The fruits of winemakers’ labor
From the vineyard to the barrel to the back of your mouth

by Leah Weissman


Perfect rows of green and red grapes hang in giant clumps among leafy canopies and spiraling vines. The sun beats down during the day but the night provides cool comfort – creating plump, flavorful fruit. People from all over the community gather and talk and laugh among grapevines as they harvest the bounty.
When a hard day’s work is over, everyone sits down to a hearty lunch and drinks wine with slow savor. The winemaker surveys his barren vineyard and begins the task of manipulating the mounds of grapes into crisp, earthy, fruity wines. Could this be France? Tuscany? No. Welcome to the wineries of Washington state.

Varied growing conditions
“Washington has a great climate for grape growing – and soil,” Greg Osenbach, winemaker and owner of Whidbey Island Vineyards and Winery, said. “Our extreme northern latitude gives us two more hours of sunshine than, say, the middle of California. Especially with Eastern Washington dry during the growing season, winemakers have more control over how much water goes into the soil. We are able to make some of the best wines in the world.”
Northwest Washington is a maritime climate, meaning it has generally mild summers and winters with a smaller annual temperature range. Cross the Cascades Mountains into the rain shadow of Eastern Washington and you will find hot days and cooler nights.
“Grapes are pretty much weeds – they’ll grow everywhere,” Randy Boneventura, winemaker at Mount Baker Vineyards, said. “It’s more about choosing the right varietal for the climate you live in.
“Soil, rainfall and heat units can affect the flavor and ripening conditions of the grape,” Boneventura said. “Increased rainfall may lessen the sugar content in a grape, diluting the flavor – that’s why we source out and get grapes from all sorts of regions. Many of the white grapes we grow in our vineyard are for cooler environments, whereas we get our red grapes from Eastern Washington because they require more heat.”
Sun exposure can actually sunburn white grapes, cracking the skin and ruining the precious juice inside, Boneventura said. Most grape plants don’t like to have “wet feet” so vineyards usually have an irrigation system. As for soil, well-drained earth, like rocky and sandy soils, are good but the run-off takes away needed nutrients.
“There are challenges and frustrations in winemaking and growing,” Boneventura said. “You can plan all you want and if Mother Nature wants to rain for two months all you can do is sit and watch. It’s a creative process; you play around with agriculture and figure out what to make.”
Brent Charnley, winemaker and owner of Lopez Island Vineyards, said he can taste different flavors in the same grape – known as terrior – depending on the care given to the plant, the site of the vineyard and the change in climate.
“One thing about Western Washington is the rains can come early,” Charnley said. “If it’s been a cool year, the grapes may ripen slower and we have to let them hang longer – meaning there’s a higher chance of rain during the harvest as the season drags on.”
Charnley said Western Washington is dryer than people think it is – in fact dryer than places known for fabulous wine like France. The San Juan Islands are in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains so dry summers and mild, wet winters are the norm.

The expanding wine market
“There are over 400 wineries in Washington with a new winery opening up about every 15 days,” Randy Finely, owner of Mount Baker Vineyards, said. “It sounds like a romantic profession, looks like a fun thing to do and you fall for it hook, line and sinker. Of course it’s a lot of work as well.”
Finely described the market for local wineries as a “business of personal relationships.” Not only are there hundreds of wineries in Washington growing at the speed of a college student’s alcohol tolerance, but competing wines from California to Europe are pouring into the state every day. How does a small winery stand to make a profit?
“You have to get people to like you and like your wine,” Finely said. “About 80 percent of people never buy the same wine twice. There are too many labels, too many wineries. I’m not being negative; it’s just the fact of life.”
Osenbach sells wholesale to restaurants and stores throughout Whidbey Island and goes through a distributor to reach other locations throughout Western Washington. He started producing only 400 cases annually in 1991 and has since then moved up to 3,500 cases.
“We do a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” Osenbach said. “With direct sales we get the highest profit out of our tasting room and don’t have to share profits with a middle man. Because of our location, a significant part of our walk-in business is tourists – though we have strong support in our own backyard.”
Most of the advertising done by small wineries is through the wine itself, Osenbach said. Just having your wine in a restaurant or in a grocery store is the best kind of promotion. Targeting a market where only a small percentage of the population consumes wine can be difficult, Osenbach said.
“The wine market is very dynamic,” Osenbach said. “Competition has gotten tight with shelf space filling up, but I’ve also seen the market expand for obscure varietals of wine too. People’s tastes are developing beyond Merlot and the public is willing to try new things.”

From vine to wine
“The harvest with the smell of the fermenting grapes permeating the air, the excitement – you want to be a part of it,” Charnley said. “Everywhere is the taste of the vineyard and the taste of time.”
Mid-September to November is harvest time, when the grapes are gathered in one clean sweep. Long before the grapes are ripe and ready to be picked, the vineyard is pruned, repositioned and replanted from December to August. According to Boneventura, there is never a slow season.
“You’ll have anywhere from two to eight weeks when you’re slammed and then maybe two to three weeks where you’re not quite as busy but you’re always doing something,” Boneventura said. “During harvest all the grapes are coming in. You’re picking, you’re crushing, you’re working 24 hours around the clock.”
Gene Pasek, owner and winemaker of Pasek Cellars, makes 15,000 cases annually and is best known for his assortment of fruit wines.
“When you’re done harvesting and get to the winemaking part, there are a lot of influences,” Pasek said. “There are all sorts of yeasts you can put into the wine. One type might leave a wine flat while another adds more fragrance or different nuances. You can control the fermentation length of the grapes with temperature. Colder temperature means longer fermentation time. In a red wine, the longer [the grape] is in contact with the skin, the deeper red the color. Winemakers have all sorts of theories and ideas of what to accomplish and how to do it.”
David James, marketing director of Pasek Cellars, said the use of barrels can influence the flavor and complexity of the wine. What kind of oak the barrel is made from, the age of the wood and whether it’s been used before all affect how a wine turns out.
“A barrel may take away some of the fresh fruitiness of the wine but add a smoky flavor,” James said. “Barrels incorporate another layer of complexity, of new tastes, to the wine.”
The winemaking process has many stages – sometimes stages within stages – and all the time the winemaker constantly monitors the wine to make sure it is fermenting and aging correctly.
“I originally saw winemaking as an art form but reality set in and I had to make a living,” Pasek said. “Half of the process is janitorial and a little bit of the mystique diminishes as time goes on. But I always get excited when a new batch of grapes or fruit comes in and I get to work on something new.
“We use berries and fruit that we harvest and buy,” Pasek said. “The berries go through the grape crusher which opens up the fruit and separates the grape from the stems.”
According to Osenbach, this is where red and white winemaking diverge. Red wines ferment in tanks at warmer temperatures to maintain fruit flavor while the pulp and skins interact to give red wine its color. In contrast, white wine ferments at a cooler temperature and the skins and seeds are separated from the pulp.
“At the beginning of fermentation for white wine we press the grapes to get all the juice out and leave the solids behind before pumping the juice into a tank,” Osenbach said. “When the whites are done fermenting, the yeast settles to the bottom of the tank and we continuously pump the clean wine out and clear the sludge from the bottom of the tank until there’s nothing left. As for the red wines, we don’t press the grapes until the end of the fermentation process because the juice, skins and seeds need to intermingle.”
During the aging process, red wines are usually stored in oak barrels from anywhere to a few months to a couple years. White wines are usually stored in stainless steel barrels and bottled before red wines.
“It’s hard work, don’t get me wrong,” Osenbach said. “But I can’t think of a better place than Washington to be in the wine business. It’s all those big picture things – watching the seasons pass, growing the grapes and the satisfaction of creating something that’s good.”

Over the lips and through the gums
One of the greatest things about winemaking is the reaction you get from someone who enjoys your wine, James said. According to him, there are reasons behind wine tasting – it’s not about being snobby.
“There is a certain order to tasting,” James said. “You start with a dry, lighter wine and slowly move on to an intense, deeper wine so you don’t cloud your palate. You want to swirl the wine around in the glass to get it in motion and set off its aromas.”
Approximately three-fourths of what you actually taste is from smell, Pasek adds. A lot of the enjoyment from wine includes senses other than tasting. When someone pours you a glass you look to see if it’s a deep red or in pale color. The look, smell, taste and feel of the wine’s texture are all part of wine tasting.
“Some people have different techniques to tasting wine,” Pasek said. “They may slurp it, roll it around in their mouth or even chew it. It’s about trying to taste all of it. The way the wine rolls across the palate really distinguishes it.”
Charnley said fruits and flavors in wine are so complex that you can actually taste the different seasons.
“Grapes are a time and a place. When people seek us out and find our products and enjoy them, then we’ll always be here.”