The Madness of Jeff Jones

As the Black Sheep of Woodinville’s affectionately named “Hoodinville” wine district, Jeff Jones aims to break all of the rules when it comes to the tasting room of his Senoj wine label. If his sense of humor doesn’t get you, his Passport blend just might.

WINO: When starting something new, everyone has a sort of “eureka moment.” What was the pivotal moment that made you decide to become a winemaker?

Jeff: It was when a girlfriend of mine took me wine-tasting in Woodinville. I was new to the area—a Northern California transplant—and she wanted to go wine-tasting on Saturday to some wineries. I was thinking she was crazy—later that turned out to be true—there were no wineries in Woodinville, and you could not grow grapes in Woodinville. Having been to Napa numerous times, I had a vision in my head of what a winery was; and that consisted of a grand estate with rolling fields of vines, which was nowhere to be seen in Woodinville. We went wine-tasting, stopping at some of the larger wineries, and then we went to Stevens Winery. On the drive there, I noticed some broken down cars out in front of a mechanic’s shop and some toilets on a pallet in front of a plumber. In-between these two business in a nondescript warehouse was Tim Stevens’ little winery. I remember thinking this was fantastic wine and how was this guy doing this in a warehouse without vineyards and fountains and a million dollar tasting room? It was at that point that I said to myself, I can do this. Everything I have done and every decision I have made since that moment in time has been with the sole focus of learning about the winemaking process and getting my winery open.

WINO: So, you were inspired by some of these other winemakers, but from what we’ve seen in the past year, you do things quite a bit differently than many of your counterparts. What is it that makes you want to go against the grain, as it were?

Jeff: There was that one time I fell out of a tree as a kid and landed on my head. Never been the same since.

WINO: [Laughs] Seriously, what’s your philosophy, and what’s unique about Senoj?

Jeff: Well, I never wanted to be a winery where people come into a small ten-by-ten tasting area, and where I say “here taste my chard, my merlot, and my cab—now buy something and get out.” Makes no sense to me. Selling wine is slightly different then selling other retail items. No one actually needs wine—well some people might argue that point—so I want to offer more than just a bottle of wine. I want to offer my customers an experience, a break from the ordinary. Let’s have fun and enjoy some wine. Like the Senoj motto Enjoy Wine and Enjoy Life. Some people who come to Senoj Estates ask if this is a winery. Well, what really is a winery? We watch football on the big screen, have a jukebox pumping out music, play ping pong, and shoot hoops on our indoor court. For me, it’s all about having fun. When I was looking for a location to open the winery, I had in my mind a vision of having a larger space for doing concerts, events and different types of shows. Sure, I am the small fish in the big ocean of wine, but is Ste. Michelle the only one who can host concerts? Hell no. There’s a lot of great local musicians out there that, here on the Eastside, we don’t get to see very often. My vision is to offer people a place where they can come enjoy some quality wine and see some local artists. House of Senoj baby, rock on.

WINO: Yeah, we dig the events at Senoj. We came by for last year’s Halloween party where you had Mr. Miagi (a Seattle-based 80’s cover band) playing until almost midnight. The sound was actually quite good, which, to be honest, was unexpected. [Laughs] So, the Passport has been your signature wine. What’s the story behind the wine and the name?

Jeff: I commonly heard the expression, “this is my Bordeaux blend,” and I never really knew what that meant. I asked a few winemakers if they had ever been to Bordeaux, and surprisingly, most of them had not. This is probably just me, but I didn’t want to put out a Bordeaux blend without ever having been to Bordeaux. Every man has their Mecca, so I decided it was time for me to go to mine. Having never been out of the country, in 2005 I got my passport, went to France and traveled around Bordeaux. Funny thing is I never once heard “this is a Bordeaux blend” there. In fact, every winemaker I met told me the other winemakers were crazy and didn’t know what they were doing. [Laughs] Every winemaker had their own style and used different techniques. They blend varietals based off of what grows best in their vineyard and what makes a better wine. Traveling around the greater Bordeaux region, I found myself drawn to St. Emilion and the blends that were produced in that area. I just kept talking to winemakers there, and I even got a chance to do some blending trials. I remember when I got back, I had picture after picture of barrels and winemaking equipment; I even had one of the forklift they used. I felt like a total wine geek. It was an awesome trip. I got back, and I had all these flavor profiles still fresh in my head, and that is when I decided to do my own “Bordeaux Blend.” In honor of that trip and the wine knowledge I picked up, I named my first blend the 2005 Passport, and that is the how the legend was born.

WINO: By now, it’s no secret that Senoj is your last name spelled backwards. Is your life as a winemaker your alter-ego? If you were to suddenly duck into a phone booth, who would come back out?

Jeff: Is this like one of those fantasy questions, like choosing between having the strength of ten men or the ability to fly? I am already fairly strong—mercy anyone?—so I will chose the ability to fly. Honestly, you can’t have one without the other. Senoj is the guy at the winery having fun, organizing events and having a drink with his friends. Jeff is the guy who pays the bills, and is scared to see what he wakes up next to in the morning. I am still trying to find the balance between those two. Hopefully in a few years, if everything goes well, Senoj is the one who will come out on top.

WINO: Where and how did you learn to make wine?

Jeff: When I first decided to make wine, I was a complete novice; mostly, I still am. I volunteered at every winery to do any job. Heck, I even called in sick at work just to help Mike Januik palletize a few
thousand cases. I took online classes. I attended weekend seminars anywhere I could find them. I read every book I could afford to buy on winemaking. I bugged the crap out of every winemaker who would answer my questions. I took classes locally at the Northwest Wine academy. Most importantly, I drank a lot of wine. I developed my pallet so I could understand what was going on in different wines and what can cause different flavor profiles. Anyone can make wine, grapes will actually turn into wine on their own; it is the winemaker’s job to steer that process into something that people will enjoy. I learned in Bordeaux that there are numerous ways to get grapes to the final destination of wine, and I learned at school how to recognize problems early, and what to do if something should go wrong during that process; but everyone has to develop their own pallet. The only way to do that is to drink a lot of wine. Luckily, I was up to the challenge.

WINO: Who are your inspirations in the industry?

Jeff: Well, obviously Tim Stevens. Maybe I should let him know that before this goes to print. He introduced me to quality Washington wine, and really is my inspiration for starting my winery. Jarrod Boyle of Alexandria Nicole inspires me to keep moving. He’s a busy guy and is always moving forward. Plus, he understands that customer satisfaction is important to building a large wine club following, and that is something that is a key part of the success of Senoj. Gary Vaynerchuk inspires me to taste different varietals and keep improving my palate. I like Gary’s take on the social networking aspect of wine as well. Something Senoj needs to do a little better on is the technology aspect. You would figure that since I contract at Microsoft, it would be a no-brainer, but it seems to be a constant battle. Robert Smasne is the guy I go to for questions about winemaking. Here is a guy most people have never heard of putting out incredible Washington wine and is very grounded and humble. This guy works his ass off, produces outstanding wine, and is really dedicated to exploring and promoting the different terroirs of Washington. Brennon Leighton was one of my instructors at school, and that guy is a real inspiration to me personally. Wine totally changed his life—hell, probably saved it according to him—but I will let him tell you his own story. If you need advice on wine or tats [tattoos], Brennon is your guy.

WINO: If there is a style to your wine, what is it?

Jeff: When I started Senoj, I had no idea if it would work out and whether I would still be open after one year. My style, more like my preference, was to make wine that I like to drink, and then if for some reason Senoj Estates was not successful, I would have a lot of wine for my own personal consumption. Depends how you look at it, but I guess I am lucky in that most of my customers seem to like to drink my wine as well. Though every time I see “sold out” on my ‘06 Malbec, I think I have to start a 2nd label just for me…

WINO: What advice would you have for other young bucks who wanted to start a winery of their own?

Jeff: Find someone who makes wine that you like and do a Vulcan mind meld on them. Spend as much time as you can with that person, and try to extract as much knowledge as you can. Volunteer at wineries. All wineries need help. Volunteer for anything, even if it’s just cleaning. It gives you a chance to talk to the winemaker, and lets you work with equipment you probably have not used before. If you can, apprentice with someone. Work with an established winemaker, and usually they will let you start your own label in their facility. Don’t buy expensive equipment; spend your money on fruit and barrels. With all these existing wineries, there is a lot of equipment just sitting around not being used. Most of the larger equipment you eventually need to buy is only used a few times a year. Try and borrow other people’s equipment or process your stuff at someone else’s place. Drink a lot of wine. I know everyone probably thinks they have that one covered. Drink and taste everything. Educate your palate. Besides drinking good wine, drink bad wine. Drink wine with faults in it. Learn the flavor profile of things that are bad for wine, and ask people what you can do to fix something if you detect it in your wine. Plus, most importantly, just start making wine. Start with wine kits if you have to. My first fermentation was a whopping five gallons. Every harvest you miss is another year you have to wait to start. Plus, every household is allowed to make up to like a hundred gallons of wine for their own personal consumption, so start making wine and always remember to Enjoy Wine and Enjoy Life.