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Potomac do you grow the grapes on?’
That’s the wrong Washington.”
What’s so great about Washington
wines? Baseler explains, “They’re some-
where between the fruit intensity of Cali-
fornia and the re;nement of Europe, which
is a wonderful place to be.” He notes that
Washington and Bordeaux share the same
latitude and similar terroir: “We have great
fruit character, and they are re;ned wines,
not quite as high [in] alcohol as some wines
in the world, but they have that tremendous
structure. One of the things that we see in
France and Washington is we have cool
nights, and that keeps the acidity up a little
bit. Acidity is important for ;avor.”
To date, Chateau Ste. Michelle has re-
ceived ;; Winery of the Year honors from
Wine & Spirits, and ;; of its wines have
blind tasting conducted by the Los Angeles
Times, and won, giving it the deserving
exposure the company sought. But as a
consequence, the young winery was sold
out for the next decade, and it struggled to
grow enough grapes to meet demand.
Baseler, a Seattle native, had served as
the winery’s advertising account manager
at an outside agency. After taking the vice
president of marketing position at CSM in
;;;;, he worked his way through the executive ranks, becoming CEO and president
in ;;;;.
When Baseler joined, there were ;;
wineries in the state, “most of them struggling,” he says, and about ;,;;; acres of
vineyards. Today, those numbers have
soared to nearly ;, ;;; wineries and about
;;,;;; acres of vineyards.
been ranked in the Top ;;; by Wine Spectator. Baseler himself received Wine Enthusiast’s Man of the Year award in ;;;;.
Despite his accomplishments, Baseler is
soft-spoken and approachable. He prefers to emphasize that in the same year as
his Man of the Year award, Wine Spectator named Columbia Crest Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (made by an a;liated
winery—more on that later) as the best
wine in the world.
Before CSM
While the winery is celebrating half a
century of existence, its roots run much
deeper, to the end of Prohibition. In ;;;;,
two wine companies were founded in
Seattle: Pommerelle and National Wine
Company (NAWICO). They merged in ;;;;
to create American Wine Growers. To stay
competitive, the o wners developed a European winemaking style—a big departure
from the fruit wine and forti;ed dessert
wines that dominated the state’s ;edgling
industry at the time.
The daughter of a company executive
had studied in France and visited Mont
Saint-Michel. This inspired the brand’s
initial name, Ste. Michelle Vintners, formally established in ;;;;. Its ;rst run produced ;,;;; cases of cabernet sauvignon,
sémillon and pinot noir.
In ;;;;, the winery participated in a
Building an industry and an empire
Baseler says one of the biggest endeavors that changed the trajectory of CSM,
and Washington’s wine industry, was the
winery’s participation in a total quality
management program in the early ;;;;s.
The goal, as the phrase suggests, was to
improve the wine’s quality and boost production. “As a result, we were able to taste
a lot of great French wine, and we did a lot
of scienti;c [research into] what made
those,” he explains.
Their ;ndings prompted the winery
to lower its vineyard yields and increase
its usage of French oak barrels, in addition
to tweaking the fermentation process.
“That jumped our wine quality ;; points,”
Baseler says.
With its improved product, CSM participated in blind tastings around the world
for the next decade. “It would really surprise people, customers and distributors,
how good these wines in Washington were,”
says Baseler. He adds that he formed critical relationships with industry connoisseurs and internationally renowned wineries in Europe, which continued to increase
the state’s popularity and production.
As word about CSM spread, the company began opening up global distribution
for all Washington wines. “We’re kind of
like that snowplow in the front of the train
that opens up the tracks for everyone,” says
Baseler. “That’s our philosophy. We’re really
more interested in creating an environment for Washington wines than worrying
about market share. It’s something that’s
Top to bottom: 50th-anniversary ;ags line the
walkways at the winery; white wine is bottled
in the production area; steel fermenters hold
sauvignon blanc; for the winery’s 50th anniversary, Chateau Ste. Michelle completed a
multimillion-dollar renovation of the winery’s
tasting room, which includes a theater and an
interactive blending room, where customers
can bottle their own wine.
OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS
Click here to watch a video celebrating
the winery’s 50th anniversary. (See page
10 for details.)
“We’re really more interested in creating
an environment for Washington wines than
worrying about market share.”
—Ted Baseler
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