Vineyard Management

The reason Paul chose Italian grapes is mostly because of his love for Italian wines and Italian food.  “We also like the fact that Italian wines are typically made without the use of new oak, so they have a purity of varietal flavors not found in most French and Spanish wines that rely heavily on new oak barrels”, says Paul.  The terroir at Wilridge Winery is very similar to northern Italy.  They are located at the same latitude as Piemonte, Friuli and the Veneto regions of Italy.  The Cascade Mountains protect local vines as the Alps do in Northern Italy, offering a similar climate and extended growing season.

Wilridge consists of about 80 acres with 14 acres dedicated to vines home to 22 grape varieties.  Four acres are dedicated to pears and apples used to make brandy at their distillery.  They also make grappa from their Italian grapes as well.  About one-third of their grapes are Italian with another third dedicated to French grapes and one third Portuguese, Spanish, Austrian and German grapes. In 2007 they became organic and biodynamic certified and were the first ones of Washington state per their website.   

They are located on a one million year old Andesite lava flow, the largest in the world.  The rest of the Eastern Washington wine country is on basalt bedrock and was subject to catastrophic floods.  They were above the floods and therefore have some of the best soil for viticulture in the state.

Wilridge Vineyard is known for its many different grape varieties.  We were the first vineyard to plant Sagrantino and Touriga Franca in the Pacific Northwest and were the second to plant Zweigelt.  However, if Wilridge has one wine that has achieved “cult” status, it must be our Nebbiolo.  In 1990, we gained access to the second oldest planting of Nebbiolo in Washington State – from Klipsun Vineyard on Red Mountain.  Adding the famous northern Italian grape to our portfolio immediately differentiated us at that time from other Washington wineries that focused on Bordeaux red varieties.  But Nebbiolo is a fickle grape, and it took several years working with Klipsun Vineyard manager Fred Artz to learn how to both tame the vigorous vines while also coaxing the sensitive grapes to fully ripen.  We were twice invited by the Consorzio di Nebbiolo to bring our wines to northern Italy, where we were honored as the best Nebbiolo made outside of Italy and featured in La Stampa – the Torino newspaper.  I think the Piemontese respected us because our wines exhibited classic Nebbiolo varietal character.

Shortly after planting Nebbiolo at Wilridge Vineyard in 2007, I traveled to Piemonte and studied pruning techniques for Nebbiolo with growers from Produttori del Barbaresco.  Based on these studies, we have implemented specialized trellising and pruning techniques that we think are a key to getting Nebbiolo to ripen consistently.  The long growing season and lack of rain at harvest are other reasons why our Naches Heights Nebbiolo has been so successful.  In the rare years when we cannot get the grapes fully ripe, we make a delightful sparkling rose’ of Nebbiolo.