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| 2/17/2006
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| A
cluster of new winery buildings takes shape in
Prosser, Wash. The property was developed by the
Port of Benton and is adjacent to Interstate 82.
Shown are the facilities of Willow Crest Winery,
foreground, Thurston Wolfe Winery, currently
completing construction, and in the background,
the site of The Winemaker’s Loft Winemaking
Studio, with construction planned to begin later
this
spring. | | Washington
wineries set to open several new facilities this
year
Richard Burger
Freelance
Writer
The development of a bevy of new wineries
is expected in the near future, as well as fruition of plans
in the works for established wineries in the area that is
turning into the epicenter of the industry in Washington’s
lower Yakima Valley.
The site of this flurry of
activity is Prosser, a small community of 5,000 residents,
situated near the midpoint of eastern Washington’s wine
corridor stretching from Yakima to Walla
Walla.
Included in plans for 2006 are about a
half-dozen new wineries or new facilities, a winemaking studio
that can accommodate six more small wine-making operations,
and the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center, expected to be
a magnet for wine tourism not only for Prosser but
statewide.
Highlights of what’s to come in 2006 include
the following:
Alexandria
Nicole
Cellars
This boutique winery plans to
remodel and move into the facility being vacated by Thurston
Wolfe.
Alexandria Nicole Cellars currently operates a
tasting room in downtown Prosser. It bottles wine from grapes
grown in the Destiny Ridge Vineyard in the Horse Heaven
Hills.
ANC can be reached at (509) 786-3497, or at
www.alexandrianicolecellars.com.
Desert Wind
Winery
A new building to complement the existing crush
operation is nearly complete. It’s expected to open this
spring, offering a 4,700 square-foot tasting room, 3,200
square-foot banquet accommodations, an exhibition kitchen,
three guest suites, a bridal suite, bride and groom changing
rooms and a private two-bedroom winery suite.
The
Desert Wind site features a panoramic view of the Yakima River
and the lower Yakima Valley, which can be enjoyed from two
outdoor plazas encompassing more than 6,000
square-feet.
A spokesperson for the winery said plans
are being developed for a grand opening event for the new
facilities. For more information, contact the winery at (800)
437-3213 or visit the website,
www.desertwindvineyard.com.
McKinley Springs
Winery
A new tasting room opened earlier this month at
this owner family-run winery that’s a short drive south of
Prosser.
Dana Andrews, one of McKinley Springs Winery’s
co-owners, said wine tasting and wine by the glass will be
offered there, with hours of operation tentatively set
initially for noon to 6 p.m. on Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturdays.
Andrews said a grand opening for the
facility is planned for May.
Other owner/operators
include her husband, Scott; Rob and Angela Andrews; Dan and
Heidi Andrews and winery manager Doug Rowell and his wife,
Sandy.
Visit www.mckinleysprings.com or call (509)
894-4528.
Thurston Wolfe Winery
An all-new 7,500
square-foot building housing wine production and a tasting
room will be open Feb. 18 through 20, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
despite weather-related construction delays that have put the
project about a month behind schedule.
Becky Yeaman,
who owns the winery with her husband Wade Wolfe, said the
facility will be open permanently “sometime later in the
spring.”
The new building, which is also located
adjacent in the cluster on Port-developed property, will
replace the facility housing the winery now, which is in the
Prosser Wine and Food Park.
“The new building is very
different and much larger,” Yeaman said.
The winery can
be contacted at (509) 786-3313 or www.thurston
wolfe.com.
Willow Crest Winery
A new building
housing a tasting room and barrel storage, aging and bottling
is complete and was open briefly during the holiday
season.
The new building is one of a cluster of wine
facilities on property developed by the Port of Benton on the
north side of Prosser adjacent to Interstate Highway 82.
Winemaker Victor Palencia said the new facility was to
reopen this month, offering wine tasting and wine by the
glass.
Hours of operation will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Monday through Friday.
Palencia said “a couple of new
wines” would be released at the February
re-opening.
The winery maintains a website at
www.willowcrestwinery.com and can be reached at (509)
786-7999.
The Winemaker’s Loft
Loft owner Mike
Haddox calls it a “winemaking studio,” and when the
Tuscan-styled building is complete, it will provide the space
and all the tools needed for wine production for up to six
separate winemakers. All they need to provide is the fruit and
the barrels.
Haddox said he expects construction to
begin sometime this spring.
Two of the Loft’s six
winemaking bays are still available at this time, and he said
he also has room for “two or three custom-size clients at the
500-case or smaller level.”
The Loft is another of the
cluster of winemaking facilities occupied by Thurston Wolfe
and Willow Crest.
Haddox can be contacted at (509)
305-8525, or by e-mail at
winemakersloft@aol.com.
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