A8
OREGON
East Oregonian
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Wineries thrive in Eastern Oregon
to sell his grapes to wineries in
areas, such as the Willamette
Valley, in order to be true to the
concept of an Oregon-specific
identity for wines made from
warm-climate grapes.
Taking some marketing risks
By GEOFF PARKS
For the Capital Press
ECHO — The tiny Eastern
Oregon town of Echo — with all
of 700 residents — boasts a full
measure of resident wineries with
the 2012 establishment of Echo
Ridge Cellars at the southwestern
edge of town.
Echo Ridge is the second win-
ery — the other is Sno Road Win-
ery, established in 2004 — to be
sited in the old town, formerly a
major stop on the old Oregon Trail
in the mid-19th century.
In true Eastern Oregon style,
the business is run by the hard
work and pioneer vision of the
Bales family.
Jay Bales, 59, retired from the
construction industry in the Seat-
tle area, moved with his wife,
Kim, 55, and family to Echo after
purchasing Flying B Vineyard
in 2010. Sited between Umatilla
River bottomland and the basalt
cliffs of Alkali Canyon, the now-
89-acre vineyard, mostly planted
between 2006 and 2008, was
added to and renamed Firethorn
Vineyard.
The 11-acre property on which
the 2,500-square-foot winemak-
ing facilities and 400-square-foot
tasting room are located once
was a farm. The property is on
the main highway through Echo
and is about 1.5 miles from the
vineyard.
The Baleses took a 1945 lap-
wood grain elevator on the prop-
erty, converted it into the tast-
ing room and feature it on Echo
Ridge’s wine labels. Wine is made
in the adjacent 1909-era building.
Thanks to the mid-2000s
plantings by the former vine-
yard owner, “we were able to
start producing wine our first
year here,” said Berlyn Bales, 30,
Echo Ridge’s co-owner, winery
operations director and assistant
winemaker.
“This last bottling we did over
2,000 cases,” she said. “Typically
for us, we’re closer to 1,000 to
1,500 cases, so we’re really small.”
Echo Ridge Cellars is con-
sidered part of the large
Columbia
Valley
American
Viticultural Area.
“We just replanted
2 acres of Cabernet
Sauvignon four years
ago so the newest
ones are just coming
on line now.”
Jay Bales , Owner
Photo contributed by Geoff Parks
Kim, left, Berlyn and Jay Bales in the barrel room of their Echo Ridge Cellars in Echo. Echo Ridge is the second
winery — the other is Sno Road Winery, established in 2004 — to be sited in the old town, formerly a major stop
on the old Oregon Trail in the mid-19th century.
“We just replanted 2 acres of
Cabernet Sauvignon four years
ago so the newest ones are just
coming on line now,” Jay said.
“We’re trying to sell about 80
percent of our grapes. We’ve got
plenty of fruit here, and it’s a
great product.”
He said a long-term goal is
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may pay off in the short term
for the winery. Echo Ridge for
the first time this year produced
700 gallons of blended red wine
in single-serve, to-go only, 8.4-
oz. aluminum cans, labeling it
“Rodeo Red.”
“We just started selling them
(in mid-June),” Berlyn said. Jay
added that the family is “still
trying to find a niche for the
cans. We’ve got a lot of rodeos
going on over here and cans are
an easy, single-glass pour where
somebody doesn’t have to buy a
whole bottle.”
The 16 blocks of wine grapes
were planted into a top layer of
loess soil, and they enjoy, the
Baleses say, “free-draining soils
and aspects suited to each clone.”
The winery’s current offer-
ings consist of typical Bordeaux
varietals, such as Cabernet Sau-
vignon, Cabernet Franc, Mal-
bec, Petit Verdot and Merlot as
well as Syrah and a red blend
called Three Blondes and a Boy.
Muscat Canelli white grapes are
also utilized, and a small num-
ber of bottles of dessert wine
called Arrete is produced from
them.
A higher-end Bordeaux-style
blend called Cinq Blocs is sourced
from grapes from five of the vine-
yard’s dedicated blocks of grapes.
The first vintage of Cinq Blocs
was from 2016’s crop.
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