April 14, 2017
CapitalPress.com
7
Family makes switch from tree fruit to vineyards
For the Capital Press
MARSING, Idaho — The
Williamson family has grown
tree fruit for four generations,
but now the orchard is transi-
tioning to vineyards.
“My cousin Patrick, my
sister Beverly and I took over
management from my father
Roger and Patrick’s father
John. Before them it was my
grandfather John, and he took
over from his uncle Henry
Williamson,” Michael Wil-
liamson said.
Their orchards have done
well over the years, but now
they are making the switch
to winemaking. They started
planting vineyards in 1998.
“We’ve cut back a lot of
our fruit, though we still have
a few peaches, cherries and
apricots. Our main focus now
is wines,” he said.
The focus for their prod-
Courtesy of Williamson Family
From left, Michael, Beverly and Patrick Williamson represent the
fourth generation to manage the family business.
ucts has always been flavor.
“Customers at our fruit
stands were always telling us
our fruit tastes the best. Fla-
vor is what wine is all about,
so we thought we could also
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grow good wine grapes,” Wil-
liamson explained.
The climate and soil are
perfect on the Sunnyslope for
growing fruit or grapes. “For
wine, you definitely want the
right soil and terrain. You
don’t want a heavy soil that
retains moisture; you want the
water to drain out. ... We don’t
get much rain, which is great
because we can stress the
plants just a little and reduce
the amount of growth that
goes into leaves and vines. We
can control the amount of wa-
ter with our drip irrigation.”
In this high desert climate,
moisture can be perfectly con-
trolled, and this is what gives
unique flavors to the wine that
other climates cannot. “We
can obtain a little higher acid-
ity, which adds a nice balance
to the flavor,” he said.
“We also get the contrast
of hot days and cool nights
during their ripening period in
the fall. This helps build sug-
ars (in fruit crops or grapes)
in the daytime with photo-
synthesis and then at night it
cools down and holds onto the
acidity — so you get a nice
balance of sweet and crisp.”
When the Williamsons
planted their first vines, Ste.
Chappelle — the biggest win-
ery in Idaho — was offering
contracts to growers.
“They talked to us and
we showed them some of
our ground and they thought
it would be great for grapes.
Our smaller orchard equip-
ment matches what we need-
ed for vineyards and we
also had the necessary labor
pool. So we started grow-
ing for Ste. Chappelle and
then planted more than our
contract.”
The Williamsons decided
to make some wine them-
selves with the additional
grapes and talked with a new
local winemaker at that time,
Greg Koenig. “He looked at
our vines and thought they
were great, and decided to
make wine for us,” William-
son said.
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