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First 10 Walla Walla wineries

In Andy's video of Dunham Cellars, he mentions that they were one of the first 10 wineries in the area.

Does anyone know who the other 9 are? Leonetti, L'Ecole, Waterbrook come to mind, but I'm not sure of the others.

Any help?

-Oregonpinot

By oregonpinot at Apr 24 2008 - 11:55am | Washington | previous forum topic | next forum topic | 769 reads

First 10 Walla Walla wineries

Andy- A little trivia. One of the first five wineries in the Valley was Biscuit Ridge Winery, founded by Jack and Helen Durham. Jack passed away in 1991. Although Helen continued to live at Biscuit Ridge until she passed away in 1998, she did not continue making wine or managing the vineyard. The original Walla Walla Valley Appellation was created to include Biscuit Ridge Winery/Vineyard on the far northeast corner of the Valley in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, one mile east of the small town of Dixie. As you know, my wife and I purchased the Biscuit Ridge property in 1998, and currently operate and live at Biscuit Ridge Vineyards. We did not bring back the winery, however. Instead, we partnered with two other couples in creating Three Rivers Winery. Although I never met Jack, I have had many of the Valley's wine industry pioneers tell me stories of how Jack established Biscuit Ridge and his love for the site and making wine. As I did much of the vineyard recovery work myself in 1999 and have continued to do much of the vineyard work myself over the past nine years, I have always felt like Jack has been there beside me in the vineyard and that I owed it to him to continue his dream. I know that sounds a little creepy, but when you spend nearly every available hour in the vineyard in the spring and summer doing the labor it takes to maintain the vines as I have, you realize the love Jack put in to his dream at Biscuit Ridge and that he was one of the early pioneers that the valley owes tribute to. Obviously, the Valley's wine industry has come a long way since Jack first put in his vines in 1982.
Duane Wollmuth

By dwollmuth at Wed, 04/30/2008 - 8:23am | login or register to post comments

wish I could have met him

Nice call Duane. I've been up past your place a few times and always wondered about those vines. Are they producing usable grapes? If so, it would be interesting to make a special vintage or two from them. If you take volunteer help pruning and such, drop me a line.

By wineO at Wed, 04/30/2008 - 2:35pm | login or register to post comments

Biscuit Ridge Vineyard

Yes, we have used the grapes each year for a Late Harvest Gewurztraminer at Three Rivers. Jack had also planted 3 acres of Pinot Noir about a year before he passed away. When we bought the place in 1998, those plants were in terrible shape. After we had the great luck with the Three Rivers Late Harvest Gewurztraminer the first two years, I pulled what remained of the Pinot and replanted with more Gewurz. Jack did a great job matching the Gewurz with the terrior at Biscuit Ridge. We are at 1700' elevation, compared to most of the other vineyard sites in the valley at about 1000', and we have probably two to two and one-half times the rainfall. In addtion, there are only 80 acres of the snowy loam soil that the vineyard is planted in in the valley. The Biscuit Ridge grapes always produce very pronounced fruit flavors, with the 2006 showing a lot of apricot, lychee, and grapefruit. I also recently tasted the 1999 vintage, the first we did at Three Rivers, and was surprised how well it had aged. Needless to say, it is doing a lot better than I.
I am a little sad to say that we will not be producing a Biscuit Ridge Gewurz at Three Rivers anymore after the 2007 vintage, so I am currently looking for a buyer for the grapes. My wife and I have toyed with possibly producing our own, but as we are still minority partners in Three Rivers and busy with countless other tasks, it may be a year or two before we are able to do that.
Feel free to drop by sometime. I am usually in the vineyard in the evenings or early morning (5:30 to 8 a.m.). The intense work really runs from late May to early August.
Duane

By dwollmuth at Wed, 04/30/2008 - 3:26pm | login or register to post comments

First 10 in WW

Let me see if I can do this:

(Without peeking at my database)

Leonetti
Woodward Canyon
L'Ecole No. 41
Waterbrook
Patrick M. Paul
Seven Hills
Walla Walla Vintners
Dunham Cellars
Glen Fiona

(The one I couldn't remember)

Canoe Ridge Vineyard

By aperdue at Thu, 04/24/2008 - 9:19pm | login or register to post comments

RE: First 10

Everyone - this is awesome. Thanks for taking the time to research and respond!

By oregonpinot at Fri, 04/25/2008 - 10:11am | login or register to post comments

First 10 Walla Walla wineries

Woodward Canyon certainly was, and I believe that Walla Walla Vintners was, too.

By timinspokane at Thu, 04/24/2008 - 7:13pm | login or register to post comments

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