Marty Taucher & Chris Peterson of Avennia Winery and Liminal Wines Given Marty Taucher’s business and marketing experience and Chris Peterson’s winemaking expertise, the two turned out to be the perfect team for starting a winery.  They met in 2009 at DeLille Cellars where Chris was winemaker, and Marty was a crush intern who had created a winery business plan for one of his classes.  After months of working together and sharing lots of wine, the plan turned into their Avennia Winery that bottled its first wines in 2010.  Inspired by old world wines, Chris uses tr ..read more

Drew Pauk of Moonbase Cellars Drew and Laine Pauk met while working at a Missouri grocery store chain, he as a buyer and she as a pharmacist.  They intended to make their home in Missouri, until they caught the wine bug during a stay in Washington state.  Drew pursued wine education and sommelier certificates while at the grocery store, and in 2017 they left Missouri and headed for Walla Walla.  Drew enrolled in the Enology and Viticulture Program at the Community College, and in 2019 they bottled their first Moonbase Cellars wines.  Those wines were released in 20 ..read more

Michael Rasch of Golden Ridge Cellars Michael Rasch first caught the wine bug in the 1970s while managing a liquor store in Colorado.  While many of us in the 70s were drinking Lancers, Mateus and Blue Nun, Michael’s job had him sampling first growths from Bordeaux.  He later explored wine regions in California, and eventually settled in Seattle working as a lawyer.  People told him about the wines of Walla Walla, many of which he could purchase from his local wine shops.  He was amazed by the quality, and the good value compared to wines from California.  He ..read more

Robert Gomez of Hoquetus Wine Company At Hoquetus Wine Company in the airport area of Walla Walla, music, visual arts and winemaking come together for a truly memorable tasting experience.  Owner and winemaker Robert Gomez is a musician, turned bartender, turned sommelier, turned winemaker.  His music roots are apparent in the winery name Hoquetus (rhymes with lettuce, don’t forget us), which is a song device dating back to medieval times in which two distinct parts alternate to produce a melodious whole.  For Robert, this device reflects the special dynamic between ferm ..read more

Andrew Gerow, Gabriel Crowell and Matthew Doutney of Tirriddis Sparkling Wine 13 March 2023 Thanks to our sponsor: Best West Plus, Inn of Horse Heaven in Prosser Andrew Gerow, Gabriel Crowell and Matthew Doutney came to Washington State University from Michigan, Cyprus and New York to enroll in the Viticulture and Enology Program.  During the course of their studies, they enjoyed many sparkling wines together, especially with simple foods such as fried chicken and potato chips.  Their friendship and love of bubbly grew to the point that they decided to partner in a sparkling ..read more

Seth and Audrey Kitzke March 2023 Although Seth and Audrey Kitzke both come from farming roots in the Pacific NW, they never imagined a career in viticulture and wine while growing up.  Even working in the family vineyard every day in summer during his teenage years didn’t dampen Seth’s desire to become a professional snowboarder.  It wasn’t until after they got married that Seth decided to pursue wine studies at the Northwest Wine Academy, and to return to Eastern WA to help with his parents’ Kitzke Cellars and vineyards.  The couple’s Upsidedown Wine label grew out ..read more

James and Poppie Mantone of Syncline Winery In 1997, James and Poppie Mantone met in the Willamette Valley while exploring careers in the wine industry.  They fell in love with each other and with winegrowing, married, and kept an eye out for just the right vineyard land on which to settle.  They chose a site on the WA side of the Columbia Gorge right next to the spectacular Coyote Wall Syncline from which the winery takes its name.  It was ideal for the type of intimate vineyard sites they wanted to develop, as well as the diversity of soils, climate and topography ..read more

Marissa Dineen and David Rodriguez of Dineen Vineyards A 1950 black Chevy truck graces the labels of Dineen Vineyards’ award winning wines.  It symbolizes family heritage, particularly Pat Dineen’s Wisconsin farming roots and the Dineen family’s love of the land.  After a 30-plus year career in banking, Pat and Lanie purchased their first vineyard land in the Zillah area 21 years ago.  They had always loved wine, food, and travel, as their honeymoon excursion to Robert Mondavi suggests.  Today Dineen Vineyards is owned by daughter Marissa, and there are 90-plus a ..read more

Dennis Murphy of Caprio Cellars Dennis Murphy grew up not far from Napa, believing that the local wines were the best that the US could produce.  That is, until he had to drive through Walla Walla for his home construction job.   At first he felt sorry for the wineries he thought must be struggling to make wine out in the middle of nowhere in old buildings on highway 12.  Then he tasted a bottle from L’Ecole 41, and his “mind was blown.”  Not long after in 1999, he moved to Walla Walla and purchased his first vineyard property in 2003.  Today, he has thr ..read more

Doug Frost and Taylor Oswald of Echolands Winery A college degree in theatre and a Mormon upbringing are not obvious foundations for a career in wine, unless you’re Doug Frost and Taylor Oswald.  Doug’s acting background enabled him to impersonate a wine steward colleague at his first restaurant job with such skill, that he won a wine sales contest.   He was hooked from then on.  Taylor’s life of abstinence was changed by a visit to L’Ecole 41 and a gift bottle of Seven Hills 2002 Cabernet just after he turned 21.  He then pursued a Master’s at WSU in Food Sci ..read more