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Lone Canary Winery"A Winery with a
Flock of Many Colors"” Red, Rosso, Rouge—names that describe the color of red, but not necessarily names that describe a wine. Lone Canary Winery, located in Spokane, Wash, infused its wine offerings using different languages to describe red—Rosso for an Italian blend, Rouge signifying a Bordeaux blend or French style of wine, and Red, for an American-style of blended wine. Problem is, the public didn’t automatically assume that Russo was an Italian-style wine, Rouge was French and Red was American—most thought it was all the same wine. Winemaker Mike Scott and his business partners, Jeanne and Steve Schaub decided to change the names to reflect more of what was inside the bottle, not just the color. “The end consumer was puzzled by it all,” said Scott, the affable winemaker originally from England. “If the general public has to asked that many questions—despite the fact that they liked the wine—then it was time to change. It isn’t very good marketing when there is that much confusion.” The Rosso will stay Rosso, but the Lone Canary label will indicate the wine is Sangiovese. The Rouge will be a Cabernet/Merlot blend, but will have a new name, yet to be determined. “Rouge was just a tough name for many people to understand—lots of people thought it was something grandmother put on her cheeks for color,” said Steve Schaub, one of Lone Canary’s owners. The winery will keep Lone Canary Red as the same blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. In addition, the winery offers a 2004 Sauvignon Blanc that is sharp and crisp and a lovely summer quaffer. For the Love of Yakima Valley Fruit This year, the winery will increase its offering to include a 2004 Barbera and two vineyard-designated wines—a DuBrul Vineyard Reserve blend (with more Merlot) and a Willard Family Vineyard blend (with a higher percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon). Scott is a big fan of fruit grown in the Yakima Valley and wanted to showcase that fruit in the bottle. “The discovery didn’t happen overnight—it wasn’t dramatic, but my love of that fruit grew in the course of 10 vintages” Scott said. “Year in and year out, the elegance and refinement of Yakima Valley fruit has been consistent.” Scott said the aromatics of Yakima fruit are gorgeous, with perfumed high notes, creating a structured wine that tends to be bright and complex. Although he has purchased fruit from the Walla Walla and Columbia valley regions in the past, he always goes back to Yakima, a region he believes is deserving of more attention and accolades. Many people, said Scott, tend to confuse big flavors with a lot of flavors. Yakima Valley fruit does not produce big flavors, but rather lots of layers of flavors to be discovered. “It’s like the difference between MTV live, and MTV unplugged,” Scott said. “The fruit for our wines is the acoustic version—you may not have the volume, but you will hear all the definitions of the music and subtleties you won’t hear with big volume. The wine is the same—it is not huge with overripe flavors, but has lovely definitions and a pure sense of what a wine should be, especially when paired with food.” From England to Washington—Planting Roots in Spokane Scott learned his wine appreciation the hard way, with no thought of being a winemaker when he first came to the United States in 1980. In fact, he recalls he was looking for any type of work, admitting he came to the U.S. to pursue a love interest with no particular professional skills. He landed in Spokane, Wash, and worked with Jack Warden who had a winery near downtown. Scott said he enjoyed the winery work and was looking to do more when Mike Conroy opened up Latah Creek Winery in 1983. Although the love interest had dwindled, his thirst for winemaking landed him as assistant winemaker for Latah Creek. “I taught him everything he knows about wine,” laughed Conroy. “He worked in the tasting room, cellar and eventually learned all that he could about wine production. Now, we help each other more than we compete—it’s good to have competition and a number of wineries to attract tourism.” Scott acknowledges that although he didn’t have formal training in winemaking, he spent nine years gleaning all he could from Conroy, who spent more than 10 years working in wineries in Northern California. In 1990, a business opportunity arose to be a part of a new winery—that business later morphed into Caterina Winery, where Scott was head winemaker for nine years before joining Lone Canary in 2002. Steve and Jeanne Schaub approached Scott in 2001, asking for help in growing grapes. The Schaubs had about an acre of grapes planted in the Spokane, not an area associated with grape production—too cold in the winter and not enough heat in the summer for grape-growing. Still, some grapes faired well, and Schaub asked Scott to go into the winemaking business. When is a Canary like a Turkey? The history of Lone Canary’s name is a lesson in near-silliness. The winery was originally dubbed Wild Canary, and the label already federally-approved when out of the blue, Scott and his partners get a letter from a law firm representing Wild Turkey, a Kentucky bourbon producer. The letter asked that the owners of Wild Canary withdraw their trademark application to use the name, since it was too similar to the Wild Turkey label and could cause consumer confusion. Scott said he thought the public could tell the difference between a canary and a turkey, but rather than spend thousands of dollars to fight the distilling company, the partners decided to switch the name to Lone Canary. As Scott recalled, he told people, “I would not want to sit down at anyone’s table that was confused by a wild canary and a wild turkey.” Having established the name and logo, Scott and partners don’t think they’ll receive any challenges from Lone Star Beer, unless someone confuses it with a bird. “We haven’t heard anymore about it after two years, so I think we’re good to go,” Scott said. In fact, the logo garnered design awards recently, and visitors want items with the Lone Canary logo to take home. Tasting room staff said the logo has become very popular in a few short years. The logo is a rendering of Washington’s state bird, the American Goldfinch, or Wild Canary. As the “lone” canary, the owners say it now expresses their choice to stand apart from the flock through a unique and artistic expression of the wines. At 4,000 cases produced annually,
Scott says the goal is to produce up to 10,000 cases per year,
delivering “good wine
at a fair price” that will compliment the dinner table.
In order to reach that goal, Lone Canary will need to find a
new location for expansion, something the owners are currently
negotiating.
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