Vineyards
Trusted Growers. Washington Roots. Meet Our Vineyard Partners
Our fruit comes from a select group of vineyard partners in the Horse Heaven Hills and Yakima Valley AVAs—regions Wade has worked in for over 40 years. These vineyards were chosen for their location, the skill of their growers, and the consistent quality of their fruit. Many of these relationships go back decades—and it shows in every bottle.
Crawford Vineyard
This vineyard is located north of Prosser and is owned by Charlie and Connie Crawford. Again this relationship dates back to the late 1970’s when Wade worked for Ste. Michelle. Currently we source three varieties from this vineyard, Pinot gris, Lemberger (or Blaufrankisch) and Albarino. The Pinot gris is used in our flagship white wine, PGV, which is a blend of Pinot gris and Viognier. The Lemberger is used in our flagship red blend, Dr. Wolfe’s Family Red, which is a blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Lemberger. We also use Lemberger for our limited production rose’ and occasionally produce a varietal red wine from it. Albarino is a recent addition to our wine selection and was planted by the Crawfords at our request. We consider it one of the best Iberian white varieties and is well suited to the cool growing conditions of this vineyard. In the past we have also sourced Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo and Merlot from the Crawford Vineyard.
Destiny Ridge Vineyard
This vineyard is located 17 miles west of the Zephyr Ridge Vineyard on the same ridge system that overlooks the Columbia River near the community of Alderdale. Owned by Alexandria Nicole Cellars, the vineyard was planted in the early 2000’s and is managed by Jarrod Boyle, CEO of ANC. Jarrod is a former employee of Wade when they both worked at Hogue Cellars. Thurston Wolfe sources Cabernet Sauvignon from this vineyard that is used in their Cabernet blend called ‘The Teacher’. Destiny Ridge experiences the same climatic benefits as Zephyr Ridge due to the ridge and proximity to the Columbia River.
Double Canyon
This vineyard is located six miles north of Alderdale and is owned and managed by the Crimson Wine Group out of California. Developed in the mid 2000’s, it is the source of Petit Verdot used in our Bordeaux blend, The Geologist, and of Cabernet Sauvignon used in our Cabernet blend, The Teacher. Because of higher elevation, this is a slightly cooler and later ripening site compared to Zephyr Ridge and Destiny Ridge vineyards.
Lonesome Springs Vineyard
This vineyard is located just west of the Red Mountain sub-AVA of the Yakima Valley and is owned by Colin Morrell. Again our relationship with Colin dates back to Wade’s Ste. Michelle days when Colin was a vineyard intern. We source Touriga Nacional from Lonesome Spring for our blended and varietal port-style wines and have occasionally produce dry table wines it. The vineyard is located just north of the Yakima River on a gentle south-facing slope with a long, moderate growing season ideal for port-style wines. We have also sourced Orange Muscat from Lonesome Spring for producing both a fortified dessert wine and a dry table wine.
McKinley Springs Vineyard
Located 14 miles north of Alderdale, Mckinley Springs is a large vineyard originally started by Robert Andrews in the 1980’s and is now owned by his son Rob Andrews and Rob’s brother-in-law Doug Rowell. Wade first worked with Rob in the mid 1980’s when he was a vineyard consultant and later renewed this relationship after joining Hogue Cellars in the 1990’s as their grape buyer. Thurston Wolfe sources Cabernet Sauvignon for our Cabernet blend, The Teacher, and Malbec for our Bordeaux blend, The Geologist, from this vineyard. Despite its 1,000 foot elevation, this is a relatively early ripening vineyard and produces red wines with intense fruity aromas and great structure.
Upland Vineyards
The Upland Vineyard is located in the Snipes Mountain sub-AVA of the Yakima Valley near the city of Sunnyside. It is owned by the Newhouse family and it has of some of the oldest vines in the state.
Our relationship with the Newhouse family dates back to 1978 when Wade was the grape buyer for Ste. Michelle. The soils of this vineyard are very unusual in that they were originally deposited by the Columbia River when it flowed through the Valley millions of years ago. These alluvial soils were subsequently uplifted by tectonic faulting and elevated to their current location on Snipes Mountain. We source Cabernet Sauvignon from two blocks in this vineyard. The first block is located at the east end of Snipes Mountain and is designated an ‘Old Vine’ block as it was planted in 1973.
Located on a steep south facing slope, this block is low yielding and produces wines of complex aromas and refined tannins. Since this small block is in high demand, we only receive fruit off four rows that produce about three barrels of wine per year. This wine is released as Upland Vineyard Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon. The second block is about four miles west of the old vines and is located on a steep southwest facing slope. This block was planted in the late 1980’s. The wines from this block are much more powerful than the ‘Old Vine’ block, with dark color, intense aroma and great structure and are the base wines for our Bordeaux blend, the ‘Geologist’.
Zephyr Ridge Vineyard
This vineyard is located near the town of Paterson overlooking the Columbia River 30 miles south of Prosser and is the source of half of Thurston Wolfe grapes.
The vineyard is jointly owned by Don Watts and Hogue Ranch, but was developed by Wade when he worked for Hogue Cellars in the 1990’s. The vineyard gets its name from the frequent southwesterly winds that blow through the Columbia Gorge. Hogue Ranch set aside several blocks to be planted exclusively for Thurston Wolfe. These blocks include two of Viognier, two of Zinfandel, one of Primativo (the Italian clone of Zinfandel) and three of Petite Sirah, totaling 13 acres.
The unique feature of this vineyard is the diversity of micro-climates provided by the ridge, which gives steep north and south facing slopes and gentle east and west facing slopes. Because of elevation, slope and proximity to the Columbia River, this vineyard experiences a long, warm growing season and moderate winter temperatures.