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

Rio Jean Photogarphy - Benton City, WA {Cooper Wine Company}

I stopped by Cooper Wine Company (http://www.cooperwinecompany.com/) on a whim and when I first walked in I was greeted by Bud, the 6 year old Chocolate lab, and he is so beautiful!  Sarah  (the tasting room manager who is fluent in French!) immediately poured me some wine which was totally awesome!  How often does that happen when you walk into a tasting room?

Cooper Wine Company is definitely a boisterous convivial tasting room and also appears to the party pulse of Red Mountain.  I had the chance to see the owner, Neil, in action he sure was in fine form.  If you are looking for a laid back and rustic atmosphere with a "bar mentality" then definitely stop in.  The wines are decent, not the best but not the worst (the winemaker, Neil, was trained under Charlie of Fidelitas Winery - I'll get into that another time!) and I would say the saving grace of this place is most definitely Sarah, Bud, and the other guests, beyond that I was really not impressed.

Honestly, my experience here was ok, I like the atmosphere but I really don't think I would return. Keep in mind that was my experience, you may have a totally different experience, so I do recommend you stop by and give Cooper a shot.

Cheers,
Melanie

Rio Jean Photography - Benton City, WA {Tucannon Cellars}

Phil and Danette Warren LOVE wine.   So much so, that they started producing wine out of their garage in 2010.  Eventually, Phil started to see the potential in his wine making and that is when the Warrens decided to open a winery, Tucannon Cellars (http://www.tucannoncellars.com/).  Tucannon Cellars did their first bottling of Syrah, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay in 2011 and opened their tasting room doors in July 2014.

Currently, Tucannon Cellars produces about 1200 cases a year and the Warrens hope that number will increase to 3,000 cases a year. Tucannon Cellars sources their grapes from Red Mountain, Burgis Vineyards, and they have estate vineyard as well.

Are you wondering where the name Tucannon came from?  Tucannon cellars is named after the Tucannon River which has a long and interesting history.  If you have a chance, read up on it, apparently there were two wars fought there! But that's not why the Warrens deiced to name their winery Tucannon. The Tucannon river is a place that really resonated with the winery's brand.

Tucannon Cellars has some amazing labels! The logo was designed by Phil's older son and the labels were drawn by an artist, Janet Waldron (http://www.janetwaldronfineart.com/commercial-pieces.html).  The winery is still new so Tucannon Cellars might be doing a branding change soon and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.

Unfortunately I did not have the chance to meet Tyson, the winery dog.  But I saw his cute little face on FB and he is a one year old Boxer. ( I love Boxers! ) So I just have a picture of his empty bed :(

When you visit the tasting room, check out the wood on the bar and the wood that is on the ceiling.  Why?  Well, that wood is from old wine tanks that were cut from a Red Wood tree that was over 1,500 years old! Isn't that cool!  The wood is gorgeous too!

One fun idea the Warrens are tossing around is having guests help out with production. I don't know about you, but this sounds EPIC.  Will you work for wine?  You already know I will! Doesn't it sound like fun to help with harvesting the grapes, crushing them, and then bottling the wine?  I am really interested to see the mobile bottler, I hear it can do 120 cases in two hours!

Tucannon Cellars receives a rating of 5 in every aspect!  Beautiful tasting room, gorgeous grounds, delicious wines and of course excellent customer service.

Are you ready to visit this winery?  I would love to hear about your experience and of course, if you happen to snap a picture of Tyson, send  it my way!  One last thing, join this wine club because all of the wines that are sold to wine club members can only be found in the Tucannon Wine Club, you won't find them in any store in Washington State!

Cheers!
Melanie