Through its first 30 years, Leonetti Cellar has earned its reputation as Washington's best winery by never settling for anything less than the best. And as the second generation takes over the winery, that focus could not be in better hands with Chris Figgins.
Figgins, 34, joined the family business in 1996 after graduating from Washington State University with a horticulture degree. He began to get into wine in college and was considering what direction to go for a career. Ultimately, he called his dad and said, "What if I get a horticulture degree? Could we plant our own vineyards?" Today, he's the winemaker.
While he's undoubtedly his father's son, he's no clone. He spends much of his time tending the three estate vineyards, and he's much more visible than his parents ever were.
"I think it's a mix of personality and youthful energy," he said. "It's also a bit of the maturation of our business. I want to give back to our industry, so you see me saying yes to speaking at Taste Washington and making more appearances."
He also is starting to see what his parents went through, as people ask more and more from him.
"In the last five years, I've learned to say 'no' more often. Mom has been good at helping me learn this."
He's also going in directions his parents likely didn't consider. He's the vineyard consultant on Éritage, a project that will include private residences, vineyards and wineries. At least as significantly, he's teamed up with NFL great Drew Bledsoe on a vineyard and winery project called Double Back. Bledsoe and Figgins attended Walla Walla High School and WSU together.
"This is not your typical celebrity wine project," Figgins said. Rather, Bledsoe deeply respects wine and sees this as his second career after football. The first wine will be released in 2010.
Figgins has no plans to change Leonetti, though he isn't standing still, either.
"I really like the direction we're going now, and we'll keep Leonetti focused on the four wines we're doing. We are going to add some new projects."
His idea is to create sister wineries under the name Figgins Family Wine Estates. The focus will be similar: small lots, ultra-high quality and focused on Walla Walla Valley fruit. He anticipates crushing a little fruit this fall for it.
"Like Leonetti, we want to go very slowly," he said. "We don't want to do the Mondavi thing (and grow too quickly). We want to manage growth and keep quality very high. We can't afford to do less than a perfect job. The standard has been set. We have to achieve absolute quality."
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