The road to exceptional wine touring leads to Prosser

Wine touring in the fall is especially thrilling, because it is the season of the harvest. The Crush is how winemakers refer to it, a phrase that neatly captures both the physical pressing of the grapes, and the rush of crunch-time winemaking.

The Winemaker's Loft should be on the A-list for anyone heading east. Conveniently located just off Interstate 82 (take the Gap Road exit) on the western edge of Prosser, it's part of a new cluster of winery tasting rooms, called the Vintners' Village, that has sprung up in just the past couple of years.

You'll see several of the tasting rooms from the highway: Olsen Estates and Airfield Estates are especially visible. Willow Crest, Thurston Wolfe and Milbrandt Vineyards are right at hand, and ground was just broken for Ron Bunnell's RiverAerie tasting room. The Winemaker's Loft is just across the street.

Michael Haddox dreamed of starting this winemaking studio while working at Columbia Crest and Silver Lake. He launched the enterprise two years ago, envisioning a place where tiny, start-up wineries could get up and running at minimal cost.

"For six years," he explains, "I was brewing on this winemaker's loft idea. Then things just clicked. A friend of mine told me about this port property. I stood there on the property, scared and thinking it didn't have the right feel. But then all these others started to hop out of the woodwork, and I thought this is really going to be a good spot. Now Prosser's a destination, and we have this unique, high-visibility site. When people come wine tasting, they can spend a day."

It's true. Prosser now boasts more than two dozen wineries, including another cluster of boutiques at the Wine & Food Park just east of town; bigger stand-alone facilities for Hogue, Snoqualmie, Mercer Ranch and Desert Wind; and pioneering family wineries such as Chinook and Hinzerling.

Back at the Winemaker's Loft, Haddox has created a welcoming space with an array of tiny tasting rooms. Each winery has a separately bonded production space and enough storage for a few hundred cases of wine. With the exception of Coyote Canyon and Apex, none of these wineries were open a year ago. Most released their first wines in the past few weeks.

The centerpiece is Haddox's own winery, Michael Florentino Cellars. With a focus on unique varietals such as tempranillo, mourvèdre and malbec, it offers visitors an opportunity to stretch their palates while exploring some new frontiers in Washington winemaking. Haddox also offers well-made wines under the lower-priced Winemaker's Loft label. Especially good are the Winemaker's Loft 2007 Chardonnay-Pinot Gris ($13) and the Winemaker's Loft 2007 Smasne Vineyards Gewurztraminer ($13). The Michael Florentino Cellars 2005 Quinta de la Dolce Bella (a Port-style wine made with Portuguese varietals) could pass for a young ruby or LBV ($25 for a 500 ml bottle).

Just next door is Maison Bleue. Winemaker Jon Martinez recently celebrated his second month in business. His winemaking dream, like so many others, has been many years in developing. Jon is from Kansas City, Mo., and gave up a successful dental practice there to join the world of barrel-scrubbers and hose-schleppers (aka winemakers). There is nothing more fun than sitting down with a newly installed winemaker showing off his or her first releases.

Maison Bleue is specializing in wines from southern French/Mediterranean grapes, most notably roussanne. The first wines are stylistically consistent, all a bit on the ripe side, but distinctive. There is a Maison Bleue 2007 Notre Vie Viognier ($23) and a Maison Bleue 2007 La Vallée du Soleil Roussanne ($23) -- mirror-
image blends of the two grapes in 85/15 proportions, both finished off-dry at about 1.5 percent residual sugar. Future versions, Martinez explains, will be barrel-
fermented dry, not off-dry, and for the next two years will be exclusively sourced from Olsen Vineyard in the Yakima Valley while he waits for his own vineyard to come into production.

Especially delightful is the Maison Bleue 2007 La Vie Douce Roussanne ($23). Don't let the almost 5 percent residual sugar put you off; this is a rich, luscious, seductive wine that will accompany a surprisingly generous variety of foods, not just dessert.

The newest tasting room to open at the Loft belongs to Tasawik Vineyards. Erik Dahle and his wife, Sara Broetje, recently planted a 7-acre vineyard at Broetje Orchards, a huge apple orchard in the northwest corner of Walla Walla County. The vineyard overlooks the Snake River, above an old Indian village named Tasawik. The first wines, from 2005, were made at Zerba Cellars. Last year Dahle made his wines at the Loft "with Mike Haddox holding my hand." This year, he'll fly solo.

Also in the Loft are Wyndstone, Masquerade, Apex and Coyote Canyon. All in all, it's a great place to meet new, passionate winemakers and to sample the future of Washington wines. Call ahead to make certain the tasting rooms are open during crush, and don't be surprised if you get put to work. Michael Florentino Cellars will hold its first winemaker dinner on Sept. 27. Call for details.

The Winemaker's Loft

357 Port Street

Prosser, WA 99350

509-786-2705

11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily

www.thewinemakersloft.com

* Paul Gregutt is the author of "Washington Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide." His column appears weekly. He can be reached by e-mail at wine@seattletimes.com.

* Pick of the Week

Barnard Griffin 2007 White Riesling, $8. This is a gorgeous bottle, primarily from old vines (planted in the mid-1970s), with floral fragrances that pile on acacia, rose petals and citrus blossom. In the mouth flavors move into a luscious mid-palate loaded with apples, peaches and citrus. The wine is seamless and well-defined, with a perfect mix of fruit-forward flavors and the cut and precision of an ageworthy, German style Kabinett. Finished at 11.7 percent alcohol, about 1 percent residual sugar.

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