The wine world is ever-brimming with wines sold for various causes. Most, however, start with what’s in barrel and then auction that off. The Washington Wine Industry Foundation’s (WWIF) Collaboration Series does the opposite. It starts from the ground up.

“We knew that we didn’t want to do the same thing,” says Sherri Swingle, a director of the board at WWIF. The foundation, which is comprised of a group of growers, winemakers, service providers, and wine-lovers, manages scholarships, a professional sabbatical, and grants to develop tools and resources for industry use.

The idea for the Collaboration Series started with Kent Waliser, brand ambassador at Sagemoor Estates, and Swingle brainstorming ways to raise money for the foundation and to create a legacy program. With Waliser’s feet firmly planted in grape growing, an idea came. Select a grower first and then have the grower select a winemaker who they have been working with for an extended time to make a barrel of wine.

“The whole industry talks about the celebrated partnership between growers and winemakers, but that story is usually told from the winemaker’s perspective,” Waliser says. “I thought, ‘Why don’t we flip this on its head and tell the story from the grower’s perspective?’”

Waliser volunteered Sagemoor to be the first vineyard for the project. In 2016, Waliser selected Sparkman Cellars, a producer in Woodinville, to make the inaugural Collaboration Series wine.

“I wanted something with old vines, and I wanted something to showcase Bacchus or Dionysus [vineyards],” Waliser says.

When Waliser approached president and founding winemaker Chris Sparkman, he was all in. “I think anytime you can tell a unique story about the people and the places, it gives us another chapter to share with people about who we are, what we do, and why we do it,” Sparkman says.

The idea for the Collaboration Series was also to leverage the relationship between grower, winemaker, bottle provider, and graphic designer. Growers donate a ton of grapes. Winemakers donate a barrel of wine. Universal Packaging donates the glass. Jim Carey Creative donates the label design.

“It’s the whole gambit of the wine industry putting this together,” says grower Paul Champoux, founding board member and co-director of the board at WWIF. Champoux and fellow grower Roger Gamache, also a founding board member and co-director, spearhead the committee that drives the Collaboration Series.

Pre-sales of the wine, 25 cases worth, start at the annual Winegrowers conference. There are subsequently on-line sales as well. A release party is held in the fall, with the next one coming up November 13th in Walla Walla. The money raised helps operate the WWIF.

Over the years, the Collaboration Series has taken flight. “It took a couple of years for us to really get our arms around it,” Swingle says.

A committee comprised of WWIF board and industry members now select the grower each year. The selection is based on the uniqueness of the vineyard, the vineyard’s role in pioneering the industry, and the industry service the vineyard has provided.

“The whole basis is to showcase the vineyard, which we consider the foundation of the wine industry,” says Roger Gamache. “I don’t know if we can ever emphasize enough the importance of the vineyard and the viticulturalist.” Both vineyard and winery are subsequently listed prominently on the Collaboration Series label.

The result is a series of wines that honors the partnership between growers and winemakers in Washington. “It’s one of those things in the industry that I’m really proud of because I think it does celebrate the partnership that we all know exists and we all celebrate in our own ways,” Swingle says. “But as an industry, it’s not very often we pull them together.”

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