'Carving out a niche of their own'
Carving out a niche of their own: The vintners of the Columbia River Gorge
by Thomas P. Skeen
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
August 28, 2002
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Bob Lorkowski, left, samples some of his wine at the Cascade Cliffs Vineyards & Winery tasting and barrel room with visitors, from left, Mary Kirchhofer, Steve Murray, Karen Murray and Vic Kirchhofer.
Gordon King/Yakima Herald Republic |
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Each bend brings a visual feast as you drive through the Columbia River Gorge along two-lane Highway 14 in Klickitat County.
Oregon's Mount Hood to the south crowns the landscape. Like an 11,239-foot uncut diamond, the lone volcanic snowcap rises above an emerald carpet of firs and pines that, at lower elevations, mingle with oak, maple and brown-black basalt cliffs.
On the broad river, blunt-prow grain barges bull their way through whitecaps as wind-surfers skitter past on brightly colored boards sprouting veined sails that look like wings plucked from giant dragonflies.
This is where east meets west in southern Washington, where blond grasslands meet steep forested hills.
Also nesting here in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is one of Washington's newest wine-growing regions -- where a growing number of vintners have discovered that nature created a place where they can make high-quality European-style premium wines.
"There's a French proverb that says all the great grapes see the river," said Bob Lorkowski, a partner and winemaker for Cascade Cliffs Vineyard & Winery a few miles west of Wishram.
Nature's diversity
About a four-hour drive from Seattle and six hours from Spokane via the Tri-Cities, this section of the gorge offers a weekend escape from city life, whether the goal is wine tasting or outdoor recreation.
Gateways to the area are Bingen on the west and Maryhill near the junction of U.S. Highway 97 on the east. The stretch encompasses more than 14 vineyards totaling 2,200 acres, and six wineries, with two more being planned.
Syncline Wine Cellars co-owner James Mantone, president of the recently formed Klickitat Wine Alliance, said nature's diversity along the roughly 40-mile stretch of river is similar to some of the great wine regions of Europe.
Climate and terrain range from conditions found in Germany to France's Burgundy and northern Rhone Valley to northwest Italy's piedmonts, he said.
Wines produced in the gorge reflect that diversity, with vintners making white riesling and gewürztraminer and reds ranging from pinot noir to syrah to Italian nebbiolo and barbera.
Maryhill Winery commands a sweeping view of the Columbia River. The white blocks are the beginning of construction for an amphitheater for musical performances.
Gordon King/Yakima Herald Republic |
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| The Maryhill Winery Ampitheater has since been completed. Click here for concert information. |
And zinfandel, an American varietal rarely grown outside of California, is successful here.
Though only 2 years old, Maryhill Winery clobbered Golden State wineries when its 2000 zinfandel won gold and best-of-class this year at the West Coast Wine Competition in Santa Rosa.
So unusual is the growing area that the alliance of vineyard owners and winemakers wants to form its own officially recognized wine region. Mantone said an application is pending with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to establish the new appellation, proposed as the Columbia River Gorge American Viticulture Area. It would extend from the White Salmon River east to the Klickitat River, beyond which begins the long-established Columbia Valley viticulture area.
Wine and rafting
Like Maryhill Winery, the operations were either built or bought from previous owners within the past half-decade. Unlike Maryhill, with its modern, Mediterranean-influenced architecture, the five other wineries are rustic western Americana.
But to one degree or another, the people behind all the wineries came here with hopes of scratching a comfortable living from this scruffy land.
Joel and Kris Goodwillie started their Wind River Cellars in 1995 near the recreation hamlet of Husum, off Highway 141. With an unobstructed view of Mount Hood to the south, the tasting room is in the bare-plank winery above a 12-acre riesling vineyard, which Joel jokes is pruned by letting in deer from the surrounding forest.
The winery, in cooperation with a local whitewater guide outfit on the nearby White Salmon River, also offers post-rafting lunch and dinner barbecues and wine tasting.
"What got us involved was that somebody learned Walla Walla had done a really good job of marketing itself as wine country but a lot of the grapes they used came from Klickitat County," he said.
A microclimate
Heading east on Highway 14, trees give way to scrub and grasslands. Between the river and a massive, crescent-shaped wall of basalt is Cascade Cliffs Vineyard & Winery.
In a small tasting room crowded with oak aging casks, co-owner Lorkowski is filling a case with a variety of his wines for a customer as an assistant pours samples for a handful of people around the bar.
Lorkowski left jobs at a Seattle bank and as a wine distributor to start working at Chinook Winery in Prosser with viticulturist Clay Mackey and winemaker Kay Simon.
He supplemented his wine education with college courses and, in 1997, bought a share of Cascade Cliffs. The 18-acre vineyard is heavily planted with nebbiolo and barbera to make what he calls his flagship wines.
Lorkowski said he owes the success of the vineyard to a microclimate in which marine air breezing up the Columbia from the ocean and radiant heat from the dark cliffs across the highway contribute to a long growing season.
The combination also protects the vineyard from vine-killing winter freezes, he said.
Monument in the making
Near the junction of U.S. Highway 97 -- and in view of the Maryhill Museum, with its collection of European and American paintings, Indian artifacts and sculptures by Auguste Rodin --is the newest and largest of the gorge wineries.
Craig and Victoria Leuthold's state-of-the-art Maryhill Winery, with an earth-tone exterior and wood decks that offer panoramic sweeps of the upper gorge, stands in stark contrast to its smaller peers along the river. It's also on a fast track to compete with larger wineries.
The Leuthholds founded Maryhill in 1999 and completed its present 23,000- to 24,000-case facility in 2001, with plans to expand to 35,000 cases in 2005.
Next year they plan to open a grass-covered amphitheater that will accommodate up to 3,000 people for jazz and blues concerts.
"Anything to promote the brand," he said.
[Ampitheater has since been completed. Click here for concert information.]
Winemaker John P. Haw said Maryhill's California-beating zinfandel has already sent the winery down that path.
"It really helped lend credibility to the winery," he said. "It showed that we're not playing around; we're here to stay."
Copyright © 2002 The Seattle Times Company
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