State to lease 404 acres on Red Mountain for wine complex
BENTON CITY, Wash. (AP) - State officials have agreed to lease 404 acres of state land in southcentral Washington to a wine grower and two partners from Gig Harbor for a winery complex.
The state Department of Natural Resources previously leased about 140 acres to four wineries on Red Mountain, a 4,040-acre federally recognized grape-growing region known for red wines.
The lease to Vintage Partners announced Monday is for a vineyard and winemaking complex where about a dozen small wineries will share crushing facilities while maintaining independent barrel and tasting rooms, said Duane W. Unland, regional business development manager for the state agency.
The 55-year lease, which was set to be signed Tuesday in Olympia, is worth about $500,000 a year for the state school trust fund.
The three principals in Vintage Partners are Dick Shaw, whose vineyards on the Wahluke Slope in Mattawa produce grapes under contract to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and other producers, Doug Long of Gig Harbor, and Paul Kaltinick, a certified public accountant in Gig Harbor and former chief financial officer for J.C. Penney.
Project costs, including construction of a two-story Italian-style piazza covering 75,000 square feet with guest rooms on the second floor, will run about $50 million, Long told the Tri-City Herald.
The three men also are partners in apple orchards and in 2005 signed a lease for 30 acres of state land which they planted with cabernet, merlot and malbec grapes the next year.
"We pulled 20 tons off the vineyard last year," Long said.
He said the first planting at the new project will be 80 acres of cabernet sauvignon next year.
Milton D. Johnston, the state agency's assistant regional manager, told the newspaper Vintage Partners was chosen over two other bidders because Shaw, Long and Kaltinick offered the best deal for the state.
"These folks have a proven track record and strong vision," Johnston said.
Red Mountain, a sagebrush-covered hill in the lower Yakima Valley that has become increasingly dotted with wine grape vineyards, became the state's fifth federally recognized wine appellation in 2001.
Of the nine appellations in Washington state, Red Mountain is best known for its red wines: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, syrah, sangiovese, lemberger and malbec. Several wineries are already located there, including Hedges, Kiona and Terra Blanca. Some believe as many as 40 wineries could be producing there in the next decade.
Last year one of Italy's leading wine families joined forces with the Pacific Northwest's largest wine company to open an $8 million winery on Red Mountain for Col Solare, a red wine blend. The opening marked the most significant international investment in the state's booming wine industry to date.
The new lease is for land bordering Col Solare and includes ready access to water, a feature lacking in most other undeveloped areas on the mountain, although the Kennewick Irrigation District has been working on a plan to pump water to the mountain from the Yakima River.
The state agency dug a well at a cost of about $500,000 on land included in the lease and worked with Col Solare and Benton County to build the $950,000 Antinori Road, designated as the main access route to the piazza planned by Vintage Partners.
Washington, the nation's second leading producer of premium wines behind California, has more than 500 wineries and 31,000 acres of wine grapes. A study recently found the industry contributed an estimated $3 billion to the state's economy in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available.
The state Department of Natural Resources previously leased about 140 acres to four wineries on Red Mountain, a 4,040-acre federally recognized grape-growing region known for red wines.
The lease to Vintage Partners announced Monday is for a vineyard and winemaking complex where about a dozen small wineries will share crushing facilities while maintaining independent barrel and tasting rooms, said Duane W. Unland, regional business development manager for the state agency.
The 55-year lease, which was set to be signed Tuesday in Olympia, is worth about $500,000 a year for the state school trust fund.
The three principals in Vintage Partners are Dick Shaw, whose vineyards on the Wahluke Slope in Mattawa produce grapes under contract to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and other producers, Doug Long of Gig Harbor, and Paul Kaltinick, a certified public accountant in Gig Harbor and former chief financial officer for J.C. Penney.
Project costs, including construction of a two-story Italian-style piazza covering 75,000 square feet with guest rooms on the second floor, will run about $50 million, Long told the Tri-City Herald.
The three men also are partners in apple orchards and in 2005 signed a lease for 30 acres of state land which they planted with cabernet, merlot and malbec grapes the next year.
"We pulled 20 tons off the vineyard last year," Long said.
He said the first planting at the new project will be 80 acres of cabernet sauvignon next year.
Milton D. Johnston, the state agency's assistant regional manager, told the newspaper Vintage Partners was chosen over two other bidders because Shaw, Long and Kaltinick offered the best deal for the state.
"These folks have a proven track record and strong vision," Johnston said.
Red Mountain, a sagebrush-covered hill in the lower Yakima Valley that has become increasingly dotted with wine grape vineyards, became the state's fifth federally recognized wine appellation in 2001.
Of the nine appellations in Washington state, Red Mountain is best known for its red wines: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, syrah, sangiovese, lemberger and malbec. Several wineries are already located there, including Hedges, Kiona and Terra Blanca. Some believe as many as 40 wineries could be producing there in the next decade.
Last year one of Italy's leading wine families joined forces with the Pacific Northwest's largest wine company to open an $8 million winery on Red Mountain for Col Solare, a red wine blend. The opening marked the most significant international investment in the state's booming wine industry to date.
The new lease is for land bordering Col Solare and includes ready access to water, a feature lacking in most other undeveloped areas on the mountain, although the Kennewick Irrigation District has been working on a plan to pump water to the mountain from the Yakima River.
The state agency dug a well at a cost of about $500,000 on land included in the lease and worked with Col Solare and Benton County to build the $950,000 Antinori Road, designated as the main access route to the piazza planned by Vintage Partners.
Washington, the nation's second leading producer of premium wines behind California, has more than 500 wineries and 31,000 acres of wine grapes. A study recently found the industry contributed an estimated $3 billion to the state's economy in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available.