Rio Jean Photography - Benton City, WA {Terra Blanca}

Can I sing praises to Terra Blanca, yet again?  YES!  I have to admit, it was a love, love love, HATE, now back in love relationship with Terra Blanca,(http://www.terrablanca.com/). What does that say about me and Terra Blanca? Well ... I admit I am hard core when it comes to customer service and rarely am I forgiving and rarely do I give a business a second chance.   That said, the only reason I gave Terra Blanca a second chance was because, well two reasons, I swallowed my stubbornness and realized that sometimes employees have bad days and the other reason?  Keith actually responded to my complaint and extended an offer for me to come visit so he could rectify the situation.

Um . . .that was a first for a winery.  And what does that tell you about Terra Blanca? Terra Blanca is the first winery to invite me back to make amends after a bad experience.  That gesture should tell you that Terra Blanca really does care about their customers and are serious about making sure everyone has a wonderful experience at their winery. How many businesses can you say that about?  Keith, ReNae, and Jordan were beyond amazing during my visit. So I am happy to say Terra Blanca has made it off the B List and will forever and always be in my good graces!

I have been visiting Terra Blanca for years! I remember visiting them when their current tasting room was being built, and before then, I remember when the tasting room was in the house. Terra Blanca has certainly come a long way.

 Keith and ReNae Pilgrim are the owners of Terra Blanca and let me tell you, their story of how they began the winery sounded intense!  It all started in 1992, when Keith eagle eyed the piece of land that would become Terra Blanca.  Keith and ReNae had only been married a short time when their vision started to come to fruition.  Both still had full time jobs and were commuting from Redmond to Benton City on a weekly basis. 


At first, the Pilgrims decided that they would take everything slow when it came to developing the land (famous last words!)  But things were so easy!  They were able to find a well weeks ahead of schedule, so they decided to plant some grapes and build some caves! (Terra Blanca has the first barrel caves for aging wine in Washington State)

Terra Blanca had its first crush in 1993 and in 1997, they had their first bottling of Merlot.  The tasting room opened in 1998 and the new tasting room/production facilities opened in 2006.

Terra Blanca started out producing  around 1900 cases and are now producing 35,000 cases.  Production is still increasing but Terra Blanca will most likely not produce more that 60,000 cases a year. (that is an insane amount of wine!)  But realistically, Terra Blanca sees most of the growth happening in the changing of their products.

I had the chance to see the beast of a machine that bottles the wine and I'm not kidding, it is a beast!  If you have read the post about Tucannon Cellars, you would have seen towards the end that they use a mobile bottler.  Since Terra Blanca produces way more wine, they have their own bottling and labeling machine. I'd be interested in seeing the whole bottling process.  Did you know Keith has a mad scientist lab?  I saw it and I need to see what kind of scientific stuff goes on there actually I'm not going to lie, I want to do some experiments (and of course help out with the bottling of the wine)... *cough* *cough* *nudge* *nudge Keith! *

 

So how did the Pilgrims decide on the name Terra Blanca?  Terra Blanca is Latin for “white earth”. The soil found on Terra Blanca's estate vineyard has high levels of calcium carbonate, the same material that makes up limestone and chalk. Soils all around the world that are rich in calcium carbonate are commonly found in the best wine grape growing regions. Since Keith has a background in geology,  he knew that growing grapes in calcium carbonate-rich soil would yield a remarkable fruit.  Terra Blanca's tagline is “White Earth. Blue Skies. Red Mountain”, as those are three of the key factors that makes Terra Blanca wine what it is.

If you buy a super sized bottle....guess what you receive with it!?  Keith's autograph!!!

You know me and winery dogs, guess which winery had a beautiful weimaraner named Kasey?  Terra Blanca!  Every time I visited the winery, I ALWAYS asked to see Kasey but I never had a chance to and I was hoping to finally meet him during my visit, but instead I received sad news that Kasey passed away two years ago. (ggaaaaahhh!)  Rest in peace Kasey, it sounds like you were loved very much in this life.


A couple things to look for when visiting Terra Blanca, a guest house, which Keith and ReNae used to live in, that is on the property.  I am assuming customers would be able to rent it for a day or two during their stay at Red Mountain? Chef Seminars will be coming back along with the wine experience which I am looking forward to attending someday!  

If you happen to do the reserve tasting, check out the chandelier that is hanging in that room!   Did you know that when you order a chandelier, it does not come assembled? You have to put it together, piece by piece....don't buy one...ever! Anyways, that chandelier is gorgeous!

Terra Blanca is also the perfect place to host your next event or wedding, they have the space and it's EPIC!  So, have I convinced you to go see Terra Blanca?  I hope so!  Go and grab yourself a bottle of their wine if you aren't able to make it to the winery.  If you happen to find yourself at the winery, check out the cave!!  The Pilgrims have definitely won me back as a customer and they certainly will win you over too!

Cheers,
Melanie