The Syncline Winery offerings are wines to get excited about. They embrace and show everything that there is to love about Northwest wines: the people, the places, and how those two things intersect and express themselves in the glass.
James and Poppie Mantone founded Syncline in 1999. James grew up in a farming community outside of Chicago, while Poppie grew up in Massachusetts. A shared love of Pinot Noir brought them both out west to work harvest in Oregon, where they met and fell in love.
After searching for a place to establish their winery, the couple settled in the Columbia Gorge. Syncline’s property in Lyle, Washington includes a production facility, a working farm, their home, a garden, and a vineyard. It is an exceptionally beautiful place to visit.
From the beginning, Syncline has had a distinct style. Focusing largely on Rhône varieties, the winery uses minimal new oak, picks earlier, and aims to retain purity of flavor. Syncline’s wines are also informed by the Mantones’ appreciation of Old World wines. Winegrower and winemaker James Mantone loves what is called “crunchy red fruit,” in the current vernacular.
When the Mantones started Syncline, the winery sourced fruit from a variety of appellations. In recent years, however, Syncline has increasingly honed its focus on estate wines, with the goal of becoming a (mostly) estate-driven winery.
The Columbia Gorge is nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, just east of the crest. One of eastern Washington’s most dynamic growing regions, it features dramatic variations in elevation, precipitation, and soil type across the area. The Gorge is also known for its near-constant wind – so much so that it is considered one of the world’s premier windsurfing destinations.
As a result, the wines from the Columbia Gorge have a signature unlike those of any other growing region in eastern Washington. The best examples show higher acidity and greater tension than is often found in wines coming from warmer regions to the east, while still retaining full flavor ripeness.
At its estate properties, Syncline has embraced experimentation. The offerings include Gamay Noir, Grüner Veltliner, Viognier, Mondeuse, and Furmint.
While estate fruit is increasingly the focus, Syncline continues to source fruit from exceptional sites in other areas. These include Boushey Vineyard (Syrah and Picpoul), Heart of the Hill (Mourvèdre), McKinley Springs (Cinsault), and others.
The 2022, 2023, and 2024 vintages from Syncline have been home runs – singular wines that showcase both the winery’s style and the regions with which it works. The estate wines resonate with the beauty of the Columbia Gorge, while the wines from other appellations express their origins in a style that few others are exploring. Syncline’s wines seem downright adventurous. They are among the most exciting and distinctive wines being produced in the Northwest.
“We haven’t been pushing ripeness for a long time, but I feel like we’re getting a better handle on water and on farming these varieties and understanding their differences,” says James Mantone. “As we’ve gotten better at farming, we don’t have to push ripeness to get the flavors anymore.”
Syncline Winery is our 2025 Northwest Winery of the Year.
See previous wineries of the year below.
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