Friends turn hobby into winery

When your home wine making takes over the basement, you do the next logical thing: you open a winery.

Cody George and Brian Murray aren’t the first winemakers to turn their hobby into a business, but they are among the newest vintners in Spokane to follow the call of the grape.

Today, the two 30-year-old friends and professional associates are producing some of Spokane’s most distinctive new wines – crisp dry Riesling, elegant sauvignon blanc and fruity youthful syrah, among others.

“It started out as a really fun hobby, but maybe became more like an obsession after awhile,” George said during last week’s Holiday Wine Festival when Vintage Hill opened its doors to the public for only the second time. They made their debut last spring during the Spokane-area’s spring barrel wine-tasting event.

If their names sound familiar, it might be because both of them have been in the public limelight as protégés of former state senator and Mayor Jim West, who died in 2006.

Murray was appointed to fill West’s unexpired Senate term after West was elected mayor in 2003. Murray also worked part time for West at City Hall when the Legislature was not in session. He later lost election to the Senate post and is now working in real estate. George joined West at City Hall as senior adviser and now is working as economic development adviser. George’s wife, Melissa, also worked for West, and was his administrative assistant at City Hall for about two years. She, too, is selling real estate.

Their passion for public affairs apparently has shifted to a passion for making wine.

George and Murray started their wine hobby in George’s basement about five years ago. They experimented with grapes from different vineyards and learned what they liked.

“The stuff started stacking up in the basement,” George said.

“I said to Brian one day, ‘We should start a winery.’ Without pausing, he turned back, ‘OK.’ I think Melissa was excited to get her basement back,” George said.

They are leasing a small commercial space at 319 W. Second Ave. The winery is decorated with light fixtures and furniture that take advantage of the brick interior. A small barrel room was built at the rear.

Vintage Hill currently is releasing its 2006 white wines, including a sauvignon blanc, dry Riesling and viognier. In coming months, their first red wine – a 2006 syrah – will be ready for release. They also are producing merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc from the 2006 vintage. For the 2007 vintage, they are adding malbec to the lineup. The reds will be priced in the mid-$20 range, George said.

For the reds, they are using mostly new French oak with some Hungarian and American oak. In their winemaking, they seek to create what the fruit gives to them in terms of flavor profiles, sugar levels and acidity, they said. Grapes are purchased from some of the better vineyards in Eastern Washington, including Pepper Bridge in Walla Walla, Milbrandt near Mattawa and Frenchman Hills south of Vantage.

“Our focus is on smaller handcrafted production,” George said.

They said they invested about $150,000 in getting the operation started.

The wines apparently are a hit with consumers. During last spring’s barrel tasting event, Vintage Hill sold out its rose of merlot and nearly all of its sauvignon blanc.

Production in 2006 was about 500 cases. Eventually, they hope to reach a production of 2,000 cases a year.

Both winemakers said they want to maintain the boutique nature of their wines.

The winery is something of a family operation. George and Murray handle the winemaking, but they get a lot of help from other family and friends during the crush period, they said. Their wives, Melissa and Heather Murray, work on the marketing and sales. Last Friday, George’s father, Mark George, was helping with customers at the tasting event.

Among the gift items at the winery is a hand and foot soap scrub made with skins and seeds from fermented cabernet sauvignon grapes.

The winery may open for tastings on Saturdays next year, but for now, it is only open for Spokane’s fall and spring tasting events.

George is a graduate of Medical Lake High School with a bachelor’s degree in business from Washington State University and a master’s in business from the University of Washington. Murray, who went to Liberty High School, has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University.

Murray said he doesn’t know if he would ever want to get back into politics. But as a winemaker, he joked, “My poly sci degree is paying off.”