Dome Sweet Dome

It was below freezing outside, a nippy 55 degrees inside the warehousesized winery, and 15-year-old David Manz had the sniffles. But that didn’t stop him from performing a chore he does three times a day - giving racks of wine bottles a quick quarter-turn, a process called riddling.

That’s because at Mountain Dome, winemaking is definitely a family affair.

It’s in the foothills of Mount Spokane - in a state-of-the-art winery built near their geodesic dome home - that the Manz family creates sparkling wine, the only winery in Washington to make just bubbly.

In the long, sometimes tedious, but often exciting process of producing champagne, everyone plays a part. Some family members work in the winery up to 35 to 40 hours a week, in addition to having demanding careers and going to school.

While Michael Manz wears the official winemaker hat, his wife, Pat, and brother, John Mueller, collaborate when it comes time to blend the wines. They also share in less glamorous tasks like doing the books, wading through government regulations, working with grape growers or showing up on weekends to pour wine at promotional tastings.

David, a freshman at Gonzaga Prep, riddles bottles three times a day, helps on the bottling line and stays up all night unloading grapes during harvest time.

His older brother, Erik, has been serious about winemaking for years, having made his first chardonnay when he was in eighth grade. He is now at Pacific Lutheran University studying chemistry and French so he can later go to France and learn winemaking from the masters.

Even 10-year-old Rachael plays a part, loading grapes into the crusher during harvest and working on the bottling line. She loves leading tours when the winery hosts the occasional open house.

When the Manzes came to Spokane in the early ‘80s, they first found the gorgeous parcel of land with a sweeping view of the Valley, and then the rest of it just kind of fell into place.

“We wanted to do something where the whole family could be involved,” said Michael, who is chief of the psychiatric center for children and adolescents at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Pat, who is the owner and director of Woodland Montessori School, said they wanted to teach their children the value of hard work.

“These days when parents go to work, what they do is invisible. It’s hard to relate to,” she said. “The kids get a feel for our business. They know we need them. Hopefully, they will have some wonderful memories when they’re grown up, no matter what they choose to do.”

Though Mountain Dome’s first release debuted in 1992, the Manzes have been at it for more than 10 years.

They crushed their first grapes in the family kitchen in 1984. The following year, a shiny new press arrived from Germany, chosen for its ability to gently squeeze juice from the grapes.

Manz has since engineered an underground line which uses gravity to transport the juice from the press into stainless steel tanks in the winery down the hill. The idea is that gentle treatment ultimately makes for better wine.

The sparkling wine business is a bit like bread making because it involves two stages - two rises with bread dough, two fermentations with fizzy wine.

Yeast is added to the juice to start fermentation. After the sugar in the grape juice is converted into alcohol, the still wine is filtered and then aged in oak barrels for varying lengths of time, from 18 months to two years.

At that point, the winemakers sit down to blend different chardonnays, pinot noirs and pinot menuiers, an exercise that’s both art and science.

The still wine is then bottled and aged for several years. Finally, it’s placed in racks so the spent yeast can settle in the neck of the bottle. After that happens, the sediment is removed during a process called disgorgment.

The Manzes recently purchased a French-made machine which efficiently disgorges the wine and adds a bit of sweetened wine (called a “dosage”), a step they previously had done by hand.

The dosage starts the second fermentation, during which the bubbles are formed in the corked bottle. (The bubbles are trapped carbon dioxide, a byproduct of fermentation.) They’re trapped at least until you pop the cork at 11:59 on New Year’s Eve.

That whole process takes years, so sparkling wine vintners need an extra measure of patience.

“If we had to turn a profit immediately, we probably would have made different decisions. Our banker would sometimes just shake his head,” Michael said.

In just a few short years since appearing on the market, Mountain Dome has won some influential fans. Last year, The Wine Spectator magazine rated it the highest sparkler in the state.

Gone are the days when the family also did all the marketing and sales of their product. Now, they have distributors here, and in Seattle, Boston and Chicago. Wine lovers in New Jersey, Delaware and California can also find it in select locations.

“We had a friend who saw it on the shelf of a wine shop in Carmel. That was a huge thrill,” Michael said.

The winery’s initial aim was to make top-quality, French-style sparkling wine with lean fruit, tiny bubbles and elegant layers of flavor. The folks at Mountain Dome accomplished that admirably with the vintage dated brut and the brut rose.

Recently, the winery broadened its appeal by introducing a reasonably priced (under $10) nonvintage brut. It turned out to be a brilliant move.

“The interest in it has exploded,” said Loris Stupel at the Spokane Wine Company. “And, through it, people are discovering their other wines, too.”

The nonvintage wine is distinct for its whimsical label, featuring a family of gnomes, who bear a striking resemblance to the Manz clan. The wine also has a tiny trace of sweetness, which makes it a great companion for food or perfect for sipping on its own.

“This wine is made with the grapes from the same vineyard as our vintage brut, which is clearly a better wine if they were tasted side by side, but people like the nonvintage because it’s user friendly,” Michael said.

Among the foods that make a perfect partner for bubbly are smoked salmon, milder cheeses and, in the spring, fresh strawberries.

At this point, Mountain Dome is still small, producing 2,500 cases a year, but the Manzes have big plans.

Eventually, they would like to produce a sparkling chardonnay (a blanc de blanc). And next year, they plan on making a special wine to ring in the millennium.

Many of their friends and colleagues express amazement that the Manzes can do so much.

“We do work awfully hard. We always seem to be setting priorities and juggling things,” said Pat. “One year, we didn’t get around to sending Christmas cards. So we sent out our holiday greetings on Valentine’s Day.”

Dome Poached Salmon

This is an old Manz family recipe. They suggest serving it warm with a dill butter, or cold with a light curried mayonnaise.

2-3 pounds salmon fillet (or a whole fish, trimmed and cleaned)

Wedge of lemon

1 quart water

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup chopped celery hearts

1 small onion, stuck with 4 cloves

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup sparkling wine

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Rub the fish with lemon and set aside.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large pan and bring to a boil. Add salmon, reduce heat and simmer uncovered until fish is cooked through (opaque in the middle), approximately 10 minutes for a 2-pound filet. Remove fish from poaching liquid, drain and serve.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Leslie Kelly The Spokesman-Review