Winos Drinking Wine: Red Mountain & Prosser

As with all of our reviews, opinions, quips and rants, they are of little consequence to you, the reader. What we are really trying to do here is encourage you to get out and experience these venues for yourself. Try the wines, meet those who make it possible, and take in the environment. Wine is not just about juice, it’s about tradition, friends, and natural processes. So, get out there. Take a trip, visit these places and expand thy palate. -The Publishers

Airfield Estates Winery
560 Merlot Drive
Prosser, WA 99350

Stepping into Airfield’s tasting room in Prosser’s Vintner’s Village is like stepping into a hangar. Highceilinged and airy, there are huge windows framing the barrels in the business end of the winery. The floor is made from the staves of whiskey barrels, and their logo (an inexplicably chosen British bi-plane) hung proudly above the bar, behind which stood Mike Miller, the big-grinned grape grower and father of Marcus Miller, the winemaker. Mike insisted on pouring us their “Foot-Stomped Syrah Rosé” in spite of our objections, and it turned out to be really good with notes of strawberry, cherries and rhubarb. Yes, this wine is actually foot-stomped by “adventurous wine drinkers” at an annual Airfield event. I also had the first Chardonnay I’ve ever liked (hey, I’ve just never been a Chard fan), their 2007 Unoaked Chardonnay. The place is rich with history; it was originally a WWII airbase, and there are enlarged black-and-white group photos that include Mike as a little tyke back in the day. And, we were lucky enough to be there on a day they were doing a barrel tasting event. The place is a must-stop in Prosser.

Alexandria Nicole Winery
2880 Lee Road
Suite C, Prosser, WA 99350

We’d previously visited Alexandria Nicole in their Woodinville location, but we were glad to see another tasting room in Prosser. The place was posh but casual, the staff was friendly, and I could have easily spent an afternoon sitting at the bar sipping their 2005 Estate Quarry Butte or 2004 Estate Syrah. But that was before we learned about the secret room reserved for wine club members. There is a bookcase that rolls aside to reveal an even more posh private room with its own bar and big leather furniture. If there’s any better reason to be a wine club member, I can’t think of it.

Fidélitas Wines
51810 North Sunset Road
Benton City, WA 99320

If wines were Rock ‘n Roll, Fidélitas would be Led Zepplin. Their new winery and tasting space on Sunset Road would be the stage from which Charlie Hoppes, owner and winemaker, would melt your face. The wines are huge, straight-forward masterworks, true to the roots of Bordeaux and the terroir from which the fruit comes. The wines ain’t cheap but neither is anything timeless. This is a must-stop venue on the way up the Misty Red Mountain Hop.

Olsen Estates Winery
500 Merlot Drive
Prosser, WA 99350

Vintner’s Village, just off the I-82 (exit 80), is home to no less than four newly constructed wineries, each with its own architectural take and flavor on the retail experience. Olsen Estates, one of these newly constructed wineries, is host to sweet whites and a spicy Merlot. But the wine wasn’t enough to warrant the help behind the counter, who was so obviously put out by the arrival of our then well-behaved band that I left before finishing the flight.

Desert Wind Vineyard
22 58 Wine Country Rd.
Prosser, WA 99350

On one hand, the Desert Wind estate is a magnificent building, housing a gorgeous tasting space, loads of merchandise, and a restaurant (full brunch on Sundays) to boot. Couple this with some really tasty juice and you might guess that the staff carry around a sort of pompous air. You’d be right.

Hightower Cellars
1941 8 E. 583 PR NE
Benton City, WA 99320

If you saw a bottle of wine with a Golden Labrador named Murray on the bottle holding a rose between his teeth, you might expect a winery chock-full of Thomas Kinkaid paintings and doilies. But, Hightower’s new digs are surprisingly modern and clutter-free. Exposed walls, the Hightowers used a new replacement for cinderblock, a sort of composite of cement and splinters of organic material leaving a texture that both Ty Pennington and GreenPeace can approve of. By the way, the Murray Cuvée ain’t too shabby.

Kiona Vineyards Winery
44 612 N. Sunset Road
Benton City, WA 99320

As we approached the doors of Kiona’s fortress winery, they saw us coming and came to the door to tell us they were closed, but when I asked if we couldn’t just have a quick taste before they closed, the swung the door wide and let us in. Modern and spacious like so many new tasting rooms these days, the view of the ubiquitous vineyards and other Red Mountain wineries was breathtaking. You’ve got to hand it to them. Scott Williams (along with Jim Holmes, now of Ciel du Cheval) was the first guy to plant vineyards the area back in 1975, and they’re still going strong.

Thurston Wolfe Winery
588 Cabernet Court
Prosser, WA 99350

In Vintner’s Village, Thurston Wolfe was just a short walk in the hot Prosser sun from some other wineries, and it was a great place to cool off with air conditioning and a glass of 2007 PGV, a blend of Viognier, Pinot Gris and Muscat Blanc, or the 2007 Orange Muscat, which could easily replace the Otter Pop as a favorite summer treat. Even the umbrellas over the tables on the expansive patio were a welcome relief as we waited for the stragglers in our posse to catch up. We love it when we get to meet a winemaker, and Dr. Wade Wolfe was on site, who was happy to come out and talk to us about his winery and wines. Who’s afraid of the big bad Wolfe? Not this wino.

Blackwood Canyon Vintners
53258 N. Sunset Rd.
Benton City, WA 99320

It’s been said that truth is stranger than fiction. In the case of Blackwood Canyon, the truth was strange enough to earn a cameo in Tom Clancy’s Net Force: State of War by Steve Perry and Larry Segriff. Directed by a plywood sign on the side of the road with spray-painted letters reading, “Old School Wine Tasting 100 Yards,” it might as well have been advertising a yard sale. And curiosity almost killed us. At the end of a gnarly gravel road, we found a ramshackle, dilapidated building with a hundred full, sun-bleached wine barrels roasting in the sun. Nearly attacked by some dogs, we made our way into the dank interior of the place to meet Mike Moore, the winemaker. Wild-haired with a long white goatee, Mike sported a mostly-unbuttoned Hawaiian print shirt, Bermuda shorts, and flip-flops, dirt caked into his toenails. There was a layer of dust covering everything in the place, glass bottles turning yellow with age cluttered a makeshift counter, and rotten-looking wine barrels stacked to the ceiling surrounded by years of human detritus. Mike is to the wine world what John Laroche was to horticulture in Charlie Kaufman’s movie Adaptation. He’s an iconoclast that belongs to the old school, making wines intended to age using the sur lie process (the five-year chardonnay was “just a baby”). The couple that was there before us warned us that we’d be there a while (they’d been there two hours already, and Mike was still pontificating about wine), and they were right. We tried a nineteen-year Chardonnay that was bigger than any red I’ve ever had, and we got to do a barrel tasting of rosé, mouth-siphoned through rubber tubing into our glasses from a barrel outside. Whether Mike is a genius or a lunatic, I’d recommend a stop at Blackwood. Just go when you have plenty of time to kill.

Willow Crest Winery
135701 W. Snipes Rd.
Prosser, WA 99350

If I ran a tasting space, it would likely look and feel like Willow Crest. Water cooler in the corner, selfservice wine refrigerator and wine rack, all part of a “get-it-yourself” kind of feel, which I don’t mind because, hey, I can pour my own water and hey, I can grab my own bottle off the rack. I’m a big boy. The Willow Crest Grenache has great red fruit balance by savory acid that dumped me into a long, spicy finish. The Mourvedre put me on a comparable plane of excitement. Not the most beautiful of spaces in Prosser’s Vintner’s Village but it gets the job done, and how.

Heaven’s Cave Winery
15842 W Sonova Rd. #8
Paterson, WA 99345

Many scientific studies show that wine is good for adults, but Heaven’s Cave takes that another step. It’s good for kids, too. A non-profit winery, Heaven’s Cave donates 100 percent of all profits to The Make the Dash Count Foundation, a community-based charity that serves at-risk youth. In addition to their own wines, Heaven’s Cave gets wine donated from other wineries, such as DeLille Cellars, which are all bottled and labeled as part of the “Make the Dash Count” series. So, in addition to health benefits of anti-oxidants and resveratrol found in wine, these wines are good for the soul, too. Oh, and the Angel’s Blend is delicious.