Sean P. Sullivan's Northwest Wine Report

One way to know that Dry January is gaining momentum is the increasing backlash against it by people in beverage alcohol industry. This year I’ve seen a truly remarkable number of brands riffing on or outright ridiculing the idea.

These social media posts and advertisements have generally fallen into three broad buckets. The first is supportive, stating that their business is offering non-alcoholic options during the month. The second is using it to promote their own, alcohol-related business, sometimes in a playful way. The third are ones openly mocking the idea, calling it a sham or worse. I’ve seen some play off people’s shortcomings, saying essentially “Failed at Dry January? It’s okay. Have a drink with us!” I am reminded of the infamous 1980 Chivas Regal Whiskey advertisement.

To people making fun of the concept I ask, what’s wrong with Dry January?

The idea of Dry January is simple. December is, for many, a month of excess. This often includes overeating and excessive consumption of alcohol. In response, some have decided to take the month of January off from alcohol completely, or at least try to. The number of people doing so has continued to grow in recent years.

However, it appears that some people, particularly a sub-group of people who work in the alcohol industry, are offended by the very suggestion. In part, I’m sure it’s because a lot of people rebel against anything that might be seen as a fad. Others throw shade at something that seems akin to a New Year’s resolution. (Somehow the idea that people might want to try to change some aspect of their lives in a positive manner has become easily mocked.) Then there are those who perhaps themselves have issues with alcohol, where the most threatening thing that someone can do is to say that they have decided to stop, even if it’s just for a month.

Let’s be clear. Making fun of people for trying not to drink alcohol for a month is unabashed, outright peer pressure intended to get people to drink. It is the stuff of high school hallways, unbefitting of businesses and brands in the 21st century.

Yes, Dry January (or Sober October) can have a potentially profound impact on businesses that sell alcohol. January is also already a very difficult month for many in the restaurant and wine industries, and this can make it substantially more difficult. Yes, many who do start out intending to not drink alcohol for a month find themselves unable to.

But we know that abstaining from alcohol even for a short period of time can have potential health benefits. We also know that alcohol overuse and abuse is a serious problem in the United States and beyond. An estimated 14.5M Americans have Alcohol Use Disorder. Approximately 100,000 people per year die of alcohol-related deaths. This includes car crashes, cancer, liver disease, and other issues. Alcohol use is the third leading cause of preventable death in the country. Anyone who works in beverage alcohol will also tell you that alcoholism and overconsumption are rampant in the industry.

While one line of thought regarding wine consumption specifically has promoted “healthy living” and its potentially positive effects, other research indicates that even small amounts of alcohol can be harmful to one’s health. Canada even released new guidelines saying that no amount of alcohol is healthy. I’m sure such apparently contradictory research will continue to accumulate in the future.

What is clear, however, is that everyone should feel freely able to find their own balance that is healthy and positive in their own lives. People should be unencumbered by bullying from friends, or worse still wine brands.

If people want to do something for a period of time – anything really – that might be good for their health, you know what we should all do as individuals and as a society? Support them. Full stop.

Maybe some people come out of Dry January and go back to doing what they were doing before. That can be fine. Perhaps others decide, after taking a day, week, or a month off, that their current relationship with alcohol doesn’t serve them, and they adjust their behavior in some manner. That’s a positive, not just for them as individuals but for society, right? You know what’s actually really harmful to the beverage alcohol industry? People who have alcohol problems. We should all support trying to lessen that issue.

Many of us who work in the wine industry specifically do so because we enjoy wine and the way it weaves into community, culture, learning, and other aspects of life. But we all also need to be fully cognizant of the fact that, for some people, their relationship with alcohol is entirely negative. That negative relationship can have profound effects on individuals and on society.

At the end of the day – or month – each person should be able to explore what is healthy for them in their own lives as it relates to alcohol without drawing other people’s scorn. To those bullying people who might want to take a pause from booze, buzz off.

When Jessica Munnell of Wautoma Springs had her first child, she did what any winemaker would do. She started a winery.

“I decided this was my opportunity to start my own thing as a way to keep myself involved in the wine industry while I was staying home,” Munnell explains.

Munnell got her start in the industry early in life, receiving a B.S. in horticultural science from Washington State University and continuing on to get a master’s degree there. After finishing her degree, she was hired by Stimson Lane (now Ste Michelle Wine Estates) as a viticulturalist.

Munnell’s time at the company would prove to be fateful. It was there that she met Juan Muñoz Oca, currently chief winemaker at Ste Michelle Wine Estates, who would become her husband. It was also there that she met Tom Merkle, whom she would eventually partner with to start her winery.

“I met him at his Wautoma Springs Vineyard in the middle of nowhere,” Munnell recalls of Merkle.

From there, she worked a harvest in Australia and then travelled to Europe. While there, a position for an enologist at Snoqualmie, a winery in the Ste Michelle portfolio, came open.

“I did a middle of the night phone interview from Spain,” Munnell recalls.

She was hired by Snoqualmie and eventually moved over to Chateau Ste Michelle as assistant winemaker. It was at that point in her career that she stepped away from industry, in part, to focus on her family. It was also when she started the winery.

Merkle, who owns Wautoma Springs Vineyard and is a partner in a number of other sites, was also looking to start a winery. In 2010, the two joined forces to launch Wautoma Springs. The winery made approximately 250 cases that year.

In 2012, Munnell went back to working full-time, first working a harvest at Artifex, a custom crush facility in Walla Walla, and then working as winemaker at Mercer Estates for five and a half years. From there she worked for Vintage Wine Estates, a large, California-based winery, as consulting winemaker.

All along, wherever Munnell worked, she kept making a small quantity of Wautoma wines on the side. She says taking that approach was pivotal to getting the winery off the ground.

‘Instead of having to invest in equipment, I was able to make wine wherever I happened to be. That’s a huge benefit.”

In 2019, Munnell and Merkle decided to take the plunge, increasing production, adding white wines, and opening a tasting room in Prosser. A critical part of that decision was adding Rachel Mercer to the partnership.

“She's the piece of the puzzle that we were missing,” Munnell says. “Tom grows the grapes. I was making the wine, then the next step is getting it to people.” Mercer now runs the tasting room in Prosser.

Fruit for the wines comes either from Wautoma Springs or sites where Merkle is a partner. Located nearby Ste Michelle’s Cold Creek Vineyard, Wautoma Springs was first planted in 1999. Initially, the focus at the vineyard was Cabernet Sauvignon, and this remains the most planted variety. Plantings have subsequently expanded to include Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, and other varieties. The site is approximately 120 acres, with much of the fruit going to Ste Michelle. Munnell says Wautoma Springs is special, growing particularly small Cabernet Sauvignon berries.

“There’s a little banana belt there in between the Yakima Valley and the Wahluke Slope,” she says. “It gets really hot. There's not any water nearby, moderating the temperature. The soil gets very dry.”

Munnell also has a strong emotional attachment to the area.

“I was a viticulturalist at Cold Creek at the beginning my career, and then when I was assistant winemaker at Chateau St. Michelle, we got all of the Cold Creek fruit,” she says. “So that area is very near and dear to my heart.”

Since its inception, Wautoma Springs has made a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Malbec, and a Red Blend called El Prat. In 2019, the winery added white wines and also has a series of reserve wines. Labels are made by two artists, with the red wines block prints and the white wines sketches of native plants.

Munnell says her goal as a winemaker is crafting wines that people want to drink and that are not overpriced. The winery also focuses on making wines that go well with food. Mercer crafts food and wine pairings at the Wautoma tasting room.

“Coming up with food pairings is her superpower,” Munnell says.

In addition to its wine and food pairings, the winery’s tasting room boasts a 27-foot long vine that Tom Merkle’s father Doug planted at Indian Wells Vineyard in 1984. (The winery’s Long Vine wine is a callout to this.) They recently added a vine from Block 1 at Champoux Vineyard (previously Mercer Ranch), planted in 1972 by Don and Linda Mercer, making the tasting room a spot with some important Washington viticultural history.

While having a full-fledged winery and tasting room was nearly 10 years in the making, Munnell credits the winery’s slow ramp-up with allowing them to fully launch the project now. She also says that’s something that is distinctly Washington.

“If we were in California, I don't think I would be having this conversation,” Munnell says. “I wouldn't have my own brand.”


Wautoma Springs Albariño Columbia Valley 2021 $25
91 points, Critic’s Choice
Fermented and aged in stainless steel with the fruit coming from JMST Vineyard, the aromas are bright, with notes of lime, peach, and honeysuckle – almost Riesling-esque. The palate is medium-bodied and flavorful, exquisitely balanced, with the flavors accented by a vibrant zing of acidity. The aromas aren’t classic Albariño, but with a wine this delicious, who cares? 12.5% alcohol. 135 cases produced. Screwcap.

Wautoma Springs Lil Inky Malbec Conner Lee Vineyard Columbia Valley 2019 $30
90 points
Coming from a cooler site, the aromas bring notes of cedar, mint, vanilla, and dark plum. On the palate, the fruit and barrel intermingle, with lightly creamy feeling flavors and vanilla accents. 14.8% alcohol. 165 cases produced. TCA-free microagglomerative cork.

Wautoma Springs Professor Wautoma Springs Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 2019 $30
91 points, Critic’s Choice
All of the fruit for this wine is Clone 338 from vines first harvested in 2016. Aged entirely in used oak, aromas of whole poblano pepper, dark cherry, and dried herb identify this immediately as Cabernet. The plum and cherry flavors are polished and sophisticated, with a lightly creamy feel. It lingers on the finish. 14.8% alcohol. 190 cases produced. TCA-free microagglomerative cork.

Wautoma Springs El Prat Red Blend Columbia Valley 2019 $30
92 points, Critic’s Choice
Cabernet Sauvignon makes up two-thirds of this wine, with the rest Malbec. It’s a one wine charm offensive, with aromas of spice cabinet, fresh herb, dark plum, showing pleasing delineation and detail. The palate has impressive midpalate density and weight, while keeping its balance well in check. Tasty stuff. 14.8% alcohol. 191 cases produced. TCA-free microagglomerative cork.

Wautoma Springs Fork + Spoon Wautoma Springs Vineyard Cabernet Franc Columbia Valley 2019 $50
88 points
The aromas offer pleasing notes of barrel spice, milk chocolate, herb, and purple fruit. Plush feeling flavors follow, with lightly grainy tannins backing it up. Vanilla notes linger on the finish. Decant. 14.8% alcohol. 43 cases produced. TCA-free microagglomerative cork.

Wautoma Springs Inky Malbec Conner Lee Vineyard Columbia Valley 2019 $50
89 points
This was aged in a mixture of French and American oak. Dried flower and leaf aromas are in the lead, followed by notes of herb and plum. The palate is medium bodied and center-focused. A long finish caps it off. 14.8% alcohol. 70 cases produced. TCA-free microagglomerative cork.

Wautoma Springs Behemoth Cabernet Sauvignon Wautoma Springs Vineyard Columbia Valley 2019 $50
91 points
Fruit for this wine comes from vines planted in 1999. The aromas bring notes of mocha, dried flower, vanilla, dried herb, and dark cherry. Medium-bodied, creamy feeling, sophisticated flavors follow. It’s a pretty offering of Cabernet, mixing fruit and barrel. 14.8% alcohol. 120 cases produced. TCA-free microagglomerative cork.

Wautoma Springs Long Vine Columbia Valley 2019 $100
93 points, Cellar Stocker
This wine is equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc, and it shows the best of each. The aromas boast appealing notes of plum, cocoa, and dried herb. Lush, textured, high thread count cherry and plum flavors follow, showing polish, detail, and sophistication. A long finish caps it off. It shows a lot of class. Best after 2025. 14.8% alcohol. 136 cases produced. TCA-free microagglomerative cork.

 

Carole Viney’s first day working at Chateau Ste Michelle was June 1, 1977. The chateau itself – now as iconic as any winery property in the Pacific Northwest – had its grand opening less than one year prior, with the company relocating from Seattle to Woodinville. Viney would spend the next 45 years – her entire career – working for Ste Michelle. This included working for all six presidents the winery has had.

“You get your first real job thinking you’re going to stay for a little while and go on, and 45 years goes by,” Viney says with a laugh. “I can’t tell you where it all went.”

Viney was born in Seattle and raised in Issaquah. She attended Griffin Business College in Bellevue and saw a position advertised for a receptionist/secretary at Chateau Ste Michelle. Viney had never heard of the company, but her father had.

“My father was a wine drinker. He said ‘You better get that job!’” Viney recalls.

She was subsequently recruited for the position and hired. At 20 years old, Viney was not even legal age to drink wine. Bob Betz, who spent 28 years working at the Chateau, recalls Viney’s start.

“Very quickly, it became apparent that she had more to give to the company's success,” he says.

That opportunity came in 1981, when Bill McKelvey, who was the company’s controller at the time, suggested she apply to be executive secretary to president Wally Opdycke, Ste Michelle Vintners’ founding president. It took some convincing. Opdycke had already gone through several secretaries in short succession.

“I didn’t think that I wanted to do that!” Viney says.

Ultimately, she accepted the position. For the next four decades, she would be the right hand of the most powerful person in the Northwest wine industry. Viney has had her own quiet power at Ste Michelle as well.

“She was a strong, commanding presence at the company who never, ever, ever stood in the limelight,” says Betz. He notes that she immediately became an indispensable resource. “If I had one person to go to when I had to ask a question, it would be to Carole.”

It is hard to imagine just how different the state’s wine industry was at the time Viney started at Ste Michelle. Today there are nearly 1,100 wineries in Washington. In 1981 when Viney started working for Opdycke, there were 19. Some of those wineries were focusing on fruit and berry wines.

Over the ensuing decades, Ste Michelle went from fledgling winery to a dominant player, one of the largest wine companies in the United States. Similarly, Washington went from a handful of wineries to a place on the world stage, with dozens of producers making world-class wines.

However, at the time Viney started at Ste Michelle, that future was far from certain. Washington was a nascent wine industry. There was no roadmap, no template. That was true of Ste Michelle too.

“Being such a young company, there weren’t any rules to necessarily follow,” Viney says. “It was trying things out for the first time and seeing what happened.”

Over the decades Viney worked for presidents Wallace ‘Wally’ Opdycke, Hank Schones, Allen Shoup, Ted Baseler, Jim Mortensen, and, most recently, David Dearie. This is every president that the company has had back to when Opdycke and investors purchased American Wine Growers in 1973 and renamed it Ste Michelle Vintners. (The Ste Michelle brand’s debut vintage was 1967.)

“I always thrived on working behind the scenes,” Viney says. “I felt my role was to make their jobs easier, so they could do the big things and didn’t get mired in the details.”

Viney also got to see all of the comings and goings at the winery, including many industry icons. Legendary California winemaker André Tchelistcheff consulted for Ste Michelle for years. His wife Dorothy would drive Tchelistcheff to the winery. She would sit in the office and knit, talking with Viney while Tchelistcheff tasted the wines.

“Those are things you don't even think about at the time, but they are pretty remarkable now,” Viney says.

In her role, Viney was privy to everything going on at the company, the highs and lows, and all of the palace intrigue. But whatever was or wasn’t happening, Viney held information tightly.

“She knew everything there,” Betz says. “But there is not a single person in my life that I think is as discreet. She is a person who you could tell your darkest feelings or secrets to, and she would never violate your confidence. She was so perfect for the role.”

Viney’s efforts at the company also went well beyond those in her immediate charge.

“She's always looking out for other people no matter what role they are in the organization and what department,” says Dan Heller, executive vice president of sales at Ste Michelle Wine Estates. Heller first started working at the company in 1985 and, over two stints, has worked more than 30 years at Ste Michelle. “She also has a great way of providing leadership advice that you may not know that you need.”

Any company is defined by many things, but Ste Michelle perhaps more so than most has been defined by its core asset: its people. It is a testament to Ste Michelle that Viney has not even been the company’s longest tenured employee. That distinction goes to a vineyard worker at Cold Creek.

“We've got some really great people, and that's always what's kept me here,” Viney says. “It's just been a remarkable legacy of folks coming through that have made their mark.”

Last year, Viney reached eligibility for social security and Medicare. With that and president David Dearie resigning in October, she decided it was time to call it a career and retire at the end of 2022.

Over the years, some executives and employees I have spoken to at Chateau Ste Michelle have referred to Carole Viney as the heart of the company, others as the brain or the soul. Whatever word one chooses, there is no question that Viney has had an integral role in the company’s out-sized success over the last 45 years.

“When she started, we were probably 100,000 cases [annually],” says Heller. “She saw it grow to seven million cases. She had a lot to do with that.”

In an age when employment often seems to be measured in months rather than decades, it’s a near certainty that no one will ever remain in the position Viney did as long. At minimum, no one will see the sweep of history in the industry that she has.

“There will never be a person in that role who has such perspective of where we came from and how we got to where we are,” says Betz.

While Viney didn’t start out intending to spend her entire career at Ste Michelle, she has no regrets.

“I've enjoyed every minute of it. I really have,” she says. “Every day was different. You never knew what you were going to do. You couldn't ever get bored. And the wines were always so good. I always loved our wine.”

Another year, another challenge. By popular demand, the challenge variety for 2023 will be…Cabernet Franc!

Why Cabernet Franc? First, it was the overwhelming choice of people polled on my Facebook page. Second, it is another Rodney Dangerfield variety. It gets no respect!

To participate, all you need to do is have at least one bottle of Cabernet Franc from the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, or British Columbia) each month in 2023. This can be either a varietally designated wine or a blend where Cabernet Franc is the principal variety. It could be a red, white, rosé, or even a sparkling version of the variety. (Each of those exist in the Pacific Northwest!)

You’re welcome to focus on a particular state or area or explore the region in full as you see fit. As in previous challenges, I encourage everyone to explore and taste beyond your usual favorite producers.

If you’re up for the challenge, leave a comment here or on my Northwest Wine Report Facebook page stating, “I accept the 2023 Northwest Cabernet Franc Challenge.” At the end of each month/beginning of the next, I will post on Facebook asking what wine people had to keep us all accountable.

Here’s to more Northwest Cabernet Franc in 2023!

Image by Richard Duval

Even when WeatherEye Vineyards was just a whisper in the Washington wine industry, the potential was clear. Legendary grower Ryan Johnson, who has over 20 years of experience farming on Red Mountain, was working on a semi-secret site atop the mountain, with the project backed by former Microsoft hand Cam Myhrvold. It was a project that by its very definition would be reaching for new heights in the state. (Read previous articles about the project here, here, and here.)

As more details emerged, the concept was simple. Hand-selected clones are planted at high-density at higher elevations, sometimes with northern aspects. This, a variety of trellising techniques, and maniacal farming are used to achieve longer hang times and wines with more intensity, freshness, and non-fruit characteristics.

Still, it is hard to conceive that wines coming off the vineyard to date have been so good, so quickly. My first time tasting fruit from WeatherEye Vineyards was the 2018 Avennia La Perle in blind tastings for Wine Enthusiast. Coming from third leaf, first commercial vintage vines, the wine stopped me in my tracks, showing aspects I had never tasted before from any Washington wine. The reason? A third of the fruit came from WeatherEye. Then came the wines from Liminal, a project from Marty Taucher and Chris Peterson at Avennia dedicated to WeatherEye fruit. The winery’s inaugural releases were some of the best wines that I have ever tasted from the state. (Liminal was my 2020 Winery of the Year.)

Now comes an estate project from WeatherEye. Johnson and Myhrvold partner with Todd Alexander (Force Majeure, Pášxa, The Walls, and Holocene) for the winemaking. The winery started out making Syrah and Grenache in 2018 at a miniscule 140 total cases. The following vintage, they added Mourvèdre, Tempranillo, and a red blend. The first two vintages of these wines are shockingly good. (See scores for the 2019s from my time at Wine Enthusiast here.)

“We were able to hit some pretty impressive strides very quickly with [Todd],” Johnson says. “You look at his dedication, his passion, his talent, and just how well it syncs up with our own efforts.”

Alexander has a long history of making top quality wine that stretches back to his time at cult winery Bryant Estate in Napa Valley. Alexander’s talent and dedication to his craft also have a synergistic effect on the winegrowing.

“I feel like it pushes me as a grower,” Johnson says. “I don't want to be the weak link.”

To see wines at this high a quality level coming from a vineyard this young is nearly unprecedented in my experience. Both grower and winemaker are working with fruit that has never been made into wine before. Yet the results speak for themselves.

“We’re learning and making changes as we go,” Alexander says. “I think what we're seeing in the high density plantings is really exciting. There's a lot of freshness. There's a lot of energy in the wines.”

The WeatherEye Vineyards estate wines show exactly that. It is a strange experience as a taster to unbag wines that are unquestionably at a higher alcohol level and look back at one’s notes and see repeated references to freshness. But the higher elevations of WeatherEye, its high density plantings, and, for some blocks, its northern aspects, provide an intensity and freshness that is truly unlike anything I have ever seen on the Washington side of the Columbia Valley.

In just the first two releases, the WeatherEye Vineyards estate wines are already at the extreme upper echelon of wines being produced in Washington State. The winery’s 2019 vintage wines were my highest scored wines last year and are some of the finest wines I have ever had from Washington. I would say that the sky is the limit for this producer, but they have already reached that. Next up is the stars.

WeatherEye Vineyards is my 2022 Northwest Winery of the Year.

Dan McCarthy, former co-owner of McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants in Seattle, passed away December 3, 2022 in Huatulco, Mexico. McCarthy opened his wine shop in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood in 1980, and three years later Jay Schiering joined as partner. A second shop was subsequently opened on Queen Anne.

Over the ensuing decades, as a prominent retailer and early advocate of Washington wine, McCarthy had a profound impact on the local wine industry. He also affected generations of wine lovers and wine professionals.

Here, 15 individuals across the industry share a remembrance of Dan. These were collected via various sources: phone interviews, email, text, Facebook messenger, and through social media posts. The latter are re-shared here with permission. Some have been lightly edited for clarity. Some have been excerpted. As they indicate, Dan McCarthy’s impact was profound, and his legacy will be long-lasting.

Jay Schiering, former co-owner, McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants 

There’s no question 2022 will be looked at as a year of dramatic changes in the Washington wine industry. Here, I review the stories that defined the year as well as current trends in the industry.

2022 saw big changes at Chateau Ste Michelle. 2023 could see even bigger ones.

Chateau Ste Michelle, Washington’s founding winery, has been going through a number of changes of late. This has included a $292M inventory write-off as well as $100 million in losses on non-cancellable grape purchases announced in 2020 by former owner Altria. In 2021, Sycamore, a New York-based private equity group, purchased the company for a cool $1.3B in cash. Then came the news this past June that the winery put its 118-acre Woodinville property up for sale in whole or in part.

In a way, this last piece of news shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was. Ste Michelle had already decided to move its white wine production to eastern Washington – a move that was long overdue. With that change, suddenly the size of the Woodinville property, much of it zoned for production or residential use, made little sense. Also, for a company looking to generate revenue to reinvest in the brand, what better way than to sell one of the most iconic properties in the entire Northwest?

Still, if the Ste Michelle property is ultimately sold, it would be a tectonic change in the Washington wine industry. Even if that happens, the company has committed to retaining a significant Woodinville presence.

“There's universal appreciation from the executive leadership and the board of the importance of having a strong brand home in the Woodinville area long-term,” Ryan Pennington, vice president of communications at Ste Michelle Wine Estates, said last October.

There were other major changes at the winery in 2022. In October, president and CEO David Dearie resigned after two years at the helm. Dearie was the company’s second leader in four years since Ted Baseler retired after a 34-year tenure at the company, including 18 as president and CEO.

Meanwhile, just prior to Dearie resigning, Ste Michelle made a major investment, purchasing Willamette Valley’s A to Z Wineworks and Rex Hill. This allayed the concerns of some in the industry, for the moment, that the winery would be chopped into parts and sold for quick profit. Rather, Sycamore appears to be playing a longer game.

Overall, there is an old saying in the state that “As goes Ste Michelle, so goes Washington.” That statement is less true now that it was ten years ago. However, one still cannot overstate Ste Michelle’s importance to the overall success of the region. For this reason, all eyes will remain on the Chateau in 2023 to see what happens next.

Woodinville’s wine scene is about to be forever changed.

Ste Michelle putting its property up for sale wasn’t the only major news in Woodinville in 2022. Columbia Winery announced that it would not be renewing its lease on the property across the street from the Chateau after calling it home for 34 years. The winery originally planned to close up shop at the end of 2022, but word is that the timeline has been extended (very) slightly.

Could two of Woodinville’s founding and anchor wineries actually close their signature buildings in the same year? It could happen, though Ste Michelle has committed to hosting its concert series and other events for 2023, and any eventual sale and transition would likely take time.

These two major changes might give the appearance that Woodinville is in the doldrums. Far from it.

Mark Ryan, Fidélitas, Long Shadows, and Latta are currently building new tasting rooms on the old Red Hook Brewery campus that will open in 2023. Downtown Woodinville boasts two new tasting areas, with Woodin Creek Village now bustling with wineries and the new schoolhouse area home to L’Ecole, Valdemar, Barnard Griffin, and Crossbuck Brewing/Walla Walla Steak Company. 

The biggest change of them all will be the new Harvest project currently underway after being stalled in various iterations for at least 15 years. This will include a luxury hotel and spa, residences, restaurants, tasting rooms, and other businesses.

“It will have a huge impact on the tourist industry in Woodinville,” John Tosti, co-owner of the project, told me in 2020.

It will take time for all of these changes to play out, settle down, and see what it all looks like. But one thing is clear. Woodinville’s wine scene will be forever changed.

Jackson Family comes to Washington.

Washington has seen increased external investment in recent years, from Duckhorn Vineyards launching Canvasback in 2012 to Crimson Wine Group purchasing Seven Hills Winery in 2016, Vintage Wine Estates purchasing Tamarack Cellars in 2018, and Rioja’s Valdemar Family opening a multi-million dollar facility in Walla Walla in 2019.

Jackson Family, however, could be the most significant player to come onto the Washington wine scene to date. In 2022 the winery purchased 61 acres in the Upper Mill Creek area of Walla Walla Valley. This is the company’s first foray into Washington.

One only needs to look at Jackson Family’s investments in Willamette Valley in the last decade to understand the company’s approach. They go all in. Jackson Family entered the valley in 2012 and today owns eight vineyards and farms approximately 1,800 acres.

“One great thing about Jackson Family is, we don't do things half-assed,” winemaker Chris Carpenter told me when the company purchased the vineyard. “We want to really make an impact on the community and be part of the community.”

Jackson Family will surely do both. The company already purchased fruit in 2021 from Red Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, Walla Walla Valley, and other areas. Now it has bought land. If past is prologue, expect Jackson Family to ramp up its operations in Washington in the coming years and, in the longer term, to have a profound effect on the state’s industry.

Upper Mill Creek is the current the center of activity in Walla Walla Valley.

Since Leonetti Cellar planted its Upper Mill Creek Vineyard in 1997, the area has seen a slow burn of activity. This has included Walla Walla Vintners, àMaurice, and Abeja establishing wineries and planting there, as well as, more recently, producers such as Aluvé. Now, however, it’s clear that this area is truly taking off.

I noted above Jackson Family purchasing land in this area. Doug Frost and investors at Echolands also purchased property in Upper Mill Creek in 2020, with plans to plant a vineyard and build a winery facility. This year Bledsoe Family also moved into the region, purchasing the àMaurice facility and vineyard. The plan is to use the property as both an estate vineyard and as a tasting room. Meanwhile FIGGINS is nearing completion on its long-planned winery in the area.

Nestled up against the Blue Mountains, Upper Mill Creek has always been the prettiest area in a valley blessed with majestic views. Now there will be an increasing number of producers making wine from this region as well as more wineries located there.

Many years ago, the pendulum swung from the airport, downtown, and westside wineries toward producers south of town, with their expansive spaces and sweeping views. The development of the Mill Creek area will provide the town more balance by giving this thriving region yet another fully-established, outrageously scenic tasting area.

Sparkling wines are bubbling up in Washington.

Washington has a history of making sparkling wine that dates back decades. Additionally, a small group of producers, such as Syncline, have long had high-quality sparkling wines as part of their larger portfolio. Treveri Cellars even established its winery dedicated to sparkling wines in 2007.

Now, however, an increasing number of wineries are jumping on the bubbly bandwagon. Things started out with wineries exploring pét-nat. Now many are also making traditional method wines as well.

Perhaps the surest indication in the increase in sparkling wines in Washington is the number of wineries dedicated to this style. This list includes Domaine Ste Michelle, Treveri, Tirriddis, Elentone, Pét Project, Yellowhawk, and Karma. A long list of other wineries make sparkling wines as part of their larger portfolio. There is even sparkling wine coming from Red Mountain! (More on this shortly.)

Dusted Valley is one of the most recent entrants, releasing its first traditional method sparkling wine, made from Walla Walla Valley fruit, last fall. “It’s probably the most work I’ve ever put into a bottle of wine,” owner and winegrower Chad Johnson says of the winery’s inaugural bottling. It’s also among the best sparkling wines the state has made to date.

The increase in sparklers from Washington is a thrill, but there are challenges ahead too. Sparkling wines are difficult and expensive to make at a high quality level. Moreover, growers and winemakers must find the spots best-suited to growing grapes for these wines. Then, of course, consumers must buy the wines.

However, that’s a story for another day. Sparkling wines are clearly moving from niche to mainstream in Washington. Let’s all raise a glass to that.

More Woodinville wineries are investing in Walla Walla.

In the late aughts, an avalanche of eastern Washington wineries opened satellite tasting rooms in Woodinville. Their reasons for doing so were simple. In hard economic times – and also in good ones – it makes fiscal sense to be close to an area with a metropolitan population of 4M people. As a result, Woodinville swelled to the 130+ wineries and tasting rooms.

Then in 2012, an interesting thing happened. Mark Ryan, one of Woodinville’s founding wineries, opened a satellite tasting room in Walla Walla. Then in 2020, it opened another.

Owner and founder Mark McNeilly has always been at the vanguard. Wine lovers – and more specifically, wine buyers – flock to Walla Walla every year. If you make and sell wine in Washington, doesn’t it make sense to be there waiting for them?

For a good decade, it wasn’t clear if others agreed. That changed in 2022. Patterson Cellars relocated its facility from Woodinville to Walla Walla. (The winery will continue to have a Woodinville tasting room.) Woodinville stalwart Guardian Cellars also opened a tasting room downtown.

“We’re kind of, for lack of a better term, reverse commuting,” founder and winemaker Jerry Reiner joked at the time.

Though Walla Walla’s tourism is exceptionally seasonal, that season is also very bright. Additionally, having another tasting room – or better still, property – increases equity for wineries taking a longer-term view. Look for additional western Washington wineries to follow suit and open tasting rooms in Walla Walla in the coming years.

Tasting rooms are springing up further afield in western Washington.

For decades, wineries in western Washington have set their sights on Woodinville. Over time, wineries expanded into Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood, Pioneer Square, Queen Anne, and West Seattle. A few years ago, a group of Woodinville wineries moved production to nearby Maltby.

Now we’re seeing wineries set up shop in Shoreline (Virtue), Edmonds (Dusted Valley), Tacoma (Browne Family, Dahlman), and Snohomish (Kasia, Randolph Cellars). Dusted Valley’s Edmonds tasting room also offers three beers and small plates.

“It’s been a good location for us,” Chad Johnson says.

What’s going on here? It’s two things.

First, Woodinville has long been a hotbed because it has a critical mass of wineries and the cost of entry was low. Today, some wineries fear that Woodinville is becoming over-saturated and, more importantly, space in the area is now far from cheap. As a result, wineries are looking for locations that are more greenfield to open tasting rooms.

Secondly, Washington wine lovers have shown a commitment to going where the wines are. With more and more wineries putting a focus on direct-to-consumer sales, many wineries are opening up multiple tasting rooms to cast a wider net. As the Seattle metropolitan area’s population sprawls ever further, this opens up more and more opportunities for wineries to plant their flag further afield. Expect this trend to continue.

Washington still adds wineries each year, but some wineries are closing their doors too.

There is no question that the Washington wine industry continues to expand. The state added more wineries in 2022, with the official number now 1,076. However, last year also saw some wineries closing up shop, including some standard bearers.

The headliner was Walla Walla’s Buty. Established in 2000, Buty was at the front end of numerous trends in Washington, from Cabernet Sauvignon-Syrah blends to Bordeaux whites to Rocks District wines. The winery and its wines will be greatly missed.

Tertulia Cellars, which had announced it was closing at the end of 2021, sold its winery facility and one of its vineyards to Patterson Cellars in 2022. Finally àMaurice Cellars, founded in 2000, made a name for itself (and Washington) over the years with Malbec and Viognier. The winery announced it was closing last September.

It might seem surprising that, as the industry continues to rise, the high tide doesn’t lift all boats. It shouldn’t. It is challenging to make money in the wine industry. These are passion projects for many people. Over years and decades, passions change and the baton is sometimes passed to the next generation.

Washington saw a dramatic surge in wineries in the last 20 years. Look for more wineries to continue to open in the state in the coming years. But expect a steady drumbeat of closures as well.

2022 was a year of profound loss for the Washington wine industry.

Any year is a mixture of highs and lows. That said, I cannot recall a year with as many devastating losses within the industry as 2022.

Allen Shoup, who passed away in November, was a pioneer and visionary in Washington. He left an indelible impact on the state’s wine industry.

Dan McCarthy, founder and previous co-owner of the influential Seattle area retail shop McCarthy & Schiering, passed away in December. Dan shaped generations of winemakers, tastemakers, and wine lovers in Washington. (Look for an article later this week about his impact.)

Ross Mickel, age 47 and founder of Woodinville’s Ross Andrew Winery, was among 10 people who died in a seaplane crash in September. Read an exceptional remembrance of Mickel here.

Finally, Renee Paula Eakin, 52, was the sparkling winemaker at Ste Michelle Wine Estates. She passed away in December. Both Mickel and Eakin should have had decades of winemaking in front of them. It is still hard to believe that they do not.

Below are my ten most read articles from last year. Enjoy!

10. The Wine Group enters Washington, Constellation exits

Va Piano Vineyards, a Walla Walla Valley-based winery, has purchased 53 unplanted acres in the south side of the valley. The winery intends to plant a vineyard at the site in 2024.

“It’s a beautiful piece of property,” says Va Piano owner and winemaker Justin Wylie. “I've been looking at it for about a year.”

The site is located within SeVein Vineyards at approximately 1,000 feet above sea level. There are 33 arable acres, 20 of which will be planted next year. Va Piano intends to plant five clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, two clones of Cabernet Franc, one clone of Merlot, and a clone of Sangiovese. 

“I like the fact that it's higher elevation first and foremost,” Wylie says of the site. “We don’t have to worry about the deep winter freezes. We don't have to worry about burying canes. It's a very consistent site year to year.”

The vineyard will be named Giovanoni in tribute to Wylie’s grandmother, who was born in Northern Italy. Due to the recent discovery of phylloxera in Walla Walla and elsewhere in Columbia Valley, the new vines will be grafted onto rootstock.

The intent of the new site is two-fold. The first is providing fruit for Va Piano’s Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Va Piano currently has a 20-acre, eponymous estate vineyard surrounding the winery as well as the 22-acre Octave Vineyard, a joint venture between Va Piano, Pepper Bridge, Gramercy, Caprio, and Hanatoro. Giovanoni Vineyard will be located in close proximity to Octave. Va Piano also sources fruit from Eritage Vineyard north of town, though Wylie anticipates the winery will rely less on that fruit as the new vineyard comes on-line.