Tirriddis Sparkling Wines - Andrew Gerow

Tirriddis is a Washington State traditional method sparkling wine winery located in Prosser, Washington. Founded in 2020 by Andrew Gerow, Gabriel Crowell, and Matthew Doutney, three graduates of Washington State Universities Viticulture & Enology program. Our name, Tirriddis, comes from Tirage, Riddle, and Disgorge the three steps to naturally produce sparkling wines. Focused solely on this traditional method, we proudly implement ground-breaking and unique “non-traditional” styles to emphasize Washington’s world class growing environment. In addition to wine quality, sustainability within the community and our environment is very important to us as we strive to help represent and push forward the future of Washington wine.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Wine Soundtrack USA. Listen to the passion with
which producers narrate their winery and their world team thirty
answers discover their stories, personalities, and passions.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, friends and listeners of Wine Soundcheck. This is Alison
Levine and today I'm in the Yakima Valley at Tritas
with Andrew, Gabriel and Matthew, the three founders, winemakers owners
of this dedicated sparkling winehouse here in Yakima Valley. I'm
going to welcome you all, but Andrew, I'm going to
kind of put this to you and tell us a
little bit about Tritas.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
Absolutely so. Myself, Gabriel, and Matthew all started teared Us
in about twenty twenty. The three of us are graduates
of Washington State University's fit A Culture Andology program, and
upon graduating was a global pandemic so kind of curtailed
our plans a little bit, and we were sitting down
trying to kind of figure out what to do with
our future, and we ended up deciding that the best

(00:57):
kind of route forward would be to start our own label.
And while going.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
That's what everyone does right out of college.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
Exactly and so we were trying to figure out what
to do, and ultimately we decided to do traditional method
sparkling wine, not only because we were really drawn to
the technical and complicated fashion of the production method, but
also because we love to drink sparkling wine. I mean,
champagne was one of our favorite things. In a big
biden in our relationship is when we went to school.

(01:24):
Maybe not the most stimulating traditional college town, but so
we would work a lot, but we would always be
sure to celebrate finishing exams and breaks with fried chicken
and champagne. So that was kind of a thing that
we liked to do. So it was kind of a
combination of those factors that drew us to starting Tierdas
And the name Tieredus it comes from tiarage, riddle, and disgorge.

(01:45):
So the first three letters of the three steps of
the traditional method process just kind of showcasing our devotion
to traditional method sparkling in Washington State.

Speaker 5 (01:52):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
So Tiratis, in case you just couldn't understand what was
being said, just think of the three ways to make
sparkling wine. So you're based here in Prosser, which is
in the Yakima Valley ava. You're kind of young in
this business and started out, so I'm making an assumption
you don't own any vineyards at this time.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
That is entirely correct. There's one joke that I'll always make,
and it takes two things to start a winery, and
that's time and money. But we're broken impatient, so we
kind of have to reverse engineer a winery. And so
we end up purchasing our grapes from a couple of
growers that we partner with, and we actually produce our
lines under someone else's roof as well.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
And in terms of the growers, it's all in the
Yakima Valley, or do you go outside of the Yakima
Valley into other avas.

Speaker 4 (02:39):
We go outside of the Yakima Valley into other avas
as well.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
And what grapes are you working with? Because I know
you're doing traditional method, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're
working with traditional grapes.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
That is entirely correct, and that's a big thing that
teared us. We stand by here. Our goal is not
to make champagne style lines in Washington, but to produce
an original and off tick style of sparkling for Washington
and kind of take advantage of that blank slate and
create identity and topicity for what Washington sparkling wine means.
So we do utilize some chardonnay, which would be the

(03:10):
only traditional champagne variety in our program, but our other
main grapes would be Pino Gree, Cabernet, savignon, serab Merleau.
I have the guys here, so.

Speaker 5 (03:24):
Alberino, Alberino.

Speaker 4 (03:26):
Yeah, We've worked with a couple other grapes such as
Pino blanc and orange Muscat and mulback. Just some really
fun things to play around with, but I would say
our main grapes is absolutely Pino Gree, Cabernet Savigno, and
Serab Merlou than Sharon May.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
And what is your total case production currently?

Speaker 4 (03:43):
We're about ten thousand cases?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Okay, so you started this in twenty.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
Twenty, twenty twenty, and our first wines were released in
the winter or late in twenty twenty one.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Oh, that's pretty good because you know, traditional sparkling wine
usually does requires so that's pretty impressive. And again, your
total case production is how many?

Speaker 4 (04:04):
About ten thousand cases?

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Love?

Speaker 2 (04:06):
You have done pretty well right out the gate, pretty
big and where are your wines available, Are they available
mostly direct to consumer or do you have distribution outside
of Washington in Washington only.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
We're a very evenly split company, so we both service
direct to consumer with some of our tiers of wine.
We also have other tiers of wine that go directly
to restaurants or wholesalers, retailers, things like that all across
the country. We also export to every Canadian province, so
we're very proud of that, and you can find our
wines pretty readily, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Wow.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
So Gabriel, because you jumped in there, I'm going to
ask you this question first, what is your first memory
relevant to wine?

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Wow? I would say my heritage and wine is it
started off at a fairly young age, not too young,
of course, but my family were not wine drinkers. And
where I got entrance into wine whist it's that I
was living in Europe at the time. I really was

(05:10):
looking forward to getting a job at thirteen out of
high school, and a wine shop owner hired me to help.

Speaker 5 (05:16):
At thirteen, Well, this.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Is Europe, so things are a little bit more lassating
and I remember that they were doing a grand tasting
of southern Italian wines and it was a big producer
in Tosca, and it was a Nero dappollo. That was
the first wine that I ever got to try at thirteen.
Very interesting. I didn't really know what to expect, but
I do remember cleaning up many many glasses of such wine,

(05:38):
which kind of bittered the pleasure of the.

Speaker 5 (05:41):
Experience of that.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
And Matthew, what about you, what's your first memory relevant
to wine?

Speaker 6 (05:47):
I can name anything so specific, but growing up my
family is wine drinkers, not really like Wino's anyway, but
there's very often wine at dinner and parties and everything,
and so it was kind of something I was always around,
always around.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, So it wasn't something that came to you later,
you know, like what's this right? So as a child
thirteen years old, what about you? Andrew? What about you?

Speaker 4 (06:16):
I would kind of agree more with Matthew here where
there's no like stark moment that I remember that's like,
this is wine, you know, because I just grew up
around it. My parents not not connoisseurs in any way,
but they just like to have a glass of wine
with dinner. So kind of being exposed to that is
like kind of a cultural it always belongs on the
table kind of situation, but also is fortunate enough to

(06:40):
travel when I was younger, and I do remember the
first time I ever tried wine was in Italy, a
little Vinsanto with all old were you, probably ten years old,
But my parents didn't want me to do it, and
I didn't even want to try it. But we were
wine tasting at this villa and the person them refuse

(07:01):
to let me be there without a glass of ensanto.

Speaker 5 (07:05):
So well, there you go.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
And I agree it's a very cultural thing, and if
it's something that's just on the table, it's a more
natural thing. All three of you had it more natural
because in Europe, to your point, Andrew, that's a natural
thing for people to be drinking it tasting at thirteen.
So fast forward, you're now studying, you've studied wine, you've
made wine. You still have a long journey in your career.

(07:30):
But to date, what what is that one have you
had that one wine that was an aha moment wine
for you? And if so, what was the wine and
what was the occasion? Hmmm, as you're thinking, who do
I go to?

Speaker 3 (07:42):
Okay, Gabriel, I think that that that The appropriate answer
to this question depends on the audience for which it's going.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
To be said.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
No, no, no, but an aha moment wine It can
be because the first time you tasted a particular variety
or style where you said I did no here. Maybe
it set you on a path of discovery or making
a certain thing. Maybe it was a pairing with food
that just opened your eyes, just made you discover something
that made you say aha about I.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
Think that I'd have an answer here. Probably my first
wine that kind of blew my mind and was like,
this is top notch wine is. During college, Gabriel hosted
a Barolo party and we popped a lot of bottles
of really nice Barolo Kendi dating back from like the
nineties all the way up to like twenty sixteen or something.

(08:36):
The wine that blew my mind was not a Barolo, though.
We popped one bottle of champagne, which was I believe
a twenty eleven yeah, twenty eleven belly of Pawk champagne,
and it was just like, this is what premium bubbles is.
And that definitely was a big aha moment for me.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Wow, where did you.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Guys go to college that you're doing Barolo parties.

Speaker 6 (08:59):
You pay.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
So Gibri, what about you? What is that AHA moment wine?
Is there a particular producer or wine that experience it
stands out?

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yes, I mean when I had I had the unfortunate
disaster of being educated in wine on the marketing side,
as I worked for a fine wine retailer for nearly
ten years, and so I very much ate up all
of the gossip around marketing. And one of the wines
that was most interesting to me is that we got

(09:31):
to do a flight of Opus one in Europe, and
I always thought it was really fascinating because it marked
like the true economic investment in the American wine industry.
That kind of showcased the rest of the world taking
American wine very seriously. So I always thought that was
a very much AHA wine for me. Plus it does taste,
you know, fantastic, and it was such an experience to see.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
That, yeah, because I mean, yeah, that's the hope is
that when you taste the wine, that it just when
you happen on home moment, you know, So, Bapy, have
you thought about your moment? And all this time, I
think I may have two wines.

Speaker 6 (10:08):
The first I was maybe like sixteen thinking about going
to school for wine. My parents were drinking Argentinian malbeck
by some no name producer, and it was the first
time I tried wine and kind of like thought about
it and understood why people enjoyed it and why there's
different countries that grow up in different grapes and that
they're all different and unique, and remember tasting it and

(10:30):
be like, oh, I can taste blah blah blah.

Speaker 5 (10:33):
It does feel like that.

Speaker 6 (10:35):
So that one, then the.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Other and what was that was a mailback?

Speaker 6 (10:38):
Yeah, the other is. At some point while we were
in college, as prior mentioned, I tried real champagne for
the first time and it was.

Speaker 7 (10:49):
Whatever, just the cheapest one at the grocery store was
And admittedly I thought it was pretty terrible, but it
was so unique compared to every other wine I've ever
had prior, especially other sparkling wines, that I.

Speaker 6 (11:00):
Was so intrigued and it blew me away. There was,
even at a very cheap entry level, so unique and
so individual amongst other wines.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
I love that well. I mean, I guess the question
I would have today is you guys, are I'd say,
because you're in your mid twenties you're just starting out
your wine collections, but it sounds like you started them
when you were like thirteen years old. So if we
come to you've got a decade on your wine collection here.
But if we came to your homes, your individual homes.

(11:31):
What kind of wines are do you collect or do
you purchase? Is it all sparkling wines? Is it? Come on, Gabriel,
you seem to have the largest collection. Andrew, what kind
of wines do you have at home? What do you
collect or drink on a regular basis?

Speaker 4 (11:51):
So I would say there's one style of wines that
I actually collect, and that would be like Alsatian dessert wines,
so Pino green and reaslings from all sauce that are
more in like the vendage tardive kind of status. So
that would kind of be my go to collection. But
I also there are a couple of Washington producers that

(12:13):
I really love to collect, grammar Cy Sellers and Walla
Walla Sinkline and the Columbia Gorge.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
So some still wines, any particular varieties that you're drawn
to or you like it, you like to try everything.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
I like to try everything, but typically the ones from
those producers that I end up collecting are going to
be like the cabernetum or low from Grammarcy as well
as the gsms from Syncline and Gabriel.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
I'm gonna start out my collection with the story, Okay,
I used to buy wine for some private individuals, and
they always told me that if they had ever gone
to someone's house and there wasn't at least twelve models
of every region, you shouldn't go back to that house
as a real wine a kind of source. So I
kind of have that same where I have a very

(13:00):
very wide portfolio, and I would say the bell curve
of off my wine collection not unfortunately, but is predominated
by Bordeaux style lines because I like to think that
I'm not collecting for myself. I'm collecting for others and
I can I can afford the patients of having fine
age Bordeaux wines from my cellar.

Speaker 5 (13:19):
Besides that, I also.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Like, I really enjoy all types of wine, so I
have Champagne and Barola I have a pension for I
was like Brunello as well, because it's the first doc
gene in Italy's I was I'm not fascinating, so I
have quite the Yes, that's so much, so much of everything.
And I'm a big large format collector as well, so

(13:41):
I wow, yeah.

Speaker 5 (13:42):
Wow, you are not.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
You're like an anomaly for your generation. My god, knowing
Barollo and Brunello and collecting that, starting a collection of
twelve wives free region, It's like, boy, you must have
a big house, the very type basement. What about you, Matt?
Can you match that one?

Speaker 6 (14:04):
Certainly you can't match it. A lot of bubbles, naturally,
But I drink a lot of Southern Italian stuff, lots
of Sicilian wines. I'm kind of to their dismay. I
try to drink a lot of weird wines that either
don't fit or don't belong or like do old. I

(14:24):
just bought a couple of really old chacolinas, which is weird.
Things like that, Strange wines, Vietals that grow in places
they shouldn't grow, are very atypical wines.

Speaker 5 (14:36):
Yeah, I think I think that's nice.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
You guys really do kind of balance each other out,
just in hearing that that you can expose each other
to unique wines, that you're not going to get stuck
in a box of one thing or another because you
all have different interests, which I think is really interesting.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
I do think that it does translate into our brand
and our brand story and what we want to accomplish
here in Washington, our individualized personal personal complexion for sure.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
And then just on a side note, really quickly before
I jump into the next question, you had mentioned to
me you also have a retail store.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
That was correct.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, So, as Andrew was describing in college where we
started Tirius, you know, we were young in the wine industry.
We don't know, you know, it's very challenging for some
people to just to say, oh, I'm going to start
a winery, but how do you start a winery? And
that was sort of my task was to figure out
how do we do this? And part of that process
is that we kind of wanted to make sure that
what we wanted to present to customers is what customers

(15:29):
really wanted to have from us, which is a unique
thing for wineries. So we did that by basically starting
a wine shop together. We already had been drinking a
lot of Rollo and champagne in college, as we had
previously mentioned by many stories, so we thought that we
could save some money build a wine shop and then
experiment with our with a brand and have a place

(15:50):
to sell it before we even had made the wine,
which was was sort of like more of a financial
thing as well. So there was this this usher in
that we wanted to start a wine shops. We started
non vintage Wines, which is based off of sort of
the Champagne style of wine making, which is no vintage
deserved wine making. And we have a collection of all
sorts of wines international, five hundred different offerings and it's

(16:11):
just in Tri Cities, Washington at the fairy tail end
of the Acting Valley which still operised today.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
So brick and mortar store. And you said it's all
non vintage wine, all non vintage.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
We have both vintage and non vintage and wines from
around the world predominantly.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
That's amazing. Wow, look at that. Okay, so two places
to visit while you're here. So you guys are working
with a bunch of varieties. You clearly drink a lot
of different wines. Do you think there's a such thing
as a perfect variety.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
I would say there's not a perfect variety in Washington,
but there's definitely blends that are better than others.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Okay, and maybe not specific to Washington in general. Is
there such thing as a perfect variety?

Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yes, yes, it is a different That's the crazy thing
is is that all vines are really closely related to
each other. It's a vine, it's it's a pest of plants, really,
and that's why it can't grow where. It's why it's
such diversity. That's why there's more regions than N plus one.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Don't ask some recent wine making graduates perfect variety, Yes,
venus benefa.

Speaker 5 (17:18):
It goes to show.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
That the diversity is merited because there is this band
with of all grape varietals to be grown and very
successfully marketed, irrespective of where they're planted.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
I agree, Yeah, I think that's a good answer, Beth.
You want to add to that.

Speaker 6 (17:35):
I don't know if there's a perfect grape for anywhere,
but there's definitely better grapes for certain areas.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
M I mean, it's just the simple understanding that a
grape vine is a weak. Yeah, so it's supposed to
grow and overcome challenges. So with that there's flexibility and
regions that you can grow those grapes. So it might
not be perfect, but there is definitely better than others.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
And this is part of the reason why we have
so many different variety wines and different blends of tears
is that we're really trying to explore how we matched
the quality we want to receive with the great arrietals
at our current processing. And this is a big part
of the planet's where we have single vineyard wines and
wines of different varietals that would not typically be made
into sparkling to go and learn about those processes and

(18:20):
how those order.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Gratis play and perfection is a sort of a nebulous
word of what does that mean? And it's defined differently
by every person. What one person likes is not what
another person likes. And that's the beautiful world of life.
I mean, it's not just for wine, is for anything.
I ask this question of everyone, but usually I'm getting

(18:43):
people with a lot more years behind them, who've worked
for big brands or who have been consumers before they
became I mean, you have been too, but I'm asking
this question from a generation because you're the gen Z generation.
What's your opinion? Online critics and scores.

Speaker 5 (19:00):
Love them really absolutely well.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
I'm also I am twenty six, but I drink.

Speaker 5 (19:08):
Like I'm sixty, so don't take it.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
I also have a basement full of wine from every region,
so I don't think that I really play. I am
the point zero zero one percent of wine drinkers of
my generation.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
I understand that, right, But what is it about wine
scores and critics that you like?

Speaker 3 (19:23):
I personally find there is some merit to scores. I
feel like reviewers, you know, service the public by trying
to display drinkability at some level. I also think that
the understanding that scores relate to pedigree is a super
important part. There's many historic wines that many people probably

(19:44):
don't drink quaffably, but they are important nevertheless to the industry.
The heritage and the agriculture that the wine industry can
show you, and that's really important to me.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Matthew, you don't feel the same way about wine credits
and scores.

Speaker 6 (19:57):
I think time and place. I think if you find
a wine critic who you completely agree with every time
they give one hundred, you completely agree every time they
given eighty. You think the same good listen to that
wine critic. If you're basing your entire wine consumption off
the overarching who gets the best scores, I think you're
just missing out on others. I don't think you're necessarily

(20:19):
now choosing the wrong wines because you're choosing those ninety
eight pointers quite great wines were. Now you're missing wines
that are just unscored or low score that you could also.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
Enjoy it, like the wines that are you know, weird
grapes and planted in the wrong places and made in
different ways.

Speaker 6 (20:33):
Right, Absolutely, those exact same lines. Yeah, I think maybe
there's too much emphasis on scores personally, but I think
it's also you know, a lot of people like them,
and so there it's an important aspect of the wine
industry that we can't not have because it's so ingrained
into what people expect.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
I think the having a score on a wine that's
high is enough of a sign to say maybe you
should try it, But having a wine that has no
score is just as much reason to try the wine.

Speaker 6 (21:03):
Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
So, guys, as drinkers, quick answer redweater rose impossible? Why
still are sparkling still impossible?

Speaker 5 (21:19):
Answer sparkling.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Just in all of the above.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
Well, it would be such a shame to have any
opinion so grossly out and help me.

Speaker 5 (21:29):
Yeah, could you couldn't.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
Say that could you my god, that's insane. It's like
it's like bee for fish, only.

Speaker 5 (21:39):
It's right.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
So we talked very quickly about what you have at home,
and I didn't ask you, is there anything you've opened
up recently that drank really well?

Speaker 5 (21:50):
Oh can't you can't use mine?

Speaker 6 (21:52):
Oh? Who?

Speaker 2 (21:53):
You could share the same one? Maybe it was the
same you open the same That's fascination.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
It's gonna happen. It's not gonna happen in my life.
It's not gonna happen my children's lifetime. But I think
there is a true narrative to talk about domestic American
grape varietals made into table wines, which is very unusual.
And I understand that it's unusual, but I think that
there could be some Northern light to that homage, the
American homage of having national grapes made into table wine

(22:21):
for people in America to taste. And Matthew and I
got to share it, to share a concord sparkling wine
made by a local producer, and it was fantastic.

Speaker 6 (22:33):
So unbelievably. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
And the thing is that it's such a truly American
experience because in America, we grew up on jam and
jelly and all those types of things, and they have
particular what we deem in winding streets, foxy a roma.
But this, to an American palette is considered a grape taste,
and in Europe they don't have that, and that's why
those wines are not really well received internationally. But for us,

(22:56):
it plays into your childhood and that's a table wine
which you could enjoy with your friends that really draws
you back to a time of true American classes. Class.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
Never did I think that that was going to be
the answer. Okay, I love that, but that's great. I
mean a sparkling No, but a sparkling wine made from
concor grapes that you say is really good is really impressive,
because I think I've had one once and it was
just once you Andrew would drink anything recently that tasted

(23:25):
really good or we're.

Speaker 6 (23:26):
Little a little shout out to you, sage rat it
four cases made Yeah, wow.

Speaker 4 (23:36):
For me, that would be a yeah. I'd say I
had a fourteen os less from Mosel in Germany from
Nick Weiss Sara bens Off. So that was incredible, just
absolutely nectar.

Speaker 5 (23:50):
There you go, there you go.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
So for somebody who hasn't had the chance to taste
your wines yet the wines you're making, do you think
they're missing out on?

Speaker 4 (24:02):
I think it's just a unique style of sparkling. I
think it does kind of typify the New World if
you were to like dumb it down to a certain point,
where New World winds are a bit more fruit forward,
higher alcohol, a little bit more extracted, riper styles, and
Old World is you know, a little higher acid, lower alcohol,

(24:23):
more more savory, funky whatnot. I mean, obviously there's always
going to be exceptions, but I think our sparkling kind
of typifies that New World expression just because we aren't
blessed with time, So with that less time entourage, generally
our wines are more focused on that fruit forward minerality,
higher acid, and kind of drier styles. So they have

(24:45):
this incredible brightness and energy to them, and they're just
more fruit forward and mineral driven, which I think is
the way that a lot of drinkers are trending. So
and I think it also embodies who we are as
producer and our individual sonas So I think it's cool.
But not only do we make a more unique style,
but it also exemplifies us as a producer as well.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Now, how many different skews are you making of sparkling wines?

Speaker 3 (25:09):
So we make basically twelve what we call core wines,
which these are wines that we produce every year and
we have a legacy vision for. And then we have
an like an added series of wines plus or minus
six wines that are showcasing certain varietals, techniques, methods, pay
homage to a certain region or process that we want

(25:30):
to have an issuative on.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Okay, so you have a lot of different wines. So
here's my question. Space aliens land on the parking lot
outside of your tasting room and typical, and they come
and they knock on the door, and you want to
welcome them with one glass of your wine? Which of
your wines do you welcome them with? Which of the
twelve plus sparkly wines? I do you do? Matthew? Which one?

Speaker 6 (25:55):
I think this is going to be an interesting answer
from each of the three of us concerning the way
they answer your questions. Prior where I've previously said I
like the weird wines and wines that are warranting I
would give them are block to Blanc because it's the
most classic, okay, most traditional win you can find in
our lineup makes the most sense to me.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Perfect okay, Gabor, gosh.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
Well, we're dropping a pin on the map, so of
course the Washington bleund.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Okay, yeah, I think that I would probably maybe echo
Matthew a bit. I wouldn't say our Blanc to blanc,
maybe our barrel fermented or our Grand Rendition, which has
a lot of those same equalities in class classic styles
of sparkling wine. But it also is a big passion

(26:46):
point for me and our projects that no matter who
comes to visit her atus, I want them to leave
knowing what we do best.

Speaker 6 (26:53):
Okay, Okay, So.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
I'm curious. We talked a little bit that you have this.
Gabriel has a dream of open up a restaurant maybe someday.
But you know, we know what sparkling wine goes with.
I mean, sparkling wine is great with fried foods. It's
great with fried chicken, french fries, potato chips, caveaar Asian foods,
as you were saying, And that's sort of a given

(27:19):
that a lot of people know. I'm curious when it
comes down to food and wine, pairing. How do you
guys approach it? What's your philosophy in terms of are
there rules you follow? Are there certain guidelines that you
pick between the wine and the food? Okay, Gabriel is
like chomping here.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
This is the amazing thing about the hospitality industry. It's
not up to us always. And the thing I like
to really tell people is that you know, there's two
levels to this. What is correct and maybe what is
written down in a book. That's a good pairing, and
I agree with that, but there's also not everybody makes
such sophisticated food at home, so we have to have

(27:55):
some sort of interplay between those two derived styles.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
How do you approach it, like when you're at home
or going out.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
I think that I approach it by asking a professional
if I'm out, someone more professional in hospitality than even myself,
so you know, a chef or so one, and we
do a lot of those type of events, so I
let them try to prepare and I offer my opinions,
as it were, after tasting personally at home. I like
to drive down to the very fundamentals, so you know,
matching the basic components of the wine. So if it's

(28:25):
a particularly high acid wine. If there's a particular character
for whine I want to accentuate or maybe even contrasts.
I love contrasting wine parents, So things that are very
diverse being together is super interesting to me.

Speaker 6 (28:35):
Okay, I believe that you shouldn't. I mean, personally is
I think what Gabriel said is, yeah, probably the correct
way to go about it.

Speaker 5 (28:45):
No, this is all personal.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
This is how you approach it.

Speaker 6 (28:48):
I'm not a huge fan necessarily of pairing my wine
directly with my food. So I enjoy good food and
good wine, and then the meal itself is good overall,
and so I don't need the wine to contrast the
meal I needed to also taste good.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
No, I mean that's an interesting of course, you guys
make sparkling wine, and sparkling one goes with everything, so
you never have to question Andrew you have anything to add.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
I mean, I keep it pretty simple. It's like, if
I'm having a lighter food, I'm going to probably have
a lighter wine. And it's just like I'll look at
the bottles that I've purchased recently and something that I'm
excited to try, and like, you know, what fits the bill,
and just kind of go with a pretty pretty lise
fair attitude about it, and so I get to experience
something that maybe not that's not so planned out. So

(29:36):
I'm just like kind of open to the experience. So
it's going to give me.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
So you guys have been making wine for how many
years now, I mean including your your schooling.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
Oh god, this is my this is my sixth professional Okay,
so six seven professional years.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
That's you know that you've got a little bit under
your belt and your purchase from vineyards across Washington State.
I'm curious what you have noticed in your almost a decade.
We know every vintage tells a different story. Have you
noticed are you noticing more commonality from vintage to vintage?

(30:16):
Is it nuanced differences or does each vintage kind of
stand alone because it's just so diverse from your to year.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
I think it's pretty diverse, to be honest. And not
only are we just having pretty drastic climate swings, but
also just compounded by the fact of wildfire events and
smoke events. It's it's just it's not like an x
y kind of access anymore. There's also this up and
down that goes with it too. With this the smoke

(30:46):
out here in the Pacific Northwest.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, I think also for us, yes, seven years might
be a long time to one person's life, but in
our planning we want to be multi generational. So it's
still such a narrow window for us to make such
a broad stroked anan on it. But my personal experience
is that you know when it's a good time and

(31:08):
it doesn't take very much I would say, technical training
to know when something is good. I always like to
put it in preference or reference to people. Is that
good in good out It should be very very clear,
it should be No, it really is.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
Not speculation so on that.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Are there any sort of signs or predictors that you
look for that are going to tell you what a harvest,
what a vintage is going to be?

Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yeah, look at the grapes, Yeah, look at the vines.
Look at the weather. I'm sorry, that sounds very kind
of stunning in a weird way. We also have a
lot of coal damage here in Washington State, so winter
freezes are some big concerns of ours, and that can
mean young tissue death. So that's a big part of
the process. I also love to draw back to fundamentals,
and that's water. Do you have water, is there enough

(31:55):
water you would be? I mean, if you didn't get
to drink for a month, I think you look pretty rubbish. Well,
I like to kindnet to grapes and not everything has
to be just toil and suffer, you know. I think
things should grow and prosper. And that's the same on
a mine as well. So if you see something that
looks hurting, it's hurting.

Speaker 4 (32:13):
I spent a little bit of time working in vineyards too,
and esthetic is a big thing in vineyards. If like
the inposts aren't straight, you know, if the wires aren't straight,
if shoots aren't pent up, or if like clusters don't
look good, it's not going to be good grapes. You
can tell a lot very quickly visually. Of course it's

(32:34):
a lot deeper than that. But if a vineyard is
not managed and maintained, you're probably not going to get
great grapes. But we're lucky to have a good vineyard partner,
so we don't really have to worry about that.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Do you guys. Have you guys established any sort of
good luck rituals that you do at the start of harvest?

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (32:51):
Good luck rituals? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Oh my gosh, any traditions that you're establishing.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
I think we generally just do like a big dinner
and pop a lot of really nice bottles.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
Which I mean is like every other week anyways.

Speaker 5 (33:04):
For ross, I think, but I would say.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
There's like I wouldn't define them as rituals, but I
would think transitions of emotion. And that's like for me,
I always think of wine as it's still a seasonally
dictated industry, and that means there's a time of harvest
and there's a time of no harvests from the time
of growth a time of harvest, and I always put

(33:28):
this in a time of healing and a time of wounding,
and there's this.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Weird for every season.

Speaker 5 (33:33):
Yeah, yeah, and there's.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
Not transition parts of the moment. I feel like the
moment you start to feel tired and wounded, we're in
harvest and it's probably happened a few.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Days ago now because we are right in the middle harvest,
but a big feast. But you know, looking at you
guys with harvest going on, there clearly isn't a theme
of like no shaving through harvest or same shirt or something.
You all look pretty clean and taken care of you know,

(34:04):
so you're working with different growers the vines are you know,
you spend time I'm sure in the vineyards kind of
understanding your fruit. Then the wine comes in and you
make it. We know that some wine makers are known
for talking to their wine. That they play music because
they feel that it encourages Do you have any have
you been Have any of you caught each other talking

(34:24):
to the barrels at any point or to the bottles.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
I always make this joke. It's a terrible joke, but
you always have to whip the wine into shape. It's
not something you let go. You put into shape and
you get aggressive and you do this. I think a
lot of people are like, oh, we have this massage.
It's a way. No, it's yours to be commanded.

Speaker 5 (34:42):
And you know, I am talking to Matthew about this.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
And if God intended wine, it doesn't make sense. God
intended vinegar, Man intended wine.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Okay, so you you you have to boss your wine.

Speaker 5 (34:58):
Well.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
We live in a world of transient existence, and wine
very much encapsulates that.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
Whenever I'm walking past the barrels, I always give it
a good slash, like buddy.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Yeah, I always think this is Another funny thing is
that I work with a lot of different wine makers
all across the state. We all talk.

Speaker 5 (35:17):
There's a lot of female.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
Wine makers, there's a lot of mile wine makers. We
all have this kind of common language that we talk
about wine, and usually we refer it, you know, And
I think a lot of people in Europe and especially
in the Romance languages can be more attune to this.
But many people refer to wine as her how is
she doing? How is how is she? How are they?
You know, like that type of thing. And always people

(35:38):
always mentioned to me that. I always say, it's him?

Speaker 5 (35:41):
Why is he that way? Why is it's such an
I don't know why it is. But in my mind
I thought, I.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Thought we stop genderizing our wine.

Speaker 5 (35:49):
But isn't that such a wonder transition. I don't know
why that happens to me.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
It's not such like I think wine is of a hymn.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
This is yes, Okay, guys, you you went to school
to study wine making. You clearly had that path set
in your mind at a young age. But I'm curious,
when you were little boys, what did you want to
be when you grew up? Did you always know this
is what you wanted to do, because clearly you found
your path pretty soon. But what did you want to

(36:17):
be when you grew up?

Speaker 6 (36:17):
On Matthew, I wanted to be a paleontologist. You work
with the dinosaurs.

Speaker 4 (36:22):
Nice?

Speaker 6 (36:23):
Yeah, So then how.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Did you decide that wine making is what you wanted
to do?

Speaker 6 (36:27):
To be honest, I think when I was sixteen or seventeen,
whatever year you're going into your senior year of high school,
I probably googled something along the lines of coolest majors
to major in twenty seventeen, and I accidentally found it
and thought that that seems like absolutely an insane major
to go into. Never thought about becoming a winemaker. Didn't

(36:50):
really think about the guy making the wine. He's the
final product.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
But you're from New York, so you came to Washington
specifically for a program on wine making.

Speaker 6 (36:58):
Yeah, it's depending on who you asked. Number one or
number two in the country for wine making. It's like
top ten in the world, and so it's kind of
an obvious choice. Maybe, Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Andrew, what about you? What did you want to be
when you grew up?

Speaker 4 (37:10):
I had a lot of things that I was thinking about,
Like in middle school, you take a little test for
career paths, and my destined career was a demolition expert,
and I was like, Oh, this sounds really cool, but
then I got like, I thought that was a little
too aggressive, so I kind of transitioned my dreams to

(37:31):
being a marine biologist or something along that lines, working
with animals, and I just always drawn to water. But
then I realized I didn't really want to go to college,
so I thought I'd be a chef for a pro skier,
but really, really what got me kind of turned on
to the wine industry was super serendipitous, and got to
thank my parents for it, but they ended up just
pushing me to go to college. And I was like,

(37:53):
if I'm gonna go to college, I'm gonna move somewhere
in the world where i'd like to be. And so
I googled schools and watch Rington stumbled upon the viticulture
andology program and ended up kind of looking into it
a little bit more and visiting. And I'd never really
been passionate about school, so when I moved out, it
was kind of like a combination of a few things
that I loved through my my past travel experiences and

(38:15):
love for art science, and I was like, wow, this
is something that I could actually imagine myself. So I
thought I'd just give it a shot, and then ended
up falling in love and really kind of ignited a
passion to me that I didn't know existed. So that's
kind of what brought me to where I am today.
So no, no set path, just super serendipitous.

Speaker 5 (38:33):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
What about you, Gabriel, You're like it was that thirteen
when I was thirteen, and I tried.

Speaker 5 (38:38):
That wine was to take either of these two?

Speaker 2 (38:41):
But what did you want to be when you grew up?

Speaker 3 (38:43):
Okay, when I wanted to be when I grew up?
I really wanted to own a Walgreens. Really, that was
my I thought that would be a really cool, interesting job.
Why not section, gift card, section, photo, section, you all
the different things. I don't know why. I just thought
it was such an interesting because you know, when you're
a kid, you go to Waldreens kind of interesting place.
But that was what I wanted to do. That didn't

(39:05):
end up happening. Maybe you could. But my way I
got into wine making is that I had worked for
an international wine company Inporter and hospitality group in Europe
and I started at thirteen studying wine, and I eventually
went to the WST School in London for two years
to get my west At diplomas. And I really wanted

(39:29):
to be able to transcend the wine industry. And I
thought that the things that I needed to learn were
marketing and sales and how to describe wine as a
sort of Sammy a type person. And then I thought
that I was already so invested, I should learn how
to make wine, of course, And from there I was
looking at all different schools as the most school New
Zealand or France or Italy. But I saw that Washington
and one of the big draws for me was that

(39:51):
not only the program was highly acclaimed and very new,
but Washington is a place that you can still enter
in the wine industry at our age and make an impact.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
So, so you were born in Massachusetts, but you were
raised in Europe.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
Is that we moved to Europe when I was thirteen? Okay?

Speaker 2 (40:11):
And then so you finished school in Europe in Europe?
Was then okay? Okay, guys, So when you're not working,
how do you like to spend your free time when
we're working.

Speaker 5 (40:24):
All this other stuff? What did I like to use.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Yeah, what did you used to like to do?

Speaker 6 (40:30):
What?

Speaker 2 (40:31):
What do you wish you could be doing when you
have free time?

Speaker 3 (40:34):
Again?

Speaker 6 (40:34):
What are your passions and hobbies?

Speaker 4 (40:37):
Traveling, hiking, skiing, sailing, Cookay.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
I do every day what I want to do, and
I have.

Speaker 6 (40:43):
A hobby for Okay, I trying to avoid doing anything.
Can just do as as little as possible. Let Angel cook,
let it, Gearbel do whatever he does every day, and
then whenever they're done with that and hang out. No hobbies,
I'd say, Yeah, no hobbies or passions. Yeah, I'm living

(41:07):
my passion. I mean that's great.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
I mean this is an industry that tends to consume
in many ways, because I'm sure as your wine drinking
has exemplified that when you're not working, you like to
drink wine and try different things. So you guys have
had you know, you've started a business, and I'm sure

(41:32):
that you got have been given a lot of advice
along the years, from starting with teachers and parents to mentors.
Is there a piece of advice that somebody gave you
at any point in life that you find that you
carry with you, either in how you live your life
or you approach work or maybe it was a piece
of wine, advice or something hmm.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Stumped you all.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
There's a lot of pieces one one particular piece of
advice that maybe stands out that you live.

Speaker 4 (42:02):
I would say it's not necessarily a piece of advice.
But I think one of the biggest factors or things
that have gotten us to this point is just the
fact that nobody has said no or you should not
do that. Everybody has just been like, sure, go ahead,
yeah you should do that. Yeah it sounds good. Like
nobody has said no. So it's not that we have

(42:24):
like a certain piece of advice that has gotten us here.
Maybe it's the lack thereof that has gotten us here.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Well, I mean, maybe it's advice on how you try
to live your life. I mean, or are something that
someone once told you that you just feel that it
is at your core, something you carry with you.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
I feel like, unfortunately, I'm gonna have to echo andrew
In that we've not I wish there was this wellspring
of economic, financial, agricultural, marketing, and brand development design narrative
that I could draw from here in Prosser or even
Washington the state. But many of the times that we
engage in those conversations very caly overwine or in a

(43:01):
professional setting, people go, I don't know what you know,
And that's sad, sad maybe, but also kind ofvigorating in
the fact that we're all still trying to figure it out. No,
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (43:15):
I feel like we get the keep saying that not
a lot of people tell us don't do anything. Now
we also get a ton of people who are very
open about how happy they are for us, how proud,
how impressed, and so I think, I mean, that's kind
of like a pusher, you know, you don't want to
now let all these people down. So no necessarily motivational,

(43:38):
inspirational anything, but just seeing all the support we've been given,
is I feel like enough to want to keep going
and make it all work well.

Speaker 4 (43:50):
But I was just gonna kind of add maybe like
kind of stemming away from the question or farther towards that,
I would say, there's not necessarily a quote that that's
made me kind of live the life the way that
I am, but I'd say there's definitely people who are
inspiring to us that would definitely kind of showcase or
that would help kind of see what we're trying to

(44:12):
do and how we're trying to live our life.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Yeah, I think advice is sometimes by example. I think
advice is sometimes literal words. Clearly, your parents or the
people that support you growing up told you you could
do whatever you want and have encouraged you, and I
think that is a sense of it. So when you
look back at your career so far, and you guys
have a long path and a long plan of this career,

(44:35):
obviously in mine. But when you look back so far,
what would you say is one of your proudest achievements
so far?

Speaker 5 (44:43):
I can't say I'm really proud of much yet, yas. Yeah,
it sounds bad, but.

Speaker 6 (44:49):
Maybe too much foresight, I expect too much in the future.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
Well, I would say for me, it's I'd admittedly say
I'm a little bit more selfish of a person and
walk a little bit more comfort in my life. And
I haven't quite achieved that moment yet, And once I
can really fully satisfy myself with the interests, and I'd
consider myself a bit more simple of a person. So
when I get those basic necessities, I think that's where
when I'll be most proud of myself for achieving and

(45:15):
putting up a pathway to achieving that lifestyle that I'm
hoping for.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
Yeah, there's been many sacrifices, either with time or personal
finances or just workload in general. I think one of
the most proud things that we have yet to mention
is that originally we started this team in college as
a core group, and in just the last eight to
twelve months, we've doubled our team. And not only is

(45:40):
it just that we've doubled the team, it's that we
took enough foresight and action to understand that there is
many more bottles to be sold to provide for all
the people's houses that we really want to have around us.
And it's something that is not talked about, I'll have
enough in the industry, is that you have to sell
a lot of wine to buy a house. I trying

(46:00):
to get this across from you, because like this is
it's okay to make wine and to sell wine and
to live in a life in which you're trying to prosper.
And that's that's something that you know, we've taken an
understanding and something that we want to get to our employees.
And that's something I'm proud of.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Well, you know, I think that is an achievement. Look,
you've gotten a business off the ground. You're making ten
thousand cases of wine. You guys might not see it now,
but I think you've achieved something in a short period
of time without you know, a pedigree behind you, you
know of generational like family business. I'm sure. I think
it's great that you have the humbleness to know that

(46:36):
you haven't. You can't reflect yet on what you've achieved,
but you have made achievements so far that you should
be very proud of. That said, I want you to
complete this sentence for me. A table without wine is like.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
I can think of any offensive ones go for that's
my depraved mind. No, no, but please, I can speak
for Matthew. Okay, it's a sin table with one.

Speaker 5 (47:14):
I'm just thinking, is this a one word answer? Is
this a stand?

Speaker 2 (47:17):
It's it's your answer, you're filling in the blank. Okay,
A table of that line is like.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
Well, a one word answer would be lame, and then
like a metaphor would be no car without an engine.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Okay, I beat that beat that one.

Speaker 5 (47:37):
Guys still function.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
What it's intended for.

Speaker 6 (47:45):
The body with.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
Okay, Gabriel, now you're two for two.

Speaker 5 (47:52):
I'm just gonna get the cruel ones on my mind.
I don't know what it is.

Speaker 6 (47:57):
Maybe maybe.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
I'm gonna leave us all hanging here. Okay, guys are
sitting at a table, A couple bottles of your sparkling
lines on the table, and there's an empty seat next
to each of you. Who from any walk of life,
living or deceased. I just had this question. Infamous, famous
or maybe not, maybe unknown? But who do you wish
you could share a bottle of your sparkling line with?

Speaker 5 (48:23):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (48:23):
I literally had this question, not exactly this question, but
I'll give my answer to that question for this one. Okay,
So infamous, are they dead or alive?

Speaker 2 (48:31):
It's up to you. Who do you wish you could
share a bottle with? And this is more likely someone
that is not like your parent that you've shared a
bottle or will likely share a bottle with someone that
you aspirationally would love to share a bottle with.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
I'm so happy for this question. I can't tell you,
but so you've given me only one guest, but I
would hope to have maybe two. Fine, it's okay, So
on on my left it would be Benjamin Franklin. Just
finish his autobioraphy, and the reason for is I think
that he is my new religion, and that's because he's
the ultimate pragmatist, which I love, pragmatic thought, really interesting guy.
Love to join his junto. On the other side, Putin,

(49:08):
because I think that the relationship between the two ultimate
pragmatic sort of original founder of democracy love, you know,
all that stuff. And then we have Putin, which is
a more complex character as well, but also maybe not
so diplomatic in many regards as pragmatic.

Speaker 5 (49:25):
Both enjoy wine, although.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
I don't know if Putin would drink it, so.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
It's just I think that would be afraid you poisoned it.

Speaker 5 (49:31):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
I think men would enjoy you.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Okay, well now he's gonna he's gonna outshine you to
come out match that. Now it could be from any
walk of life, and it doesn't have to be as serious,
or it could be equally as.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
Thoughtful as that.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
So I have I have two people, for.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Sure, it's a large table exactly.

Speaker 3 (49:49):
Now.

Speaker 4 (49:50):
I'd say like more mainstream would be Anthony Bourdain on
one end because definitely an inspiration for me. But the
other one would be Jim Harrison, who's definitely a little
bit more kind of like her lesser known but I
would argue he's like the ultimate American hedonist and one
of the best writers of American literature, So I think
he'd be a great person to head at the table.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Okay, Matthew, you get two seats too if you want,
But if you just want one.

Speaker 5 (50:14):
That's fine.

Speaker 6 (50:20):
Definitely I would be with Andrew and Anthony Bourdain inspiration,
like he was saying, so, and I really enjoy maybe
George Costanza's character. That's okay, you know it's aspirational, right, yeah,
I know it seems like it could be a grady thing.
There four chairs.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Again, the whole Okay, there you go, Okay, and you
all answered it. Okay, guys, another aspirational question, and this
is going to be I have some guesses of the answers.
But if you're being sent off to a out of space,

(51:00):
a deserted island, whatever, you can only take three bottles
with you wherever you're going, what three bottles would you take?

Speaker 3 (51:06):
Do?

Speaker 5 (51:07):
I have to trick question? Who water?

Speaker 2 (51:10):
There's water, there's ice, there's temperature control, there's refrigeration. It's
just that you're on your last three bottles. What were
What would your last three bottles be.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
I'm going to go because because I'm thinking smartly, they're
all gonna be Magnums of course, of course. But my
first would be skin contact Arstiko from I really enjoyed this,
this producer in the Greek Islands and they do a
really fantastic who's the.

Speaker 5 (51:39):
Producer, Oh, I shouldn't put that, can't remember.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
I can't remember precisely Kiriyani. I think, oh yeah, Korea, yeah,
but really really cool producer. Love the wine. Skin contact.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
Skin contact is Sirtko yum a.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
Big because that's sort of like an ement because I
drank a lot of Sticoa in Cyprus, of course, being
so so close to all all all those plantings, so
that one for sure. The next bottle I would do
Poggio Anticos, uh, of course, but I would do their
La Madre bottling because it's based on American wine phenomena,

(52:15):
which is American note barrels, which I have a big
pension for, so kind of a weird cross section between
Indy and America and kind of interesting. Also Magnem, thank you,
of course. But the last bottle I would have, I
mean maybe it's a bottle that doesn't exist yet, maybe
my best bottle whenever that time went then, so I

(52:37):
would think I would think.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
You're now so there's no future wine which.

Speaker 6 (52:43):
You tried to get out of that.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
I know, I really have a personal love for Drapa.
I really love the wine at Magnum Bottle. I had
it with the with my with my my father of
a long time ago, and he really seemed to enjoy it.
I just I like, I like the experience.

Speaker 6 (52:58):
Perfect, perfect, matthew Ah, It's a difficult question because am
I considering wines I've had that I know I'll enjoy
for sure?

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Yes, yes, based on that right, right?

Speaker 6 (53:10):
What do I want?

Speaker 2 (53:11):
Maybe it's aspirational, meaning you wish you could try it,
but you just could never get your hands on it.

Speaker 5 (53:15):
Chance, right, my only chance?

Speaker 6 (53:17):
You get this medical wine. I didn't even consider wines
I tried. I would immediately go something Champagne Salon, Okay,
difficult your hands on I would do. Uh maybe just
like Suave Swabbi classic O. Be drinkable, delicious wine.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Open to any producer, the best, whoever.

Speaker 6 (53:39):
You'd have to give me a data look then, like
a de camp or something you know you could sip
on so I turned for how long?

Speaker 3 (53:47):
Right?

Speaker 5 (53:47):
A week?

Speaker 6 (53:48):
Two weeks? Months? Even before it goes.

Speaker 3 (53:50):
Back tragedy of both four answers to school sharing.

Speaker 6 (53:53):
Oh yeah, you've ruined that for me.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
Yeah, and no Maderra because if you really want something
that never dies, Okay, you've been given a reprieve to
think about.

Speaker 4 (54:05):
This, Andrew, So I would say definitely, with my affinity
to all sauce domain ooster doggs uh, Pino, gree SGN bottlings,
that would definitely be one of them. Another would probably
be probably Pentia. Yeah, Pentia. That would definitely be a

(54:29):
bottling that I would be super interested in taking to space.

Speaker 5 (54:33):
Very contemplative and what is that.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
Of course?

Speaker 4 (54:38):
Yeah? And then I feel like I need some sort
of champagne, So maybe a Jim and a special club
from hermans That would probably.

Speaker 5 (54:47):
Be my life.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
I see, guys are good at this. I get people
with so many more years of experience who can give
me a grape. So this is great. This has been fun.
So it's time to play our little fun game of
wine and music pairing. So while we've been talking, I've
had the pleasure to be sipping on your Washington blend.

(55:09):
So I want you to tell me just maybe you
can describe very quickly what the Washington blend is for
our listeners and then each of you if you give
me a song, a musician, a genre that you think represents.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
The Washington not with a different wine.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
No, No, We're going to start with the Washington wine.

Speaker 5 (55:26):
So I guess I can describe it.

Speaker 4 (55:28):
So our Washington blend is a really fun wine that
we make. It's really where we step away from that
Eurocentric dialogue that really persists around wine and just being
unapologetically Washington. It's a blend of chardonnay, pino, green reasling, Alberino, cabernessogno,
and sam Marlow pretty much a blend of every grape
that we utilize in our program because what is Washington.

(55:49):
It has a wonderful diversity in climate and ability to
grow so many different grapes and produce so many different
styles of wine, and flat out we are production nerds,
so we want to showcase that through and through. So
people would be like, oh, that's everything but the kitchen
saying from the bottom of the barrels, But it's actually
one of the first ones that we make every year
because we want it to be super fresh, focused and
hate it have that great energy and profile to it.

Speaker 5 (56:12):
So yeah, it has a nice.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Kind of roundness on the mid palate.

Speaker 5 (56:17):
So it's actually an.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
Extra dry bottling, which is kind of hard to find
in the market, which has a little bit more sweetness
than a Bruts the next level up. So it's a
very very drinkable kind of You could take it out
for a hike in Washington. It's great to drink here
on the East Side that gets one hundred degrees every day.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
So okay, if procrastinated enough, give me a song right.

Speaker 4 (56:36):
Off the bat Beach House album number seven.

Speaker 5 (56:38):
Okay, I'm so terrible with music.

Speaker 6 (56:42):
I'd go wu Tang Clan as a group. It's just
a collection of many components, many people, many grapes that
so perfectly reflect where they're from and showcase that.

Speaker 4 (56:54):
Okay, my answer, I guess to rationalize it is the
Washington Blane that to me is in a bottle. So
I mean, just going to the beach, floating the river
with friends, you name it. You're always just having a
good time watching the sunset. Whatever. That album it fits
every single time. It has the right vibe and will
compliment that bottle in whatever situation.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
And friends you with.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
Okay, I'm gonna I'll move on unless you want to.

Speaker 5 (57:19):
That's fine.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Two out of three is still two really good ones
to great. Okay, that's right. Everyone has their strength. Okay.
So the other glass I've been a sipping is the
Blanc Degree, which is a pinogree.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
It's our most challenging wine to make. Every single year.
I spend so much of my time on it. It's
it's such a it's such a headache, but I love
to do it because it's something that we're super passionate about.
The Blunt Degree. It's one hundred percent pogree. It's this
really interesting dichotomy between a very like tropical fruit profile
but also a bolstered body, so it transcends like opulence

(57:58):
for us, Okay, And it's really challenging style to bake
into sparkly win because you don't typically think of sparklely
wins as being tremendously opulent, the very light body, flinty
and so on. So it's a wine for us that's
that's really trying to showcase, build, grow and make the
legacy of the project.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Okay, Matthew Andrew, I'm looking up.

Speaker 5 (58:20):
You're cheating. Well, I know what album it is.

Speaker 4 (58:24):
In my mind, I believe it's Joshua Bell, the violinist, right,
that's his name. He just released The Elements. I believe
it's kind of his masterpiece. But why I think this
is the album that is the epitome of this wine
is because it's exactly what we're doing with Tears, neo

(58:45):
traditional wre We're trying to create and define new tradition
in the new world, and I think Joshua Bell did
that really well with that composition.

Speaker 5 (58:54):
And it's a.

Speaker 4 (58:55):
Lot more classical, serious, maybe pigeonhole to certain experiences. And
I believe that is the same thing with this wine
is it's classic, it's it's you know, it's rich, it's elegant.
It might not work in every situation, but the situations
that it hits in, it absolutely hits.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
Okay, Matthew, for you, I'm gonna ask you the wine
that you were going to give the aliens is the
blank to blanc. So describe that wine and then tell
me if you have a song or genre for that
or maybe they'll jump into that.

Speaker 6 (59:25):
Yeah, Block Bloc one Shardenay kind of more classic than
the rest of our wines.

Speaker 7 (59:33):
Stylistically, crisp Clean a lot of those like Lemon Citrus notes.

Speaker 6 (59:39):
Something that is you can open it every day, never
get tired of it. A reflection not only of us
and our ability to make high quality wines, but also
of the area we're in and how chardonnay from Washington,
from specific lots of Washington come forth and make tasty wines.
And so it captures all of that without becoming something strange.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Okay, Yeah, And a song or a musician, anyone, anyone.

Speaker 6 (01:00:08):
It's got to be something too obvious. Beethoven, Bozart, so classic,
right that no matter what you know, everyone knows, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
The fundamental of all music.

Speaker 4 (01:00:20):
Yeah, I was thinking, like like an American Americana song, like,
you know, something classic, but maybe maybe not like Don
McLean's American Pie. You know, it's it's just an absolute
classic song. Piano.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
You guys have a nice range of music. Chase here,
I'm impressed. And then the last one, Gabro, you had
picked the reserve, the Grand Let's describe that, and let's
do that one. And then then you guys are off
the hook on the game.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
So the Grand rendition. Everything that we do here is
is basically a non vintage wine, but we also have
a multi vintage wine. So the selections of the previous
years that would treat make our wines, and the grammar
rendition is the first one we blend for for our
highest quality. We call cord Acue based the best of
the best of the everything that we make, so all
the best unique drops of every perfect juice that you

(01:01:14):
could possibly get through a winery door, it goes through
a grand rendition and it's predominantly a Peanore chardonnay, so
it blends both what we want to have inspired in Washington.
Plus also that's very classic and traditional, which makes alas
if titius. So grammar rendition for us is also at
one less aging wine, so it has a little bit
more of this elegant subtlety to it, but with those

(01:01:35):
big drum as one of the degree. So a really
unique wine is something that I'm very passionate about, and
it's something that I'm still learning to talk about because
it is beyond me.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
Okay, so I really love it music.

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
You you know, I I have a certain I'm a
certain type of person that I am so one tracked
in my mind that I've listened to the same I've
songs on repeat for years.

Speaker 6 (01:01:59):
Okay, I think of only heard gear, you listen to
five songs, and so does one of those fits.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
My diversity is my tragedy.

Speaker 5 (01:02:07):
So it's it's really tough.

Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
But I have a particular love for New Jibs, which
is the original concept artist for low fi music, so
very like subtle, you know, low fidelity music, and I
love that music with scenes I'm passionate about, and that's
great conditions. So I'm happy to share you.

Speaker 4 (01:02:25):
Okay, I could name a couple of songs for this.
The one the first one would be like We Are
the World with the Michael Jackson recording of all the
best celebrities of the time and vocalist and it just
takes the best components of all genres of music, brings
it into one and it's just incredibly timeless. I mean,
that song is just going to be on repeat throughout history.

(01:02:46):
The other one that I would say that's a little
bit more personal to me, would be like the BB
King Eric Clapton album Ryan with the King, you know,
some like jazz situation with some good vocals in there
and you know, it's it's just a great, great album.

Speaker 6 (01:02:59):
Wow wow Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
And I toles Messiah and drinking it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
Yeah, guys really are like old men. And you box
a lot, You've lived a lot in twenty five years.
So here's my last question for you. Where in the
world is at the top of each of your bucket
lists to go explore for wine?

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
Ah, this is going to be a very controversial answer. Okay,
I would say, I'm sorry. I'm gonna say Napa Valley.

Speaker 5 (01:03:34):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
The reason for watch is that I got a very
harsh criticism when I was fifteen and I was giving
a talk about some international wines and I'm I'm vuriantly American.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
The fact that he was giving talks on wine in fifteen.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
Anyways, I was giving some talks about wine and from
trying to believe some Bourdeaux producers. But I got this
comment that said, it's the biggest sin of American wine
drinkers is that they know more about European wine they
do their own wine. My history, and I think that
that's that encapsulates a lot of what might even be
wrong with some you know, restrictive of the wine industry.

(01:04:12):
And I think that we owe some some serious debt
to the people in the in the foundation of our
wine ustry, which is based in Napa Valley table Wine Clergy. Wine.
I love that type of thing and I think that
it's something that I would want to learn more about,
which is here in my own countryside. I think that
that's where I'd like to go and explore more. I
love that.

Speaker 6 (01:04:29):
Okay, is there a way to answer that question? Him?

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:04:35):
Everything instantly?

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
But you know what top of your buckets that you
want to go to can be somewhere really well cool.

Speaker 5 (01:04:44):
I have an answer for that.

Speaker 4 (01:04:45):
So I would say, like, for me, want the places
that I want to visit is where man meets nature,
and I think that's what wine is. So the most
beautiful location with great wines. And I think, kind of
going off what ga i'd find myself in the New World,
probably the Apalta region of Chile, because I think some
of the best bordos style wines in the world are

(01:05:08):
coming out of there, and I do love to dreaming them.
But also that's one of the most beautiful places in
the world. And you know, tack on a couple of
days and go down to Patagonia.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
So why not.

Speaker 6 (01:05:20):
I mean, okay, man, all I can think of we're
just the most classic boring answers.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
But if you haven't been there, but they're not boring,
I'd have.

Speaker 6 (01:05:29):
To do just like legendary vineyards, you know, go to
Burgundy La Romani, right, go go over to Latash Latash.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
I mean look, aspirational is meaning you haven't been there.
Top of your bucket list means it's something you plan.
I think hitting those vineyards in all those places are
somewhere you should all go because there's a whole world
to discover. As you know, you drink it, so you
might as well go visit. So on that note, if
people want to come explore your wines, where can they

(01:06:00):
find you? What will they find when they get here?
What kind of experiences do you offer them in your
tasting room?

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
So we've actually just opened a brand new aabilitiy and
taste room. So it's very much like a gardens within
a garden, and it works very well with our labels
because we have brightly colored labels, which is fantastic. But
it's also kind of the epicenter or what was the
epicenter of Washington wine, which is the Walter Klore Vineyard pavilion,
so the kind of the founding father of Washington Wine.

(01:06:27):
It's a big veranda that overlooks the Yakima Valley River,
and what we offer is tastings. We do a lot
of educational sort of tastings inside of our winery where
we explain that the eritis process, garage riddle, disgorge. We
have a lot of example bottles and so on and
so forth with people to see that really really cool
fundamental process that's unique to sparkling wine. So we do
a big educational someone are, we do a tasting of

(01:06:49):
all over one. So we always kind of give something
a little bit extra in that guiding light that I
like to have outside the wine brand, so that people
can take home what they think is what we do best.

Speaker 4 (01:06:58):
And that's always something about us in our fantastic I
think the main guarantees is incredible, authentic Washington sparkling wine
in an absolutely beautiful situation with great people. We have
super diverse crew, so I mean, if you want to
just shoot the ship and talk about life, we can

(01:07:18):
absolutely do that and you don't want to hear a
word about wine or we have Also, our crew is very,
very educated too, so not only are they personal, but
they're educated, so we can really nerd out or just
keep it as simple as possible, but you're guaranteed to
have a great time interact with some really educated, awesome
people and just enjoy Washington sparkling set wine alongside a

(01:07:38):
little bowl of potato chips, because that's what we're doing.

Speaker 6 (01:07:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
Well, of course, guys. I can't thank you enough for
joining us today on Wine Soundtrack. Andrew Gabriel Matthew, it's
been a real pleasure to talk with you all your
guy We could keep going, but I think we've we've
covered enough this time. But I can't wait to see
where you guys go, and I'm looking forward to taking
a little more wine from the So I'm going to
raise a glass to you and say cheers and thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:08:04):
Thank you, thank you, really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
Thanks for listening to a new episode of Wine Soundtrack USA.
For details and updates, visit our website windsoundtrack dot com.