Lullaby Winery

Worth the search

A little hard to find at the back of an out-of-the-way site on the outskirts of Port Townsend, Lullaby has a small tasting room that can fill quickly. Tasters overflow into the barrel room as needed, so don't despair if the room looks packed. And don't leave-the search for Lullaby is worth it. In the summer, you can sit on the patio and enjoy a glass of wine or food produced locally during gastronomical events (check their Facebook page for details).

Lullaby is a one-person operation producing 500 cases per year, but that person is Virginie Bourgue and she brings great experience to bear. She received her Bachelor degree in viticulture in Avignon France (she grew up in Provence), and her Masters in Enology from the University of Reims in Champagne-Ardenne, from 1998-2001. (Click here to read her background.)

In 2002, she came to the U.S. for harvest at Chateau Ste. Michelle's Canoe Ridge. She planned to move on to New Zealand afterward. A week before she left, she met the family planning to open Bergevin Lane Winery. They asked her to become their head winemaker; she arrived in Walla Walla on March 17, 2003. "I had to design the winery in six months to be ready for harvest. We were also doing some custom crush for other high-profile wineries. We processed 150 tons that first year. I designed the lab, glycose system, set up contracts for grapes, made contacts with suppliers. And I barely spoke English! I was like a scuba diver-under water. We met all the deadlines, by a very small margin. I liked the intensity-in nine months I learned many things fast." Virginie stayed from March 2003-June 2006.

She met the Middleton family, owners of Cadaretta Wines in the Oregon portion of the Walla Walla appellation, and designed the master plan for their vineyard, Southwind, eventually becoming their full-time winemaker and viticulturist in 2007. "The vineyard was a huge project, plus we were making wine. Starting with  320 acres of virgin ground; I decided what part of the acreage was usable, designed the irrigation, studied the geology and chose which variety and clone would be suitable, along with every detail pertaining to the birth of a great vineyard. Our first planting of the vineyard was 2008." While at Cadaretta, Virginie started her own winery, Lullaby, in 2007. She left Cadaretta in April 2010.

"Starting my own winery happened organically. When your heart is involved, you have an inner energy pushing you. I founded the winery in Walla Walla, and from 2007-2011, the wine was produced there. My main market was Seattle and I do my own deliveries, plus I had gone back to consulting. I wanted to be close to Seattle, but didn't want to live there. I like the energy of Port Townsend, so I leased the old Sorensen Cellars building, and moved production here in 2012." She makes eight wines under two lines: Butterfly and de Virginie, and sells to restaurants, a few wine shops, at the tasting room and to her wine club. de Virginie's line are wines to enjoy at the moment. Butterfly wines are made traditionally using French oak and patience. These wines are produced in verly limited quantity and released when ready to be enjoyed. They are good now, and cellar well.

Virginie designs wine for food. "It has to do with the acidity and matching it with food protein and fat. I learned about acidity when working in Champagne. I felt the white wines in Provence were flabby, with low acidity. My wines are subtle with a delicate balance, Old World style with good minerality, a sense of place and personality, both mine and the growers I work with. Without decisions, vines will produce, but I work with growers to create the style of wine I want. I adjust a lot and work in the vineyard-there's nothing more you can do once the fruit is picked. I handle grapes gently and pay great attention to pressing to avoid bitterness. In Champagne, I learned that the first juice to come out is the best balance between acidity and sugar. I may or may not use the juice that comes out later. It makes my wines unique in Washington."

She buys grapes from single vineyards and chooses them based on what's best for her style of winemaking. "I source from different growers, something I learned at Chateau Ste. Michelle. You have grapes from different areas, then taste them back at the lab. I had a great education there."

Continuing her education is critical to Virginie, so Lullaby is entering a transition phase. She will not harvest this year for two reasons. First, she recently broke her fibula and is putting her energy into healing. And after working and studying the Olympic Peninsula for five years, she feels it is a great place for vineyards and wants to pitch that idea to others. "I chose Port Townsend and Jefferson County because I like the mentality of growers here and the organic farming. There are no commercial vineyards in Sequim, yet it has the same amount of rainfall as Walla Walla. It falls differently, but it's about 21" annually. Southern Oregon University professor Gregory Jones did a climate study 10-15 years ago and saw grape potential. We'd grow grapes to produce light, crisp, aromatic wines, like Siegerrebe, Marechal Foch, Muller Thurgau, Madeleine Angevine. Growing here would be more sustainable than bringing grapes in-driving to Walla Walla frequently has a greater carbon footprint than getting grapes locally."

Virginie will be at the tasting room this summer, then head to Spain in the fall, Peru next spring, and Japan in the fall of 2016. "Japan has five generations of wine making and wine is very good with food. I'd like to study sherry making in the south of Spain, and pisco brandy distilling in Peru." Lullaby's tasting room will be open by appointment while Virginie is gone. When she returns, her plans include finding financial partners to help start a vineyard and build an adequate winery. "Larger wine production of aromatic white wines require different techniques and tools which I don't have now. It will require a very different type of building."

For now, find Lullaby and taste the care and passion Virginie imparts to her wines. Then keep your ears open for her return and, hopefully, the increase in vineyards and production of amazing whites on the Olympic Peninsula.

Lullaby Winery
274 Otto Street, Ste. S
Port Townsend, WA 98368
509-386-1324

Tasting room open weekends noon-5 p.m. or by appointment. Email info@lullabywinery.com to get on mailing list.

www.lullabywinery.com

Photos courtesy of Lullaby Winery

Connie Adams/July 2015