It’s Been a While…

It’s been a while and I am excited to update all our wine friends, past wine club members and new customers. Back in 2018, I decided to stop making wine after twenty nine years and focus my time on other interests. We closed the main winery, sold off all our equipment, helped our winemaking team secure new positions, and then moved the tasting room to the Artisan Hills area to sell off our inventory.

However, it didn’t take long for me to miss making wine, spending time in the vineyards, and tasting our wines with customers. In 2023, we moved our winemaking license to the Winemakers Reserve/Woodinville Custom Crush facility to continue to make wine with a handful of other wineries. The Winemakers Reserve is a collective with the latest crushing equipment, fermentation options, and a dedicated crew to process the fruit under my direction. As a member of the collective, we are responsible for selecting and working with our vineyards and collaborating with the viticulturists on the growing approach and picking strategy. We are also responsible for barrel selection, purchase and delivery to the Winemaker’s Reserve.

With this new beginning comes a little bit of change, like all great new beginnings do. Our approach will be making a limited number of cases each year, with the focus on the highest quality of wine we can make, working with the top vineyards in Washington and selecting only the best French oak for our red aging program. We will be releasing our first 2022 vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc with a new label in the First Quarter of 2025.

And to keep all of you up to date, we will be sending out a biweekly blog on what we are doing in the winery, what is going on in the vineyards, and an overview of how we are making the wines, i.e., concrete fermenters, limited rackings, etc. We will be getting deeper into the wine process and sharing with you why we select the French barrels we use.

I will also not only talk about our wines, but about wines from around the world that I can share with you as well. Last year I spent two weeks in Croatia with my wife drinking some of the most exciting white wines I have ever tasted and visiting some great vineyards that use age-old planting techniques. My wife and I just returned from Sicily where I tasted some of the most breathtaking red wines from the winery Ulmo in Menfi, and Buonivini in Noto. In September, I will be heading to Tuscany and Northern Italy to taste wines with my friend Hugh. My interest is for all of you to not just think of Washington or California wines, but to learn and discover the wines of the world.

Cheers,

Mark Newton

Winemaker & Proprietor of DiStefano Winery