Hightower Cellars

Underappreciated deliciousness

"Underappreciated" is not the right word, since people who know Hightower wines totally appreciate them. And people who aren't aware? Co-winemakers/owners Tim and Kelly Hightower take responsibility. "We started slowly, didn't borrow money, had limited growth, and were consumed with production and planting our Red Mountain vineyard. We didn't do enough marketing." Now it's time to talk.

Let's start with the 2014 Seattle Wine Awards. Hightower submitted four wines and won four Double Golds: 2010 Red Mountain Reserve, 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2011 Merlot, 2011 Syrah. "We love these golds because there are numerous palates to please with 18 judges," says Tim. In addition to these wines, they use grapes from their estate vineyard, Out of Line (named for the 11° cant off north and south to balance sun exposure) in most of their wines, including one called Out of Line, their Murray (first wine dog) Red, Syrah, and Rose. Outside of their vineyard, they use grapes from other Red Mountain vineyards and Pepper Bridge in Walla Walla.

How they came to own Red Mountain property and make wine is a study in awakening passion. Kelly Coughlin fell in love with wine while at UC Berkeley, read about it constantly, then enrolled at Santa Rosa Community College to study enology and viticulture. "I didn't know what part of the business I'd be in, but I knew I had found what I wanted to do," she explains. "I'm from Washington, so I decided to get in on the ground level of a Washington winery. I ended up in the accounting department at Columbia Winery in 1994. Over the years, I worked in sales and marketing and basically trained to run a small business. I came in before work hours to volunteer in the cellar. Columbia had acquired Paul Thomas in 1992, and bought Covey Run in 1996. They were big enough to offer opportunities and small enough to let us do just about anything."

Riley, the Hightower wine dog

Tim was given a bottle of Chateau Lafite to be opened after his UW graduation. That started an interest that has never died. It increased during two semesters spent in Paris, and studying at the UPS Law School. While practicing alcoholic beverage law, he attended a meeting where he realized he liked the view from the winery side of things. As outside counsel for Associated Vintners, owners of Columbia Winery, he worked on the purchase of Paul Thomas. In 1996, he became in-house counsel. While there, it was discovered that he has a very good palate, and he took over some of the importing.

Tim and Kelly met at Columbia and discovered they both lived on Queen Anne. They started carpooling and the rest is history: continued work at Columbia while doing targeted research for their own winery; started Hightower Cellars in 1997 in Woodinville; married on Queen Anne in 1998; purchased Red Mountain land and moved in 2002; planted in 2004-2005, finished building their tasting room in 2008. Kelly "retired" from Columbia in 2006 while Tim kept his job until 2012. Over the years, he was the GM of a major production facility, Director of Eastern Washington Operations and oversaw Hogue (after Constellation purchased Vincor).

"We both did cellar work with really knowledgeable people, including Master of Wine David Lake. We read books and asked questions; it was like a grad course where you get varied input and learn to make your own decision," recalls Tim. "Initially we wanted to make wine, not become farmers. Our first wine was a 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon made mostly from Hedges grapes. You can't make great wine from bad grapes, and we take a minimalist approach to what we do with our grapes." Hand-picked, hand-sorted, hand-made.

Tim and Kelly are unusual in that they are co-winemakers. "We make all key decisions together," says Kelly. "We taste barrels and rank by varietal, starting with reserve wines. We work at it until we're both satisfied." Tim adds, "We're completely hands-on during the whole process. We blind taste wines against each other, going through 12-18 iterations." For them, blending is key and it's one of the things they most enjoy.

In their vineyard, they originally planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. Tim's mother owns five acres just below them with 2+ planted in Syrah and Viognier. Originally, their property held the house, a dirt floor horse barn, and alfalfa fields. Original owners Maurice and Zeta Moore were not invested in growing grapes, but liked the idea of a young couple living on the land.

Although they'd worked in every aspect of the business, there were still surprises. "Moving here was a surprise. We always thought we'd move back to Seattle," says Tim. "Sitting here with a glass of wine overlooking the valley is something we love." Kelly adds, "The wine community here is really a community. We market each other's wine and the area. For the area to be successful, we have to help each other." They also both like the creative aspect of the business. "It's quality of life. I like being part of a business that makes life nicer for people. We're also the kind of people who like to do a lot of different things, whether it's growing grapes, cleaning fermenters, or blending. It's satisfying to know something from the ground up." For Tim, "I like the idea of being involved in a creative process, and wearing multiple hats."

View from the tasting room patio

They want to continue to grow slowly. "We don't ever want to be huge," says Tim. "But we do want to look ahead to a time when we don't have to work quite so hard, and that involves enough growth to be able to hire more people. With the attention on Red Mountain (Napa's Duckhorn Winery buying land and planting a vineyard, Kennewick Irrigation District's 600 acre sale to a Canadian company, the Antinori family's partnership in Col Solare, etc.), the world is coming to us." With the high quality wines Tim and Kelly make and the Red Mountain attention, they may never need to think about marketing again.

Hightower Cellars
19148 E 583 PR NE
Benton City, WA 99320
509-588-2867
www.hightowercellars.com

Connie Adams/August 2014