CdA winery makes its point

As Thursday afternoon’s family dinner wraps up, the crew at Coeur d’Alene Cellars clears leftovers from the butcher block table where they gather each week to try new recipes and wine pairings.

Happen in at this time and it looks like a job at the winery is anything but work.

Passing a spring afternoon drinking wine and eating gourmet meals?

Are they hiring?

Five minutes into a tour of the family-owned winery it’s evident that wine-making is serious business. Even if AC/DC is blaring from the sound system.

Since opening in 2002, Coeur d’Alene Cellars wines, which retail for $16 to $40 a bottle, have won international acclaim.

The latest is a 90-point rating the 2004 Syrah received in February’s issue of Wine Enthusiast.

Coeur d’Alene Cellars’ syrahs – one of the winery’s flagship wines along with the viognier varietal – has garnered a lot of publicity for the business, which is owned by Coeur d’Alene native Kimber Gates.

The 2004 vintage also received a gold medal in the San Francisco Wine Competition in January. That same month, another syrah, the 2005 Switchback Red, received 91 points in Wine Spectator.

A 2004 Boushey Vineyard Syrah received a 94-point rating in the May 2007 Wine Enthusiast.

The list of accolades for Coeur d’Alene Cellars is a long one.

Consider it a story of a local girl done good.

Gates, a 1992 Coeur d’Alene High graduate, told her parents she wanted to have a winery one day. They encouraged her to go to college. She took their advice and earned a master’s in business administration.

Working at a Walla Walla winery and a year studying wine in France’s Rhone Valley sealed her future.

Gates opened Coeur d’Alene Cellars and the business took off.

Production doubled in the second year, to 800 cases of wine, and by the third year Coeur d’Alene Cellars moved from Dalton Gardens to a warehouse on Schrieber Way in Coeur d’Alene. Wine from Coeur d’Alene Cellars was distributed to wine shops and restaurants in North Idaho and Washington beginning in 2004.

Gates said 2005 was a blur.

That’s when she opened Barrel Room No. 6, an upscale wine bar, on downtown’s Sherman Avenue.

Coeur d’Alene Cellars wines are now distributed internationally, including Japan, Canada and Ireland, and in nine states. Some local grocery stores and the local Costco warehouse sell the wines, too.

Despite the success – and even having toyed with the idea of starting side brands – Gates said she plans to stay small. Last year’s bottling of 4,200 cases is what Gates considers maximum production.

“We have to be Coeur d’Alene as well as Coeur d’Alene Cellars,” she said.

Her mother, Sarah Gates, is the winery artist. Bottle labels are graced with her watercolor paintings.

A chef, she’s also developing a cookbook with recipes paired with Coeur d’Alene Cellars wines.

“Both the artwork and the recipes lend themselves well to the wine we make,” Kimber Gates said.

The red and white garden out front is another of her mother’s contributions.

Though the other employees at the winery aren’t related to Gates by blood, they’re considered family. Anyone who comes by during the weekly meal is welcomed into the family, too.

Winemaker Warren Schutz said the winery is a success for many reasons: Great grapes from great vineyards and dedication to the wine-making process.

“The people aspect is definitely important,” Schutz said. “We work together well.”