Goose Ridge
NEWS S E A S O N A L N E W S L E T T E R • FA L L 2 0 2 3
A Climate of Excellence
Family owned. Estate grown.
Letter from the Monson Family Greetings from Goose Ridge, Even with more than 20 harvests under our belts we still are amazed by what each year brings. You know the saying “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to farming. Each harvest, whether apples, cherries or grapes, brings its own unique experience to each of us and never is one forgotten. The 2023 harvest season is turning out to be fantastic on all fronts. This is one of the best apple harvest seasons we’ve had at the ranch. The quality of our grapes, albeit a bit slow to ripen, are looking fantastic and we’re anxious to get everything in before the chill sets in. That excitement isn’t just to beat the cold weather, it’s to bring to light some new ideas in the cellar. We’re getting ready to expand our Revelation by Goose Ridge offering to include a Chardonnay as we round out the portfolio which already includes Revelation Rosé and Sauvignon Blanc. The Chardonnay will be an unoaked wine offering a clean, fruit-driven profile with a touch of acidity to balance the flavors. We’ll release that early next year and are looking forward to introducing it to the market. Speaking of market. What a year this has been for our Destination Brands and our partnerships throughout the Pacific Northwest. We increased our restaurant and bar placements, kicked off our third year as the exclusive vodka sponsor of the Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena and celebrated our new partnership with RNDC as we expand the reach our portfolio of brands to Alaska, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado as well as within our home state of Washington. This brings us home for harvest and for harvest parties as we celebrate our busiest but best time of the year. We hope to see you in our tasting rooms soon or on the road as we travel to states across the country in the coming year. Cheers!
The Monson Family
From the Ranch 2023 has shaped up to be a very promising growing season on the ranch at Goose Ridge. In the vineyard the vines caught up quickly after a late start and tracked well ahead of average for the entire summer. With only a handful of extremely hot days, the season provided very amenable weather for balanced berry development. Fortunately, the trend this year has been to have a few days of warm weather followed by a period of cooling. Then, the cycle of warming followed by cooling repeated several times. This pattern helped to avoid the uninterrupted intense heat we’ve seen in previous hot vintages (such as 2021 and 2015) and allowed the vines to grow and for the berries to mature evenly. We started harvesting Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc for Revelation on August 23rd and quickly moved into Pinot Gris along with some early blocks of Chardonnay. Even though the harvest has started early, this is not a typical hot vintage. Acids have remained high showing pristine bright flavors and lively tension. With some luck, September and October will remain moderately warm for even, balanced ripening as the season finishes.
Apple Harvest the Best in Years! What an amazing year for apples. The cool nights and warm days have provided the perfect conditions for a bumper crop of high-quality fruit on Monson Ranch. “Whether it’s Galas, Pink Ladies, Granny Smiths or Cosmic Crisps the quality of apples this year is the best we’ve seen in 20 years,” said Bill Monson, president and owner. As of the end of September, the Monson family was pushing through harvest of Cosmic Crisp and Granny Smith varieties with their sight on finishing up with Pink Ladies by the first week of November. In the meantime, it appears to be the sweetness along with the color intensity that is separating this harvest from others. According to Blake Monson, Burbank Orchards manager, it’s about quality, color and quantity as they push fruit to market.
The consistently temperate weather has also treated the Monson Ranch cattle to a nice summer as well. With the season’s grass feeding in Oregon coming to an end the ranch team is getting ready to move the cattle south to California for the winter. A destination for many as fall and winter begin to knock on summer’s door.
From The Cellar We can’t wait to get our hands on the 2023 grapes after such a promising season. We took good notes coming out of last year and have a few new ideas we want to try with Revelation, G3, and Goose Ridge wines this year. We also have several new projects involving Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Gris white varieties, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon, and we’ll be bringing those together over the next few months. In the cellar, we are wrapping up our annual bottling with our 2021 G3 red wines: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Proprietary Red which have come together beautifully. It’s going to be great to get these wines into bottle and let them rest for an early 2024 release. The 2021 Goose Ridge red wines were all bottled in early August and again show an exciting concentration and tension. The first of these will be released next May for our Goose Ridge Wine Club Spring Release.
Tasting Room News Goose Ridge Annual Fall Market If you were in the Richland, WA area on Thursday, October 12th we hope you joined us for our 2nd Annual Fall Market. This family-friendly event celebrates the arrival of fall and will feature more than 20 local farmers and makers, food trucks, live music and a pumpkin carving demonstration with some pumpkins weighing in at 500 pounds. Of course, the Goose Ridge Winery staff was on hand serving your favorite wine selections, ciders, and special Monson Ranch Distillers cocktails made with Vido Vodka and Feather & Folly Gin. We hope you had fun! Goose Ridge Annual Fall Market Thursday, October 12, Noon – 8pm Tasting Room at Richland, WA 6304 North Dallas Road | Richland, WA 99352 (509) 628-3880
Tasting Room News September was the Inaugural WA Spirits Month
Honoring harvest season, the first annual WA Spirits Month kicked off statewide and showcased the diversity, quality and innovation of the state’s distilleries. Known for producing some of the best distilled spirits made from locally grown grapes, grains and other ingredients, distillers from around Washington came together to raise awareness for their craft. Our own Monson Ranch Distillers joined in the celebration with specialty cocktails and spirits tastings offered at our Richland and Woodinville tasting rooms all month long.
Wind In Our Sales Destination Brands and RNDC for the Win
Earlier this year we announced our strategic alignment and partnership with Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC). After an enthusiastic and inspiring kickoff, we hosted launch events throughout the region including Seattle, Tri-cities, Spokane Washington, as well as Portland, Eugene, Bend and Medford Oregon and Anchorage and Fairbanks Alaska. We’re thrilled about the momentum we’re gaining and look forward to a future filled with success.
Celebrating Washington Wine Month We have been busy celebrating Washington Wine Month with our retail partners as they highlighted Destination Brands up and down wine isles throughout the Pacific Northwest. Safeway & Albertsons featured Among The Giants, Goose Ridge G3 and Revelation by Goose Ridge. We highlighted our Revelation by Goose Ridge Rosé and Sauvignon Blanc in Safeway’s floral department as well. While at Rosauers Supermarkets and Yokes Fresh Markets our Goose Ridge g3 wines were front and center.
Wind In Our Sales (continued) Cheers to Our On-Premise Partners
Benton Hills in New Packaging
In restaurant news, we’re happy to welcome new partners to the Destination Brands family. Customers of Duke’s Seafood enjoyed the “Hi Ho Cherry Oh” cocktail featuring VIDO Vodka at seven locations this summer. This refreshing and delicious cocktail played homage to the old-fashioned childhood game by the same name, as well as our cherry orchards at Monson Ranch and our dad who was lovingly called Vido.
Our Benton Hills wine brand gives a nod to the ancient basalt flows that formed a cluster of small mountains in the arid eastern part of Washington. The gentle sloping hillsides are ideal for growing vinifera grapes. As a result, we affectionately refer to this area as our Benton Hills. Available in glass bottles, we’re also announcing our 3L Bag in Box. Benton Hills wines are available in the Pacific Northwest and recently authorized to be sold in Safeway and Albertsons.
In addition to Dukes, we’ve partnered with The Ram in eight locations in Washington, Oregon and Idaho where they’re featuring our Goose Ridge g3 wine portfolio.
Monson Ranch Distillers
22 Hop’s N Drop’s throughout Washington, Oregon and Colorado are featuring our Benton Hills Chardonnay and Red Blend, the Goose Ridge g3 Chardonnay and VIDO Vodka while 13 Farrelli’s Pizza locations located throughout Washington are featuring our Goose Ridge g3 Red Blend.
Our spirits brands are on the move as well. The Monson Ranch Distillers Feather & Folly Gin is now available in QFC and Fred Meyer as well as Safeway and Albertsons. VIDO Vodka is celebrating its third year as the vodka partner with the Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena. This year we’ll offer a VIDO Kraken limited edition vodka featuring the Seattle Kraken logo.
DISTILLERY
1123 Dudley Ave Prosser, WA 99350
OFFICE
63615 E Jacobs Rd NE Benton City, WA 99320
facebook.com/monsonranchdistillers instagram.com/monsonranchdistillers info@mrdistillers.com 509-627-6249
In conversation with Bill Monson What did you think when your family started growing wine grapes? My dad was always a dreamer. My role was to be the “do-er.” I’ve worked to bring his visions to life. When we first bought the land at Goose Ridge, the plan was to plant it to apples. Right after we closed, a large wine company asked if we’d be open to growing grapes for them on the land. Within 48 hours, we shifted to planting grapes. It was a quick change of plans, but we’ve never looked back. What does sustainability mean to you?
Bill Monson, Goose Ridge Vineyard & Winery president, on the ranch at Goose Ridge How long have you been working in the family business? For as long as I can remember. I was always helping my Dad. 10 years old, I would come home from school and work with the cattle and in the apple orchards. When I was 16 years old, my dad helped my sisters and me buy our first orchard of red delicious apples. We had to go to the bank to get a loan that he co-signed. We called the orchard “Monson Kids.” My dad let us use his machinery, but we had to manage the orchard, pay the bills and sell the fruit. My dad believed in teaching us from a young age not only the value of hard work, but also how to run a business. What is it like working with your sisters? You could say I’ve been in business with my sisters for over 40 years. This means I know how each of them likes to work. At Goose Ridge, we all have our own areas of expertise. I trust them to be the experts and manage their areas of the business. At the end of the day, for big decisions, we always come together as a family.
My dad used to say we’re not farming for this generation, but the next one. To me, that’s what sustainability is all about. We believe it doing things the right way. It might be more expensive in the short term, but we want it done right. We can ultimately produce a better crop while caring for the environment. When the Sustainable Washington certification was introduced in 2022, we knew immediately we wanted to participate. All our vineyards now carry a Sustainable Washington certification. This is just a small sign of the work we’ve always been doing. How do you relax after a workday? Sitting on the porch with my wife Darci drinking a glass of Cabernet. Favorite cocktail? I love a rye whiskey. I got the taste for rye at a young age. In our cattle days, I would be hauling around feed for the cattle, sometimes it was corn or barley, but my favorite was the was the rye. On the rye days, I would chew on it like sunflower seeds. I always had a handful of rye in my pockets. Now instead of chewing on it, I pour myself a glass.
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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