocky pond
INVESTMENT, DEPTH OF TALENT HAS ROCKY POND ESTATE WINERY ON THE RISE Story By Eric Degerman | Photography by Richard Duval ORONDO, WASH. — avid Dufenhorst might be most comfortable when he’s kicking up terroir on his work boots walking one of his three vineyards and pondering the future of his investments. Since he retired as the Seattle-based CEO of a real estate development firm reportedly valued at $5 billion, Dufenhorst has been afforded more time to spend a stone’s throw from the Columbia River at Rocky Pond Estate Winery. “Yeah, I don’t sleep much — five or six hours,” he said. “I just have so much going on in my head that I just wake up and have got to get going.” There should be some peace of mind, considering the dream team he and his wife Michelle have recruited during the pandemic. Some came with perfection attached to their résumés. John Ware — the new president of Rocky Pond Estate Winery — spent 20 years with historic Quilceda Creek, home to Washington state’s first 100-point wine. Steve Leveque — Rocky Pond’s new winemaking consultant from California’s Napa Valley — made wine at icons such as Robert Mondavi, Opus One, Chalk Hill and Hall. Perhaps Leveque’s most famous wine has been the Hall 2008 Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon, which placed No. 2 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2011 and garnered 96 points. As for 100-point scores, he earned three from Wine Advocate and a pair from Jeb Dunnuck. Those scores, his time with global winemaker Michel Rolland and a background in viticulture, made Leveque the best fit for the Dufenhorsts and Ware. “It certainly doesn’t hurt our brand, and I’m happy to work with him,” said Shane Collins, director of winemaking, viticulture
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RICHARD DUVAL
Plans for development around this manmade rocky pond, created with stones from vineyard development, include an amphitheater, a 50-room hotel and expanded wedding and events facilities. and vineyard relations for Rocky Pond since 2017. “I’m not a man of ego. I just want to make better wines and learn some new tricks. Obviously, he’s made some great wines — and he’s from Napa.” There’s a remarkable amount of buzz surrounding the rise of Rocky Pond on both sides of the Cascades. A In the pipeline is the petition with the federal government to establish the Rocky Reach American Viticultural Area A Just last fall, Rocky Pond moved its main Woodinville tasting room from the Warehouse District to the bustling Woodin Creek development in downtown Woodinville. A Back in Douglas County, construction has begun on a 4,000-square-foot wedding pavilion for The Pond at Rocky Pond.
A On top of that, the Dufenhorsts have in the design phase of a mixed-use project a 50-room hotel, spa and restaurant. Indeed, there’s no sleeping in for David Dufenhorst.
CYCLING THROUGH EUROPE LEADS TO ROCKY POND It’s been a rapid rise for Rocky Pond. The seed was planted during a cycling trip through Europe that took the Dufenhorsts through vineyards. In 2011, they purchased their first riverfront parcel, built a second home and haven’t looked back. Two years later, they purchased 50-acre Clos CheValle Vineyard within the Bear Mountain Resort overlooking the south shore of Lake Chelan, opened tasting rooms in
Winter 2020 • Wine Press Northwest
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