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Winemaking Staff

 

 

Chris Upchurch

Executive Winemaker/Vineyard Manager,

Owner/Partner

 

Bordeaux style wines are emerging from Washington State due in no small part to the winemaking techniques of Chris Upchurch, with his DeLILLE CELLARS wines. Striving for something well beyond chemistry, Chris believes in hand-crafting wines where "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts". A self-confessed Francophile and a blender, Chris prefers not to dissect his wines with component descriptors. Instead he talks about his wines in terms of a "complete wine". Here, qualities like opulence, mouthfeel, balance and elegance are much more important than chocolate, pear and coconuts!

Chris' love for wine started in his youth, with extensive travel throughout the Grand Cru wine-growing regions of Europe and the west coast of the U.S. "I had to start off developing my palate," he reflected. "After all a winemaker cannot make great wine, without first defining in your own mind what a great wine tastes like."

After graduating from the University of Colorado as well as the University of Washington, Chris returned to Seattle in 1976 to begin his career as a wine buyer. He started out purchasing wine for several of Seattle's best known restaurants, and ultimately became a buyer for the upscale, Larry's Markets wine stores. This experience allowed him to continue to develop his palate by tasting wines from around the world. But deep in his heart, Chris knew he wanted to be involved in the production end of the wine industry.

This interest prompted Chris to start a successful grape-brokerage business, contracting grapes from Washington State and selling them to winemakers. He knew he was hooked once he started spending a lot of time in the vineyards. Now as a professional winemaker for fourteen years, he continues to spend a great portion of his time in the vineyards of Yakima Valley.

Chris feels that his greatest challenges are ahead of him. "At DeLILLE CELLARS we have lofty goals which can only be reached by time and dedication. Winemaking is a life long endeavor. No matter what awards you receive, you still have two new vintages back in your winery that you must work very hard on, to get the most out of the wine."

 

Chris Peterson Winemaker Preparing himself for the workplace with a wide array of liberal arts esoterica, including an epiphanal study-abroad program in central France, Chris traded in his piles of Dostoevsky and Kirkegaard for a bus ticket to Walla Walla to study winemaking and grapegrowing at the Walla Walla Community College Winemaking and Viticulture program, where he was among the first graduates in 2003. After helping out at several local wineries in Walla Walla, and even teaching a class or two on wines from around the world, Chris moved back to Seattle to become DeLILLE CELLARS' all-around cellar hand just before harvest 2003, a job he still does under a growing array of titles (and with many more barrels).