September 9, 2016
CapitalPress.com
5
Winery part of Idaho’s burgeoning industry
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
Cinder Wines
For the Capital Press
Location: Garden City, Idaho
In a sense, this winery got
its start in pre-history.
“Our company is named
after volcanic cinders found
in this valley,” explains wine-
maker Melanie Krause. “Cin-
der is formed when volcanoes
erupt underneath water, which
happened in the area around
Nampa and Caldwell —
which was under an ancient
lake at one time.”
She learned to make wine
while working for Chateau
Ste. Michelle in Washington
state.
“My business partner and
husband, Joe Schnerr, covers
sales and marketing while
I focus on winemaking and
vineyard relations. We’ve
been making wines here in
Idaho for 10 years and are
very excited about how our
company has grown, and how
well the wine industry is do-
ing in Idaho.”
Krause believes it was a
good decision to return to her
hometown to start their wine
business.
“I grew up in Boise and
was gone for 12 years while
going to college at Wash-
ington State University and
becoming a winemaker,” she
said.
She decided to be a wine-
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Since: 2005
Owners: Melanie Krause and
Joe Schnerr
Courtesy of Cinder
Melanie Krause and her business partner and husband, Joe
Scherr, operate Cinder, a winery near Garden City, Idaho.
maker when she moved to the
Tri-Cities area of Washington,
located in the state’s wine
country.
“I had a good background
for this, with degrees in biol-
ogy and Spanish, and a lot of
work history in agriculture.
Plus it didn’t hurt that I grew
up in my mother’s kitchen,”
Krause said.
She learned winemaking
on the job, irst in the vine-
this industry, much of your
success is tied to the repu-
tation of the region, so it is
crucial to have partners like
the Idaho Wine Commission
helping market Idaho wines
to local, regional and interna-
tional press.
“We just received a
92-point score from Wine
Enthusiast magazine with our
Tempranillo, and we’ve had
several ‘Best of Class’ at the
Sunset International Wine
Competition,” she said.
The irst 10 years were
spent establishing the winery
and strong relationships with
growers.
“The next 10 years will be
about pushing the envelope
with the quality of the wines
as new plantings come on in,
and new vineyards are start-
ed,” she said. “I predict that
the quality and quantity of
world-class wines from the
Snake River Valley will con-
tinue to grow in the next de-
cade. The Idaho Wine Com-
mission likes to say that Idaho
has arrived, but I am always
planning the future and feel it
will become even better.”
Cinder contracts with six
local vineyards in the Snake
River Valley AVA (American
Viticulture Area), which has
a unique climate conducive
to grape growing and good
wines. The Cinder tasting
room and winery, in the same
building, are open seven days
a week in Garden City, 10
minutes from downtown Boi-
se.
“Our beautiful tasting
room is very friendly. People
like to sit and have a glass of
wine here, or explore the win-
ery and learn something new
about wines they might other-
wise never try,” she said.
“Our most popular wines
include Viognier and Syrah.
We are also having fun mak-
ing Tempranillo, a Spanish
variety that grows in areas of
Spain like the Ribera del Du-
ero that are very similar cli-
matically to our area,” Krause
said.
Cinder is a family business
that started with just Krause
and her husband.
“We only made 2 barrels
of wine the irst year in 2006,
which is about 45 cases,” she
said. “Now we have seven
full-time employees, quite a
few part-time employees and
produce 7,000 cases per year.
We have been growing rapid-
ly and feel fortunate to have
really great people on our
team.”
yards for two years and then
during an apprenticeship in
the winery at Chateau Ste.
Michelle.
But Idaho winemaking is
her focus.
“It’s exciting to see new
planting going on, and match-
ing of different varieties to the
land here in Idaho,” she said.
Idaho wines are getting
good scores in the big wine
publications, she adds. “In
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