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CapitalPress.com
September 8, 2017
Walla Walla Vintners a Washington pioneer
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
Courtesy of Walla Walla Vintners
From left, Scott Haladay, Myles Anderson and Gordy Venneri. What started as a hobby eventually
turned into Walla Walla Vintners, among the first wineries in the Walla Walla, Wash., area.
we could make small batches
of homemade wine. That little
hobby went on for 14 years,”
Vinneri said.
They experimented and
expanded their wines and in
1995 made their first com-
mercial wines. They launched
Walla Walla Vintners — with
675 cases of wine — as
the eighth winery in Walla
Walla.
The wine business has
blossomed.
“It took 17 years to get
from the first commercial
winery in 1978, to the eighth
(our winery) in 1995. Now it’s
gone from 8 to over 120 win-
eries just in the Walla Walla
area alone and 900 in the state
of Washington — plus Ore-
gon, Idaho and British Co-
lumbia,” he said.
“After small beginnings,
our winery earned a reputa-
tion for traditionally crafted,
elegant wines served in a
beautiful rustic and friendly
setting on a plateau in the
shadow of the Blue Moun-
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It all began in 1981 when
Gordy Venneri and Myles An-
derson began making home-
made wine. Venneri is a sec-
ond-generation Walla Walla,
Wash., native whose roots go
back to the small Italian vil-
lage of Serra Pedace.
“After a trip to Italy, I
got the wine ‘bug’ and en-
joyed having table wine with
meals,” he said. It was a
life-changing visit to meet his
Italian relatives.
When he got home, he
looked for wine grapes so he
could make a barrel of wine
for home use. He and Myles
Anderson, a fellow teacher at
Walla Walla Community Col-
lege, started making wine for
fun.
“I found some guys who
had planted wine grapes and
talked them into selling us
1,000 pounds of grapes, so
tains. Our logo is a red barn,
which is on our label.”
He wanted an image that
fit the landscape.
“You wouldn’t want a
French chateau in the middle
of farm country. So we built
traditional-looking buildings
that fit the farming, haying,
and cow country of Eastern
Washington. We are real peo-
ple who happen to make wine,
this appeals to ordinary peo-
ple. Our market is the North-
west and West Coast and we
want to fit our agricultural tra-
ditions,” Venneri said.
Walla Walla was a sleepy
little farm town, then tourism
became an important compo-
nent. “This meant wineries,
hotels, restaurants, vacation
rentals, real estate businesses,
people buying second homes
in Walla Walla, coming from
Seattle, Boise and other big
cities,” he said.
Venneri grew up here, went
to college, and came back.
“I’ve seen the town change
a lot in 60 years. We still have
traditional agriculture, but
the wine industry is the new
kid on the block. This indus-
try has three phases — grape
growing, wine production,
and tourism. Some areas just
grow grapes and make wine,
but we have all three,” he ex-
plained.
“Our winery started out
buying grapes from growers
and making blends. We still
do that, but also have 11 acres
of our own estate grapes. Now
we market 6,000 to 8,000 cas-
es of wine annually,” said
Venneri.
The wines include Cab-
ernet Sauvignon, Cabernet
Franc, Merlot, Malbec and
Sangiovese. About 70 percent
of these wines are marketed
directly to consumers through
the tasting room at the win-
ery, their wine club or e-com-
merce. About 30 percent is
sold wholesale to restaurants
and wine shops — directly or
through distributors in Califor-
nia, Oregon, Montana, Idaho
and a couple small distributors
in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
When Anderson retired
from winemaking in Febru-
ary 2017, the Haladay family
became co-owners of Walla
Walla Vintners. Scott Hala-
day became general manager.
Venneri still directs wine-
making and grower relations,
while Haladay oversees strat-
egy, marketing and sales.
Anderson was inducted
into the Legends of Washing-
ton Wine Hall of Fame in 2011
and awarded the Lifetime
Achievement Award from
Washington Association of
Wine Grape Growers in 2014.
He helped create the Institute
for Enology and Viticulture
at Walla Walla Community
College. He and Venneri as-
sisted other wineries as they
were getting started and were
named “2016 Pacific North-
west Winery of the Year” by
Wine Press Northwest.
When Anderson decided
to retire, Venneri searched for
a partner with business expe-
rience and skills that would
complement winery opera-
tions, logistics and customer
service.
Scott Haladay and his
wife, Nici are looking forward
to raising their young family
in Walla Walla.
“Our plans include refresh-
ing our packaging, updating
our red barn tasting room and
adding outdoor entertaining
space,” said Venneri.