Northwest Big Reds Club™
October 2007
Mark Ryan Winery- continued from page 1
Game Plan
These days, some winemakers are exploring the use of nontraditional varietals such as Dolcetto, Mourvedre or Tempranillo in search for new flavor profiles. McNeilly’s not ready to jump on that bandwagon just yet. “I really have to keep focused and stick to my plan,” he says. “As fun as it would be to work with all of those different varietals, I’m just trying to keep doing what I’m doing the best I can.
So what is the plan? McNeilly is currently intent on maintaining the consistency of the successful portfolio of wines he’s already developed. He’s contemplating adding some additional vineyards to his winemaking palette, with a preference for Horse Heaven Hills areas like Champoux or Alder Ridge.
But he recognizes the implications of such a move, as well as his own limits: “5,000 cases are really the maximum one guy can do,” he says. “Once you get much beyond that, the logistics of making and selling really just become too much for one person.”
Though McNeilly’s been touted as one of the rebels of Washington winemaking, it’s clear that along with his happy nature, he possesses the soul of a shrewd businessman.
Fielding Hills Winery
Mike Wade doesn't try to imitate a particular wine style, though the wines of Walla Walla Vintners, where he first realized that winemaking could be possible for him, are one touchstone. His preferences run to younger, more robust wines. "I like wines with more fruit, with that big mouth feel," he says. Typically modest, he'll attribute his winemaking success to the land and the grapes, not to his own ability. His honest, unpretentious approach and adventurous mind are surely integral to his winemaking achievements.
Wade is fascinated by the magic that turns grapes into wine. In the midst of doing punch downs recently, he found himself contemplating what makes wine develop the way it does. "I often wonder about the process that's evolved. If I punched down differently (because that's been very consistent over the years) would that make a difference - that and the hundreds of tiny little steps that are involved in winemaking." Still, whether it's winemaking or viticulture, at his core Mike Wade is a pragmatist loath to introduce drama into the equation. "If it's not broke, don't fix it," he says - and it's hard to argue with his achievements.
Fielding Hills bottled about 450 cases annually during their first few years. They've since increased production to more than 800 cases, evenly distributed between the Cabernet, Syrah, Merlot and Riverbed Red with slightly fewer - around 100 - cases of the Cabernet Franc. "The Cab Franc is a specialty thing. We have less than an acre and a half of the Cab Franc so that's going to be the upper limit there," says Mike.
Success has, not surprisingly, led Mike Wade to ask himself - where do I go from here? In the short term, plans are in the works for a new winery building (the Wades make wine on the property where they live), though that's currently tied up in bureaucratic red tape. That space would allow Fielding Hills some literal breathing room in which Mike envisions some conservative expansion. "I'm hoping to grow to about a 2500 case facility eventually," he says.
Still, growth brings other potential changes. What's currently an operation essentially run by the Wades themselves, with friends pitching in during crush and bottling, could easily transform into something else entirely. "The whole dynamics would change then. You'd have to have full time help; you'd have to rely a lot more on a distributor network for sales," says Wade, who seems simultaneously intrigued and reticent about the idea.
