It’s barrels of fun at TimberRock

Kevin Rogers was buying grapes for a batch of homebrew wines when it happened: He was bitten by the wine porcupine.

Now, Rogers’ home in the mountains near Post Falls, where he makes tiny batches of Bordeaux-style wines, is overrun by the wine-loving little creatures. The spiky porcupines partying on the TimberRock Wine labels offer a bit of whimsy for Rogers’ serious hobby. (The animals were drawn by Troy, Mont., artist Alan McNiel.)

A veterinarian at Kootenai Animal Hospital by day, Rogers and his wife Michelle make the wines in their free time. Michelle is a MedSTAR respiratory therapist and EMT and she’s expecting the couple’s first child in August.

The Rogers’ recently bottled their third vintage of cabernet sauvignon, along with chardonnay, merlot and some ice wines – about 500 cases of wine total. The first year they made wines to sell they produced just 100 cases.

“In terms of business standards that is hardly worth doing,” Kevin says. “It’s really just been a labor of love.”

Kevin says he always was intrigued by winemaking. With degrees in veterinary medicine and agriculture from Oklahoma State University, the science came easy. He said he imagined making small lots of handcrafted wines that would sell each year without much need for marketing and other legwork.

That’s when he met Charles and Robert Smasne while searching for grapes. The men are cousins and Robert Smasne is former assistant winemaker at PepperBridge Winery and former winemaker at AmaviCellars and Alexandria Nicole Cellars. He is a consultant for TimberRock and other small wineries.

Robert Smasne pointed the Rogers’ to vineyards his cousin Charles oversees for fruit, and Kevin and Robert became friends.

“Actually, I was just so curious about winemaking that I just kind of forced myself into his life,” Kevin says laughing.

In 2004, Kevin took a two-month break from his day job for a crash course in winemaking from Robert. Together the men walked the vineyards every day talking about the science and art of making wines.

Grapes for TimberRock wines are grown in Kestrel View Estates in the Yakima Valley and Destiny Ridge Estate Vineyard in the Columbia Valley in Washington. The fruit from the vineyards is highly regarded and has produced many award-winning wines, Kevin says.

He laughed with his wife recently about the pressure of working under those circumstances. “I told Michelle, ‘If this wine doesn’t turn out great, then it’s my fault because the fruit is great.’ “

Kevin says he increased his production of wines mostly to help him get the quality he was looking for in the finished bottles, but never plans to give up his day job. Right now, the Rogers are building a bigger shop for barrel storage and eventually hope to have a tasting room perched on the edge of the hillside.

They had fun this winter making a small batch of ice wine from chenin blanc grapes. The sweet dessert wine is made from fruit that hangs on the vines long after other crops have been harvested to concentrate the sugars in the grapes, or brix. Ice wine grapes are finally picked after they have frozen on the vines and usually have a 44 brix. Wine grapes for other wines are usually picked when the fruit reaches 24 or 25 brix, Kevin says.

“My enthusiasm for it was waning a little bit when I spent the whole day out here in 8 degree weather,” he says.

Kevin moved to North Idaho in 1990 from Oklahoma, where he grew up on a cattle ranch. His family also raised thoroughbred horses. A lingering accent gives away his transplant status. He has a high school age son who also helps a bit with the wine making. He met Michelle, originally from Boise, after moving west.

Michelle says although they work with Washington-grown grapes, they still encounter a bit of surprise when people notice the Post Falls address on the label. It’s a bit of misnomer because the winery is tucked into the mountains just on the other side of the Washington-Idaho border. From their yard, visitors can look down the Spokane River Valley and recognize Sprague Avenue in the distance. Mount Spokane is in view to the north, and Mica Peak (the Washington one) can be seen from the dining room to the south.

They have a test plot of pinot noir and pinot meunier vines on the property.

At a recent tasting event, Michelle says some tasters were skeptical before their first sip.

“After she tasted it one of the women said, ‘This is actually good!’ “

Here are some recipes the Rogers shared to pair with their wines:

Sagebrush Pasta

Serve with TimberRock Old Vines Chardonnay ($19/bottle)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup coarsely chopped sage leaves

1/2 cup cooked bacon, cut into thin strips

1 1/2 cups drained jarred artichoke hearts, cut in large dice

1 pound fettuccine

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

Boil fettuccine according to package directions.

Melt butter in large skillet. Add sage leaves and cook stirring often until butter browns slightly and sage begins to crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Add bacon and artichoke hearts, cook until heated through.

Drain fettuccine and add to skillet. Sprinkle in cheese and a generous grinding of pepper and toss with tongs. Season with salt and pepper, if desired, and serve with Timber Rock “Old Vines” Chardonnay.

Yield: 4 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 580 calories, 37 grams fat (21 grams saturated, 57 percent fat calories), 22 grams protein, 41 grams carbohydrate, 90 milligrams cholesterol, 4 grams dietary fiber, 823 milligrams sodium.

Chocolate Lava

Serve with TimberRock Cabernet Sauvignon ($20/bottle)

8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

Cocoa powder

Mocha ice cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small metal bowl over a saucepan with simmering water, melt the chocolate. Stir in vanilla.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour and salt. Sift these into the chocolate and mix well with an electric hand mixer. Add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each egg before adding the next. Beat on high speed until batter is creamy and lightens in color (about 4 minutes). Chill batter.

Coat each cup and the top of a muffin tin with butter. Dust with the cocoa powder and shake off excess. Spoon mixture into pan filling cups 1/2 full.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. The outside should look like cake, while the inside is gooey.

Melt mocha ice cream and drizzle over hot muffins and serve.

Yield: 12 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving (without ice cream): 155 calories, 7 grams fat (8.6 grams saturated, 40 percent fat calories), 3 grams protein, 21 grams carbohydrate, 70 milligrams cholesterol, 1 gram dietary fiber, 71 milligrams sodium.