The Wine Knows

Today, I was at a luncheon in Pasco, Wash., that featured Allen Shoup as the speaker. The former CEO of Ste. Michelle and current owner of Long Shadows Vintners provided a compelling speech on the opportunities available in Washington wine country, and he also tossed out a fascinating story I'd never heard, a tidbit that could have changed a lot about the Washington wine industry.

In the early '90s, Ste. Michelle (then known as Stimson Lane Vineyards & Estates) and Chalone Vineyards (now owned by Diageo) were independently planting vineyards in the eastern Columbia Gorge, on a hill known as Canoe Ridge (that name was, in fact, given by Lewis & Clark as they floated down the Columbia River more than 200 years ago).

Stimson was building a red wine facility at its Canoe Ridge Estate Vineyard, and Shoup understood that Chalone would build its winery there, as well. He got quite excited because he saw the opportunity to create a wine destination. He thought Stimson could locate Col Solare and Northstar in the area and also work to attract perhaps a dozen other wineries there, all along the highway overlooking the Columbia River.

Instead, the winery that became Canoe Ridge Vineyard was given space near downtown Walla Walla, which it turned into its winery. With that setback, Ste. Michelle's red wine facility opted to not open to the public and none of Shoup's other plans came to fruition. He ultimately retired from Stimson and later launched Long Shadows, which has enjoyed tremendous success with its model of bringing in celebrity winemakers to oversee brands that focus on a single wine.

Northstar has since been located south of Walla Walla, and Col Solare's showpiece facility has been built on Red Mountain. In hindsight, both of these moves were better for the company than if they'd been located in a more obscure corner of the state. But it's fun to think about what that area might look like today if those events had occurred the way Shoup hoped they would more than a dozen years ago.