We are partnering with ten winemakers from around the Pacific Northwest. Each has their own style and micro-project
A specialty.
We looked at Long Shadows winery, the negociants of Burgundy, and the Mezcal industry in Oaxaca for inspiration when putting together our little project. This creates a diverse approach and ensures there is always something for everyone.
Our Winemakers
Click on a winemaker to learn more about their story!
Javier Alfonso
Javier is an aerospace engineer by trade and originally from the Ribera del Duero region Spain. We met over a decade ago in a Seattle tasting group and have been friends ever since.
He is an incredibly detailed and creative winemaker and recently purchased his own vineyard in Eastern Washington. We work with Javier on Spanish varietals including Albariño, Tempranillo and Graciano.
Aaron Lieberman
Aaron was one of our original Oregon partners, and he works with vineyards and growers throughout the Willamette Valley.
For our wines he primarily sources fruit from Chalice Vineyard, resulting in wines that have a refreshing purity of fruit, are light on the palate, and bright with mouthwatering acidity. This style is perfect for the island summers and a great compliment to our local seafood.
Travis Maple
Travis works with one of the oldest grape growing families in the Yakima Valley and has access to some incredible estate fruit. From Sangiovese to Chardonnay to Grenache, we’ve collaborated on a number of projects over the years. With ripe fruit and careful blending his style epitomizes the Yakima Valley. His encyclopedic knowledge of the industry is incredible and don’t even get him started on his concrete fermentors and Syrah.
Travis is the best project manager we have on our team and can always make things happen.
Doug Tunnell
Getting Doug on board was a coup as he’s regarded as one of the most brilliant winemakers in the country.
Since returning to his home in the Willamette Valley, he’s been crafting wines from his Biodynamic “Brick House” estate in the Willamette Valley. His wines veer towards Burgundian in style and can be found on the lists at some of the finest restaurants in the world. Some of our longest lived wines we recommend cellaring these- if you have the patience!
Chris Peterson
We’ve known Chris since his days as head winemaker at Delille Cellars and have loved watching him pour his passion into his own winery, Avennia. Chris has relationships with all of the best vineyards in the state and creates balanced, age worthy and stunning wines.
We’ve worked with him on Merlot and Cabernet Franc in the past and in 2019 he put together a Rhone style blend for us. He is one of the most accomplished winemakers in the state, and we’re honored to have him on our team.
Morgan Lee
Morgan originally hails from Indiana but moved to Washington after college and never looked back. We’ve had countless adventures over the years, and he’s currently making us a Grenache Blanc.
He personally puts our wines in the back of his pickup truck and drives them up to the island at least once a year. And he also loves Mezcal. The fun never stops!
Andrew Brandy-Smith
We’ve been friends with Andrew since our early Seattle restaurants days and waited patiently to work with him. We watched his Willamette Valley trajectory from Shea Wine Cellars to Soter Vineyards to current home at Antiquum Farm.
He’s a philosopher by trade and only works with farmers growing organically who share his values. Andrew makes several tiny production wines for us and we love to play around. Without intervening these wines are about as natural as you will find.
Riley Miller
Riley is one of the newer winemakers to join our team and we’re thrilled to work with him. After WSU, he traveled the world learning about winemaking from some of the best including SOMOS in Australia, Kosta Browne in California and Bergstrom Wines in Oregon.
By day he manages Elephant Mountain Vineyards in Yakima Valley, and he also loves experimenting with new grapes and new styles. One of the rising stars of our local industry we’re going to have fun for years to come.
