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About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 2015)
September 11, 2015 CapitalPress.com 9 Small winery starts at the right time and place By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS Fujishin Family Cellars For the Capital Press In business: Since 2007 Owner: Martin Fujishin SUNNY SLOPE, Ida- ho — Situated in a perfect place to grow wine grapes, Fujishin Family Cellars takes advantage of the unique high desert climate that produces some of the finest wine in the region. The Snake River Valley AVA (in southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon) has the ideal combination of warm days and cool nights that creates superb grapes. Martin Fujishin says this winery was part of a project that he and his fiancée, Te- resa Moye, started in 2007 — the year they started making wine. “I grew up in this area, on a family farm. Teresa and I met in 2006 and mutually fell in love with the wine business,” he says. “When I was growing up I farmed with my par- ents for a number of years and then started farming on my own. During that time I worked for Koenig Winery on weekends,” he says. “I did sales for them, and was still working for them when I met Teresa, as assistant winemaker and cellar mas- ter.” IRRIGATION EQUIPMENT Location: Sunny Slope, near Caldwell, Idaho They got encouragement along the way. “After I’d been working for them awhile they were kind enough to say that they thought it would be great for us to have our own win- ery. This was why we began our project,” he says. The Fujishin Family Cel- lars started out with a group of wineries in Caldwell and then moved out to the Sun- ny Slope area with the other wineries 5 years ago. “We did one year in Caldwell with a little tasting room that we shared with two other wineries, then branched out on our own; we wanted to be out here in wine country,” Fujishin says. “It’s been a really great experience, and basically a labor of love for myself and Teresa, and now her daugh- ter Helena is also involved in the business. The three of us run it, with just a little part-time help to do the tast- ing room,” he says. In the wine business, there are a lot of big cor- porate wineries, but “we are still a very small fami- ly-owned winery and spe- cialize in the varieties that most people don’t necessar- ily think of for the North- west,” he says. They make wines such as Mourvedre, Petit Bor- deaux, Petit Syrah and others that many wineries might shy away from be- cause they are not the big name varieties. “We tend to specialize in things that are a little bit different. Our other brand, Lost West Winery, is a side project in which we are ac- tually doing varieties from other regions as well,” he says. Martin and Teresa are pleased to be part of the Ida- ho wine community. “It’s wonderful to be part of a small group of wineries who are very supportive of one another. This is a great community in which to start a winery — and one of the few places in the world where you can actually still start a winery and have it not be horribly high-priced, and be acceptably competi- tive,” he says. “We’re still a group that is supportive of each other; we are 50 winer- ies against the world as op- posed to 50 wineries against each other. That’s unique and a lot of fun.” Heather Smith Thomas/For the Capital Press From left, Teresa Moye and her daughter, Helena, are shown with Martin Fujishin at Fujishin Family Cellars in Sunny Slope, Idaho, near Caldwell. JTI Supply is your source for trusted makers of sprayer equipment & parts. BOUGHT. SOLD. CONSIGNED. Design of Effluent Handling Systems - Gates, Valves & Aerators New & Used Parts • Aluminum Pipe • Certa-lok • Siphon Tubes • HDPE • Sand Media Filters • Wheel Lines • Pumps Carlos (209) 481-7677 Jim (209) 986-0099 V15-1/#18 Check out our storage tanks. 541-928-2937 * 1-800-982-1099 • WE DELIVER ANYWHERE See our full inventory at www.jtisupply.com 34020 Holiday St., Albany, OR • West of I-5, off Hwy 34. V15-7/#5 www.pacsouthwestirr.com V15-2/#24