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10 CapitalPress.com September 11, 2015 Winemaker lobbies Olympia while building brand By ERICK PETERSON Wilridge Winery For the Capital Press Owner: Paul Beveridge SEATTLE — Having opened Wilridge Winery in 1988, winemaker Paul Beve- ridge has seen competitors come and go, and he boasts that his business is the “old- est continuously operated winery in Seattle.” The business started as a hobby, he said. Then he “started making more wine than he could drink” and decided to make even more wine and market it. This worked well for his family, as his wife was enter- ing the restaurant business, starting a French-style bistro, which helped him with his first sales. A lawyer by trade, he lob- bied Olympia for change that would benefit Wilridge and other Washington winemak- ers, he said. After three years, he helped convince the state liquor board to allow restau- rants and wineries in the same building. “That was kind of inter- esting,” he said. “I spent a lot of time in Olympia, trying to First opened: 1988 Location: Seattle and Yakima, Wash. Varieties: Various white and rose wines, red wines and dessert wines Erick Peterson/For the Capital Press Wilridge Winery Assistant Manager Sara Gurdey and co-worker Hailee Pinzel pour a glass of wine at a tasting room near Yakima, Wash. modernize the wine laws.” He followed up with oth- er fights related to regulat- ing wine businesses, helping to change rules that dated to Prohibition. He has done much of this work through professional organizations, including Family Wineries of Washington State, of which he is currently president. There, he has been pushing for the free market and sup- port for small wineries and wine consumers, he said. Meanwhile, during the “slow process” of wine in- dustry deregulation, Wilridge continued to grow, expand- ing into a cooperative tasting room, “The Tasting Room,” at Seattle’s Pike Place Mar- ket and planting a vineyard in Naches Heights, near Ya- kima, Wash. With growing success, around eight years ago he quit his lawyering “day job” to focus on wine. The purchase of the Na- ches Heights property and planting a vineyard were particularly exciting, he said. He planted 12 acres in a test block of 22 varietals: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Mer- lot, Petite Verdot, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, Mourvedre, Viognier, Bar- bera, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Sagrantino, Pinot Grigio and White Muscat. More varieties are to come, he said, as he deter- mines the best grapes for the location. Business is good, both in Seattle and in Yakima, ac- cording to Beveridge and his employees. Wilridge Win- ery Assistant Manager Sara Gurdey said the small tasting room near Yakima can attract 200 visitors in an ordinary day. People have good rea- son to drop in, she said. The winery hosts special events, including live music in the middle of the week. “But the wine is still the thing,” she said. Though peo- ple visit for the music and en- tertaining atmosphere, they buy the wine because it is good, she said. Sweat, worry and joy mold winegrower’s art By JULIA HOLLISTER For the Capital Press Three T4000F Series narrow model combine outstanding power and maneuverability with the narrow width, lower center of gravity and sleek design needed when working in the tight rows and close quarters of orchards and vineyards. METRO NEW HOLLAND 1-877-235-0811 • (503) 647-5577 V15-7/#8 SALES • SERVICE • PARTS 29685 NW West Union Rd • North Plains, OR HEALDSBURG, Calif. — Scott Johnsen, a self-described “plant geek,” is one of the wine- growers behind Frei Brothers Reserve and that’s where he likes to be. “I grew up in Southern Cal- ifornia and was introduced to agriculture by my dad,” he said. “I would spend a lot of time by his side learning how to garden, grow and take great care of our plants.” After graduating from the University of California-Davis, he worked in viticulture and winemaking in France and the Napa Valley, eventually becom- ing an intern for E.&J. Gallo Winery in Sonoma County and then moving to his current posi- tion with Frei Brothers wines. Johnsen grows Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sau- vignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir, as well as few blender grapes like Petite Sirah and Malbec. But there is one grape that is more finicky than the rest. “Pinot Noir is the one grape that keeps me up at night,” he said. “Pinot is challenging to grow because of its thin skin, making these grapes more sus- ceptible to fungus, mildew and sunburn. We manage this by planting our grapes in the sites where they grow best, meaning the Russian River Valley.”