Goose Ridge
NEWS
SEASONAL NEWSLETTER • FEBRUARY 2021
A Climate of Excellence Family owned. Estate grown.
Letter from the Monson Family
Happy New Year!
It’s hard to believe 2021 has arrived. In some ways it’s not feeling too different from 2020, but we are welcoming the new year with hope and optimism. One thing we can always count on is a picturesque winter in the Columbia Valley. While beautiful, even peaceful to look at, the work doesn’t stop as we prune our vineyard estate, preparing for springtime and bud break. Meanwhile, our winemaking team is busy in the cellar putting the 2020 harvest to bed and prepping blends for bottling. In this newsletter, our winemaker Andrew Wilson talks about the blending process for our red and white blends. Our hospitality team in Richland is getting creative with inventive and fashionable tasting tents we call cabanas, and they are a hit. In all of our tasting rooms we’re bringing the outside in as we welcome guests back with cozy blankets and special tasting offerings. We’ve also put together curated gifting ideas for these cold winter days, which are available in our tasting rooms and on our website. We’ve hit the ground running, literally, on the sales front as our sales team races to distributor meetings and key accounts up and down the west coast. We’ll catch you up on our activities at retail, and are thrilled to share the latest on the launch of Truth Be Told, the first wine to be released through our joint partnership with Napa Valley winery Roots Run Deep. Moving from harvest to the maintenance of our ranch during the winter months highlights the cycle of the seasons and how all of us are working together to bring our father’s vision for Goose Ridge to life every day. Until spring, stay warm and be sure to visit us for a tasting and some conversation soon. We look forward to welcoming you in. Cheers! The Monson Family Valerie Monson | Bill Monson | Molly Monson Stutesman
From the Ranch
This time of year, the grape vines are dormant and need to be pruned. This pruning will set the tonnage for the 2021 vintage. Before any of the vines are touched, we have in-depth discussions with our winemaking team about the needs for this year. Each day, our crew of 50 people prune 110 acres a week. With 2,200 acres of wine grapes to prune, we are grateful to have loyal employees. They are experienced and know how to efficiently prune each variety for their specific needs. One fun thing about Goose Ridge is that we are partners in a packing plant, Columbia Valley Fruit. At Columbia Valley Fruit we are busy packing apples year-round. We got to see first-hand how the new Cosmic Crisp apple would store and pack. They store beautifully in a cool environment making the pack outs of fruit a flying success. These first couple years of growing the new Cosmic Crisp variety has provided us with a learning curve, but 2020 yielded a much larger crop than anticipated.
From the Cellar Winemaking update
Winter at the winery is a time for appreciation, appraisal and planning. It’s when the work turns from the urgency and frenetic energy of harvest to the slower-paced tasks of maintaining and maturing the wines developing in the cellar. Every vintage has its distinctive set of unique joys and challenges, so it’s important to take a considered, measured look at the wines and set them up to develop most favorably with little intervention. In December and January, we worked on penciling in the blends for the 2019 red wines that will be bottling later this spring and summer. Preparing the blends now gives us time to make fine adjustments before bottling. We’re also preparing the first 2019 red wines for bottling. Since we don’t bottle much wine during harvest, we start staging and prepping in January to get the reds in the bottle. Once bottled, we shift our attention to finalize the blending, finishing, and stabilizing of our Rosé, Riesling, and Pinot Gris, so they are ready for bottling in February. We’re also completing the secondary malolactic fermentation process for the 2020 wines. The primary fermentation was completed by the end of the fall harvest season, but this second fermentation often proceeds more slowly. Shepherding these wines through their fermentation and getting them safely and cleanly into their maturation phase is critical for a successful outcome.
Doing what they do best! Winemakers Andrew Wilson and Peter Devison tasting through the 2020 reds. Bill Monson oversees Granny Smith apples from the ranch being packed for shipping.
Wind in Our Sales
Truth Be Told Makes its Debut
VIDO Vodka On the Move
On the heels of announcing our joint partnership with Napa Valley’s Roots Run Deep to create a new Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, we’re thrilled to announce Truth Be Told will make its debut in March with the 2018 vintage. This unique project combines Roots Run Deep’s long recognized expertise in developing highquality value wines with our estate fruit from Goose Ridge’s 2,200-acre estate vineyard, bringing together the strengths of both companies for a Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from the Goose Mountain AVA.
VIDO Vodka momentum continues as we head into 2021. We’re pleased to announce VIDO is launching in several new states this month, including NV, OK and TX, with plans for CT, FL, GA, MA, MD, NJ, NY, TN later this year. After a well-received holiday display at Haggen Food Grocery Stores in western Washington, VIDO was included in Super Bowl promos at BevMo stores in WA, AZ and CA, and will break new ground in Fred Meyer and QFC this month.
A true winemaking collaboration, our thanks go out to Roots Run Deep Winemaker Macario Montoya and our very own Goose Ridge Winemakers Andrew Wilson and Peter Devison. With early chain authorizations in Washington and California, stay tuned for updates on more placements for Truth Be Told.
VIDO Vodka scores 93 points at the Sunset Spirit Awards!
*VIDO Vodka display in Haggen’s, Woodinville, WA.
g3 Picks Up Steam We are thrilled to announce our 2018 g3 Cabernet Sauvignon kicks off the new year with a 91-point score and Best Buy by Wine Enthusiast. This great momentum comes as the cab, along with the g3 Red Blend, is showing strong growth in Kroger, QFC & Fred Meyer, Yokes and Haggen’s.
*Goose Ridge G3 display in QFC Holman Road store, Seattle, WA.
Tasting Room News Introducing Date Night at Goose Ridge
Tasting Rooms Are Open
Winter may be upon us in the Columbia Valley, but we’re heating things up in our four tasting rooms. Beginning Valentine’s Day weekend and continuing through the year, Goose Ridge Winery is rolling out Date Night Dinners. Each dinner will be catered by local chefs and paired with a curated selection of Goose Ridge Ciders and Wines. Guests and club members can purchase tickets in our tasting rooms or online at gooseridge.com/Shop/Date-Night-Dinners.
We kick off 2021 with all four tasting rooms open to our guests. Under the new guideline called “Open Air Guideline” we’re bringing the outside in, welcoming 25% capacity inside with all our doors and windows open. Our Richland tasting room just received new private tents we like to call Cabanas, offering our guests a private tasting retreat from the cold. We hope to welcome you into one of our four tasting rooms soon.
Gift Giving Made Easy with Goose Ridge Need a gift for a family member or loved one? Goose Ridge has curated creative and thoughtful gifts now available on our website and in our tasting rooms. We introduced our gift selection with the pairing of Washington Food & Wine Cookbook with Goose Ridge wines last fall. Today our club members and guests can peruse Goose Ridge Collections and take the guesswork out of gift giving. Visit gooseridge.com/Shop/Wine-Gifts for more information, or stop by one of our tasting rooms.
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Washington’s Monson Family Launches VIDO Vodka
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Let’s Be Social
www.gooseridge.com
Tasting Room at Richland, WA 16304 N Dallas Rd Richland, WA 99352 509.628.3880 info@gooseridge.com
Tasting Room at Woodinville, WA 14450 Woodinville Redmond Rd NE Suite #108 Woodinville, WA 98072 425.488.0200 info@gooseridge.com
Tasting Room at Leavenworth, WA 920 Front Street B3 Leavenworth, WA 98826 509.470.8676 info@gooseridge.com
Tasting Room at Walla Walla, WA 9 North Second Ave Walla Walla, WA 99362 509.876.4046 info@gooseridge.com
Production & Corporate Office 63615 East Jacobs Road Benton City, WA 99320 509.627.6249 info@gooseridge.com