“Friendly, approachable, and vivacious, yet also dark and mysterious. Black cherry, allspice, black ash, and orange blossom. Thyme and flint… Dark fruit, cedar, kelp, black pepper, juniper, crushed rock, and tons of complex floral notes. Fear not, embrace it!”

Charles planted the 38-acre estate vineyard in the heart of the Walla Walla Valley, located over 1200 feet in elevation. The soils are well-drained with cobblestone river rocks and underlying layers of sand and gravel deposits, allowing vines to develop very deep and strong roots. The deep sand and silt below the stones bring a great purity to the grapes, while high elevations keep acids high, producing very well-balanced wines with remarkable complex characters.

The 2019 vintage was on the cooler side as it started slow with a later-than-usual bud break and continued on to be fairly moderate throughout the year. Some vineyards had issues with an October freeze a bit earlier than usual, but our high-elevation vineyards have great air drainage which allows us to extend the growing season late into October without freeze. This yielded fantastic ripening and some awesome wines with incredible balance and character. Overall, we are excited about the wine produced in 2019, which has brought us more finesse, incredible flavors, and lovely balance.