City dwellers have an opportunity to dig in the dirt and learn about wine from the ground up in Washington’s picturesque Wenatchee Valley by joining Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery’s Adopt-a-Vine Club.
The program, which runs for nearly a year, starts in April when participants spend a weekend in the vineyard learning how to prune grape vines. Activities continue in July, when the club members return to participate in “the crush” and learn how to sort grapes, do a bit of stomping, and punch down barrels of the fermenting fruit. Each session draws to a close with wine and cheese tasting.
The third session is in October when members learn how to rack and blend wines and enjoy a luncheon in the barrel room. The last session is in January, when members are invited to bottle their own wine and then custom label it. The program costs $100 for the year.
Roy Gray and wife Pam Wright of East Wenatchee, Washington, adopted a vine last year. “It was wonderful, number one with us,” says Gray. “We were involved all year long. It’s quite educational in terms of the process, from growing through harvesting and eventually bottling.”
Gray says he also enjoyed making new friends along the way. “There’s a lot of interaction, from picking our own wine grapes, to sorting the grapes as they come down the conveyor belt—and of course, one must have a wine glass in hand at all times.” He particularly enjoyed the crush. “They throw grapes in four bins and whoever can stomp the most gets a prize. It’s a lot of fun to do that with a bunch of strangers.”
Gray says the Adopt-a-Vine program is just one of several events that make Chateau Faire Le Pont a fun place to go. “They are involved with the local Humane Society and they host Yappy Hour where people bring their dogs. They have an obstacle course set up, and a place for the dogs to play with each other while their people are drinking wine.”
The winery also offers cooking classes during the fall and winter months.
The winery, owned by Doug and Debé Brazil, is in a restored 1920s brick building with a panoramic view of the Cascades and Mission Ridge. The interior design is rustic elegance, with a floor-to-ceiling fireplace as a focal point. The building was formerly used for staging fruits to be loaded onto trains.
“Faire Le Pont” is a French term that means, “Bridging the Gap.” The term is used when a holiday falls in mid-week and people are having such a good time that they decide to extend the festivities through the weekend, says Debé. The winery is open daily, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and until 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
888-874-9463
fairelepont.com
By Vickie S. Higgins |
