From the first conception of the winery, we have believed in the uniqueness and the potential of a small family winery in Washington state. In order to achieve our vision we have built a winery based on the simple designs and demands of a wine growing family, while working with a select group of grower-partners who collaborate with us to deliver expressive and exemplary grapes. As members of the community, we believe in provide meaningful employment that is healthy, safe and rewarding.

How we make wine

First and foremost is vineyard site. Outstanding wine is created by great vineyards, thoughtfully farmed, with well chosen varieties. We have chosen a select group of growers who have allowed us to become intimately involved in their vineyard management. We have introduced new rootstock to Washington state in an effort to best match site with varietal.

With great humility we chose to wait 15 years, gathering data and paying attention to the local flora before expanding our estate vineyard.  We continue to push viticultural limits in a new block of our estate vineyard, planting one of the rockiest sites in the cooler Columbia Gorge AVA. All of our estate fruit is farmed with Biodynamic practices. Special attention is granted to the health of our soils, wines, and employees.

All grapes are hand picked and brought to the winery where they are partially destemmed, with a portion of whole clusters, into a variety of fermentation vessels. Over the years, we have grown to love our concrete fermenters. Fermentation in concrete occurs for all of our finest lots of grapes. Native or ‘feral’ yeast fermentations are primarily employed, though inoculated fermentations are used when needed. Each lot is foot trod (pigeage à pied) along with manual punch downs or pump-overs. Free run juice is kept separate for our top bottlings. Gently pressed, and free run juices are separately matured in either older french oak, or concrete tanks. Our focus is on vineyard characters and flavors.

Wines are bottled either prior to the next harvest, or the spring following. We have sworn off  manipulating the wines, and have chosen to blend instead of fining. Bottling occurs under screw cap or Vino-Lok glass stoppers. We have been a pioneers for screw caps and Vino-Lok in Washington state, firmly believing in the consistency of these closures, that allow us to best match our wine making to the closure.