Although Washington State ranks #2 in the U.S. as a premium wine producer (following California, of course), the massive storage and fermentation tanks being constructed throughout its own “wine country” hints that, in the words of Bob Dylan, “Times They are A-Changin’.”
As reported in an October 26 posting on sfgate.com, Precept Brands – a purveyor of the under-$10-a-bottle market - recently expanded to a 53,000-square-foot facility with storage tanks rivaling those found at diesel plants in size.
Another hint that things are changing: Goose Ridge Vineyards (up the road from Precept, in Richland, WA), just completed construction of a massive production facility of its own, enabling this smaller winery to bottle 325,000 cases this year.
According to Waterbrook Winery (Precept’s flagship label) winemaker John Freeman, "There's a lot of consolidation overall in the wine industry…a lot of the bigger wineries, not necessarily us, have a lot more market opportunity; there's room to grow."
Yet, in terms of wine production, Washington is a distant second to California, whose 2,843 wineries and 500,000+ acres of wine grapes produce roughly 90% of all U.S. wine sold. According to the California Wine Institute, its wine industry is worth $59 billion to the state. (Washington has 33,000 acres among 600+ wineries valued at $3 billion.)
Small vineyards producing fewer than 5,000 cases dominate Washington’s industry, said Robin Pollard, executive director of the Washington Wine Commission, a promotional agency financed by fees on member wineries and growers. Though, says Pollard, expanding facilities like Precept and Goose Ridge are making it easier to compete with California.
"This construction is a sign our industry is growing and, in spite of the economy, we are seeing increasing investment," Pollard said.
Long known for its cattle operations in central Washington's lower Yakima Valley, the Monson family first planted wine grapes in the late 1990’s; now, the family's Goose Ridge Vineyards comprise 1,400 contiguous acres…with more growth planned. Their new production facility includes 30 tanks (each equivalent to 7,500 cases of wine), with a total storage capacity of 18,500 gallons.
However, the bulk of that wine is produced for someone else; the winery currently bottles only 7,500 cases under its Goose Ridge label, and another 50,000 cases under its Stone Cap label. The rest is sold for bulk wine for retailers and other wineries to sell as their own.
"We can grow it, make it and bottle it for you under your own label, which diversifies our business," Monson said. "We're hoping to grow that industry, because that's a niche we can provide for small and large wineries."
Conversely, Precept Brands has focused on consolidating and increasing production of its 18 brands (including Apex, Avery Lane, Big Sky, Bloom, Huck, Pendulum, Red Door Sockeye, Sol Duc and Sweet Pea, among others), with a sideline of some custom bottling for retailers to help build sales relationships. Their new facility has 89 tanks, exceeding a total capacity of 900,000 gallons.
"With our production, we make a lot of wine for ourselves," Freeman said. "The custom bottling, it's a foot in the door to sell our own wines."
And increasing production is an integral part of Washington's wine industry making a bigger splash on both the national and international wine scene, according to Pollard.