Another discussion about McCrea wines in which Glen Fiona was also discussed brought back a flood of memories from my early days of wine enthusiasm. I was raised in the Yakima Valley and very fondly remember going around tasting at wineries with my parents and cousins whose parents were also really into Washington wine. I’d love to hear your stories or memories about some of those wineries that have been around for a long time, and might now even be gone. A few that came to mind for me:
-Seth Ryan. We used to start the trip up Red Mountain and Sunset Road with a stop at the bottom at Seth Ryan. They (I believe) focused on Rhone varieties as well and had really neat labels with lots of colors. We would also stop at Kiona right there too and taste. When we were under 21 (I can’t recall whether it was Seth Ryan or Kiona that tasted out of the garage below their house!), my cousins and I would shoot hoops in their driveway (they invited us to) as my parents tasted.
-Wineglass Cellars. This was a favorite stop, and we became quite fond of David and Linda. This was one of those wineries that, when you went in to taste, it was the owners and winemakers pouring, talking, and even ringing your up when paying. They were gracious and pretty frank about the challenges of growing grapes and making wine, which I appreciated. I remember visiting during Spring Barrel Tasting seeing David sitting on a stool aside a barrel of something with his pipette. We’d often time our visits around lunchtime, buy a couple bottles of NV Capizimo (an inexpensive blend of Bordeaux varieties) and have a picnic on the grass outside the winery. Every so often, they’d come out and have a sip or a bite with us.
-Portteus. Paul Portteus was a character that, depending on the day, was either cranky and tired from his work, or eager and excited to share with you what he was pouring. That’s part of what made tasting there enjoyable. My folks were big fans of his Reserve wines, but they always struck me as green and peppery. We liked the idea of his estate vineyard and controlling the process from bud to bottle. One year, we befriended his tasting room manager on a visit around the 4th of July and invited him to my folk’s place for dinner, and he showed up with like five magnums of wine. He was always welcome after that!
-Tefft. Fun wines, one of the few Sangiovese produced at that time, quirky little tasting room.
-Covey Run. Sweeping view of the Lower Yakima Valley with a vineyard below. Inexpensive and inoffensive but unremarkable wines, but I loved the labels and the tasting room. Did that place become Silver Lake Winery?
-CR Sandidge. Good Syrahs, but the tasting room was oddly in a strip mall-like place and it always seemed to be 115 degrees when we visited. Maybe it was the swaths of concrete surrounding the tasting room.
-Hedges. This one is still there, but I remember being struck by their impressive winery, and how it seemed to be at the way, way tippy-top of Red Mountain. Even thought it wasn’t.
Anyway, I had a good trip down memory lane. I’d love to hear any stories or memories from anyone who remembers those early days (think mid-90s to early 2000s in Washington Wine Country).