Winemaker refines the hobby

Most folks into winemaking are hobbyists. Eric Soles falls into that category technically, but with a yearly production of some 250 gallons, he might be considered a wine fanatic.

And he gives the stuff away.

Soles, 32 and single, is a Spokane native. He graduated from high school in Sandpoint, where his mother, Louise Soles, was postmaster.

He’s a financial adviser for Edward Jones Co. and a Coeur d’Alene resident.

But for the time being at least, he does his winemaking at his parents’ Liberty Lake home where there’s more room.

To some degree, Eric Soles’ fascination with wines is part of a family heritage.

Two of his great-grandfathers were amateur winemakers as are three of his uncles who own a vintners supply house and winery in Tacoma. He’s a part owner and sits on the board of directors of their Vino Aquino winery.

Soles’ interest began when he was a freshman in high school and bought a book on winemaking.

A five-year hitch in the Army took him to Korea, Bosnia and Hungary. It was in Budapest, where he was stationed with the 10th Mountain Division, that he found good wines at reasonable prices, he says.

Following his discharge in December 2001, he returned to the Inland Northwest and earned a degree in finance, marketing and general management from Eastern Washington University.

That’s when he began squeezing grapes, attempting to emulate the best of Europe’s wines.

“It was the only way I could afford good wine,” he said.

Soles was a small producer at first, turning out 6-gallon batches. But with the help of an uncle, he soon increased production to 60 gallons a year.

By now, he’s into major production, at least for an amateur and estimates he has bought $15,000 to $16,000 worth of equipment, including an electronic stemmer and crusher and bladder press.

Soles’ busiest time of the year as a vintner is coming up. Locally, grapes are harvested in September and October, and he piggybacks on commercial wineries’ purchases to get a better price.

Soles’ grapes have come from vineyards in the Walla Walla, Yakima, Snake River and Tri-Cities areas and from as far as Lodi, Calif.

Whenever possible, he crushes and presses the grapes on weekends so as not to interfere with his job.

After barreling the product, Soles’ tasks are less intensive. They include quality-control tests, chemical and taste analyses, bottling and corking.

Soles writes intricate notes on each batch of wine he produces. He includes information on the origin of the grapes, their sugar content, pronounced flavors, acidity levels, fermentation temperature, chemicals (if any) and how the product tastes after one, two and three years.

Soles’ hobby has brought him closer to his family, he says. In addition to interacting with his three uncles, he has worked with a great-uncle to make wine from California grapes.

His principal assistants are his mother, now the Veradale postmaster, and his father, Daryl, who retired from the post office in Post Falls last year.

So far, Soles has specialized in producing Italian reds that he says are similar to Chianti, sangiovese, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon.

He also has bottled drier white table wines such as viognier and pinot grigio.

His vintner’s library has grown considerably from that first book he got in high school. It contains some 40 reference works, many of them texts used by winemaking schools in Europe.

Soles uses 500-milliliter bottles for most of his wines rather than traditional 750-milliliter containers. His latest yearly output was 1,000 bottles.

On his personal computer, Soles produces his own labels, some of which include photos of himself, family members or the logos of organizations to which he donates his product.

He gives each of his new clients at Edward Jones a bottle as a way of promoting his professional life. He also has donated wine to the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Coeur d’Alene, the Chamber of Commerce and churches.

Those organizations auction the wine to raise funds, and Soles considers his donations a great way to get his name before the public.

He loves financial advising, he says, and plans to stick with that profession until he retires.

But in the meantime, Soles has made wine for local commercial wineries including Knipprath and Caterina and is the cellar master, responsible for quality, at Townshend Cellars.

“I’m afraid that if I became a professional winemaker now, the process would lose its romance,” Soles said. “However, I can sure see myself owning and running a winery after I retire.”