Friday, Mar. 12, 2010

Snipes Mountain: Washington's living history

By Andy Perdue, Wine Press Northwest

As Todd Newhouse walks up and down the rows of his family's vineyard, he senses the history around him. Here, high above the Yakima Valley floor, roams the spirit of the patriarch of the Washington wine industry

"I would like William Bridgman to see what the industry has become," said Newhouse, the third generation of his family to tend to Washington's most historic vines.

The Newhouses own Upland Vineyards on Snipes Mountain, a 1,310-foot upthrust in the middle of the Yakima Valley near the city of Sunnyside. Snipes Mountain became the state's 10th American Viticultural Area in early 2009. It is Washington's second-smallest appellation (after Red Mountain, also in the Yakima Valley) at 4,145 total acres and has about 900 acres of vineyards, 700 of which are part of Upland.

The remarkable story of Snipes Mountain and William B. Bridgman might well have been lost to time and the dusty soil of the Yakima Valley were it not for The Wine Project, a 1997 book by Ron Irvine that chronicles the history of the Washington wine industry. And without Bridgman, Washington's winemaking landscape would be remarkably different.

"A lot of people refer to Walt Clore as the father of Washington wine," Newhouse said. "You could take that a step further and say W.B. Bridgman was the grandfather of Washington wine. In fact, it was Bridgman who convinced Walt Clore to plant wine grapes at the WSU extension center, and all of the early cuttings that Walt Clore planted came from Bridgman's Snipes Mountain vineyard."

Snipes Mountain is named for Ben Snipes, who built a house and operated a cattle ranch there in the 1850s. In 1917, Bridgman, twice-elected mayor of Sunnyside, planted wine grapes on Snipes Mountain. Some of those original vines, including Thompson Seedless and Muscat of Alexandria, still produce grapes to this day. Adjacent to Snipes Mountain is Harrison Hill, where Bridgman planted table grapes in 1914 and later put in wine grapes.

In 1934, soon after national Prohibition was repealed, Bridgman launched Upland Winery on Snipes Mountain (the winery building still exists today, though it's no longer used). He produced table wines made from classic European grape varieties as well as the sweet, fortified wines that proved popular in Washington into the 1960s.

He sold Harrison Hill to Associated Vintners (which later became Columbia Winery) in the early 1960s. They planted the 5-acre vineyard to Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties, some of which remain today.

Bridgman sold the winery in 1960 and died in 1968. The winery, whose name was changed to Santa Rosa Winery after Bridgman it, closed in 1972, and the vineyards were sold to Al Newhouse the next year. At that time, the vineyard was about 80 acres.

The Newhouses were no strangers to farming. The family began growing alfalfa in the Yakima Valley in 1913 and started the valley's first dairy operation in the 1920s. Al Newhouse planted his first wine grapes - Chardonnay - in 1968. After acquiring Upland Vineyards and renaming it Newhouse Farms to reflect the family's diversity of crops, Newhouse planted Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the early 1970s, Steve and John Newhouse, Al's sons, became involved full time in the farming operation. Al Newhouse and his six brothers farmed together until 1982. The family was big into hops and Al wanted to focus on wine grapes and tree fruits, so they amicably split up the operation and the name changed to Upland Farms.

In the mid-1990s, Todd Newhouse joined the operation after graduating from Whitman College in Walla Walla with a degree in history. His two younger brothers have since joined the family business. A cousin, who also owns a vineyard on Snipes Mountain, is Dan Newhouse, the state director of agriculture and a former state legislator.

Today, Todd Newhouse oversees an operation that includes wine grapes, juice grapes, cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, prunes, pears and apples.

Most of the grapes on Snipes Mountain go to Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville and Hogue Cellars in nearby Prosser, though more than 20 other wineries also purchase grapes from Newhouse, including Vin du Lac of Chelan, Thurston Wolfe in Prosser and Brian Carter Cellars in Woodinville.

The Newhouses also own Harrison Hill, a few minutes from Snipes Mountain. All of the grapes go to DeLille Cellars in Woodinville, Wash., which produces a red blend called Harrison Hill. It was the first vineyard-designated wine to come from Newhouse-grown grapes.

In 2006, the Newhouse family launched Upland Estates, reviving the name of Bridgman's operation that began soon after Repeal. The first wine, released in 2007, was a 2006 Gewurztraminer. The 2007 Malbec won best in show last fall at the Tri-Cities Wine Festival in Kennewick. The wines are made by Robert Smasne in nearby Grandview. Today, the winery makes about 650 cases, which will grow to about 1,500 cases in the next two years. Upland has a tasting room at the foot of Snipes Mountain, just outside the appellation boundary.

With Joan Davenport, a professor of soil science at Washington State University's research station in Prosser, Newhouse, 36, began working on a petition to recognize Snipes Mountain and Harrison Hill as an official AVA. Davenport, who owns DavenLore Winery in Prosser with her husband, Gordon Taylor, did all the geological research and handled most of the petition writing. The federal government approved it Jan. 21, 2009.

"Without her, it wouldn't have happened," Newhouse said.

DavenLore's 2007 Syrah Forte, a Port-style red released last summer, was the first wine to use the new Snipes Mountain AVA on the label.

Larry Lehmbecker, owner and winemaker of Vin du Lac of Chelan, our 2010 Northwest Winery of the Year, has used Snipes Mountain grapes since 2002, his first vintage.

"Snipes Mountain is a special place," Lehmbecker said. "Todd and I had a mutual friend, so I went down there for fruit. Todd had this block that fit well with what I wanted to do."

Those four rows of Cabernet Franc on the slightly cooler north side of the hill have gone into Vin du Lac's consistently great wines.

Bob Bertheau, head winemaker for Chateau Ste. Michelle, primarily uses white grapes from Snipes Mountain. He loves the balanced nature of Snipes because it's warmer than the surrounding Yakima Valley but not as hot as other areas of the Columbia Valley.

"The soil is more gravely and rocky as you climb the hill," Bertheau said. "That adds character to the wines."

Bob Betz, a Master of Wine and owner/winemaker of Betz Family Winery in Woodinville, began using Snipes grapes last fall.

"In my 35 years in the Columbia Valley, I'd never been on Snipes Mountain," Betz said. "I was blown away, as I had never seen soil like this in the Columbia Valley in all my years."

Betz described the huge amount of cobble as "sweet potato rocks" because of their shape and size as well as their ability to absorb and hold heat, which helps grapes continue to ripen even after the sun sets. Betz is crafting a Grenache using grapes from Snipes and three other sites.

"For me, it's a great place for Grenache. What I see right now is vibrant color, great depth of fruit and great character. I'm excited about it."

Which brings us back to W.B. Bridgman, the man who had a vision for what Washington wine could be nearly a century ago. Bridgman truly was ahead of his time, as the European-style table wines he wanted to make simply were not popular in post-Prohibition Washington. When he sold Upland in 1960, he no doubt saw it as a failure and was unlikely able to envision that his pioneering work would be thriving some four decades later.

"Bridgman would be thrilled to see some of the grapes he planted still here," Newhouse said. Rows of Thompson Seedless vines planted in 1917 by Bridgman, with thick, gnarly trunks, continue to produce huge clusters of grapes. Next to them is Muscat of Alexandria that was planted the same year, which Newhouse uses for his Upland Winery ice wine.

"When you go by these old vines, you're always reminded of (the history)," Newhouse said. "I think Bridgman would be pleased. This is an extension of the dream he had. Little did he know it would be revived again.

"This is a special place."

Visiting Snipes Mountain

There are no tasting rooms on Snipes Mountain, making it the only AVA in Washington without one. However, Upland Estates has two tasting rooms:

Upland Estates, 6141 Gap Road, Outlook, Wash., 509-839-2606. It is open by appointment.

Tim's Place, 312 E. Yakima Ave., Yakima, Wash., 509-248-5251. Open daily.

For more information, go to uplandwinery.com

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