The Valley has been home to great grapes for more than 150 years.
The wine grape-growing and winemaking history in Walla Walla is long and rich. The French-Canadian fur traders for the Hudson Bay Company were the first settlers in the county to farm wine grapes and made wine as early as the 1830s. The Canadian people considered wine necessary to sustain everyday life, and grape vines were imported along with other essential seeds and
food plants.
In 1859, A.B. Roberts established one of the first vinifera (the grape variety common to Europe) vineyard nurseries. It contained 80 varieties of grapes from Orleans, France. Shortly after, Philip Ritz planted a vineyard with 21 varieties of grapes in the vicinity of Walla Walla.
When gold was discovered in Idaho in 1870, Walla Walla became the supply post for miners who needed flour, sugar, tobacco, fruits and vegetables, and, of course, wine. In 1871, Roberts advertised that he had 50 tons of grapes for sale. In today’s market, that translates to 3,200 cases of finished wine.
Frank Orselli from Lucca, Italy, arrived in Walla Walla as an infantryman at Fort Walla Walla in 1857 and settled here. He planted 180 acres of wine grapes, an orchard and a vegetable garden. The acreage was located north of Main Street from Second to Ninth avenues, near Washington School.
Orselli started the California Bakery at Second and Main, selling wines, liquor, tobacco, groceries, fruits, vegetables and wine grapes. In 1876, he reported he made 2,500 gallons of wine and sold it at the bakery.
By 1882, there were 26 saloons in Walla Walla serving locally made wines to a population of 4,000 people. This amount totaled just over 153 persons per saloon — counting children.
Pasquale Saturno, great-grandfather of Doug Saturno, who owns The Clock Shop on Palouse Street, made wine from Zinfandel, a very popular and productive grape, and Cinsault, known at that time as Black Prince. Today, Doug Saturno carries on the family tradition by tending a vineyard and making wine.
There are several small plots in Walla Walla where old-vine Cinsault grows – one at Walla Walla Museum and one off Reser Road and Fern Avenue, that Rich Bernave, a local oenophile, discovered. He brought me leaves from the vineyard, and I shipped them to the University of California at Davis to confirm their DNA.
Sure enough, the vines were Cinsault, which is France’s fourth-largest-producing red grape today. It was, and still is, a versatile grape capable of styles of wine from delicate rosé to sturdy port.
Walla Walla experiences deep freezes
(20 degrees below zero) about every six years. The first one reported was in the winter of 1883-84, which severely damaged the grape production. After 1900, the commercial wine industry in Walla Walla faded largely in part to these freeze issues. The most recent arctic air mass arrived on Nov. 23, 2010, reducing this year’s grape yields.
With Prohibition and the advent of the Anti-Saloon League in 1917, a boom in homemade winemaking took place. A family was allowed by law to make up to 200 gallons of wine each year, without a license. As one might expect, some of this homemade wine was sold or traded. The wine was stored in oak barrels with spigots in the bottom so one could draw wine into pitchers, when needed. However, the air space left around the spigot hole attracted bacteria — especially vinegar-producing species — so the barreled wine tasted more acidic from week to week.
Frank Subucco supplied a lot of domestic winemakers from Walla Walla from his 36-acre vineyard, which contained Black Prince, Concord, Sweet Muscat and Sweetwater Palomino grapes. Washington state vineyards in Marysville, Sunnyside and Stretch Island (where “Island Belle,” also known as “Early Campbell,” was grown) supplied grapes as well. Today, Island Belle wine is available from Hoodsport Winery.
Revenuers began to appear in Walla Walla to scout for illegal stills that were producing grappa from sugared wine pomace mixed with water and wine and then fermented. Brandy was also distilled from wine. These beverages were served secretly on special occasions and stored in cellars away from the house, should the revenuers come snooping.
After Prohibition, the first commercial winery was started by Bert Pesciallo in Milton-Freewater. After several freezes, especially the 1955 deep freeze, killed all his vines, he gave up. He eventually sold some of his winemaking equipment to Rick Small at Woodward Canyon before he died a few years ago.
Rich Bernave reports that his father, Vittorio, and other Italian farmers in the late ’50s raised wine grapes for a winery started by the Pardini family in Kennewick.
As the story goes, an Italian claiming to represent the Pardini winery solicited money from a number of grape growers in Walla Walla. Some gave him money to invest. However, it seems he disappeared one night with the money and never returned.
Fast-forward to 1977, the year the modern-day period of commercial winemaking began in Walla Walla. Gary and Nancy Figgins, who live on School Avenue, founded Leonetti Cellar. Their first releases were delicious Gewürztraminer, Merlot Blanc and Riesling varieties. In 1981, The Wine & Spirits Magazine selected their 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon as America’s best, thus lionizing Leonetti Cellar and launching Walla Walla as a premier wine-growing area.
Local legend has it the Gallo Brothers flew their secretary to Walla Walla in a private jet to get some bottles of the winning Cabernet. Leonetti Cellar is now the fifth-oldest producing winery in Washington and is world famous for its premium wines.
Walla Walla now has 1,800 acres of vineyards and 151 wineries, which generate earnings of a cool $96 million for Walla Walla. Walla Walla wines are now distributed in all states in the U.S. as well as in the United Kingdom and Japan.
There is interest among some Chinese wine exporters to sell Walla Walla wines in China, and there is a strong rumor that a Chinese group is looking at vineyard ground to purchase to start a winery in Walla Walla. It is expected there will be more than 200 wineries in five years, which should draw more visitors to Walla Walla, filling hotels and eateries.
The wine and culinary arts programs at the community college are expecting full enrollments for some time to come. And I’m betting there will be new winemakers and chefs from Walla Walla who will get headlines for their dazzling wines and food in the near future. Stay tuned!
Myles Anderson is the interim director of the Enology and Viticulture Center at Walla Walla Community College. He can be reached at myles.anderson@wwcc.edu.
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