Badger Mountain Vineyard / Powers Winery
When you visit Badger Mountain Vineyard, you’re in for a two-for-one treat. Not only do you have the opportunity to sample certified 100 percent organic Badger Mountain wine, but you can also taste wine under the Powers label, which is made from grapes grown in select Columbia Valley vineyards.
The 82-acre Badger Mountain Vineyard serves as the backdrop to its tasting room, located a few miles off I-82 in Kennewick. The vineyard is certified 100 percent organic, which means that no chemical herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, or synthetic fertilizers touch the vineyard. Only organic and naturally occurring substances are applied. What’s more, there are no added sulfites in the production of Badger Mountain wine. (Although it should be noted that trace amounts of sulfite do occur naturally.)
Father and son Bill and Greg Powers established Badger Mountain Vineyard in 1982. In 1983, Tim DeCook, an anesthesiologist from Seattle, became their partner and together they began producing premier wines at their estate winery. From those early years, they have steadily ramped up production to nearly 50,000 cases annually. As testimony to their success, Badger Mountain wines were featured on a segment of NBC’s Today show highlighting organic foods.
Badger Mountain’s story is also one of innovation and adaptation. In 1992, the Powers/DeCook team began producing wine from local growers under the Powers Winery label. This move ultimately won them a place on Wine Enthusiast’s list of “50 Great U.S. Cabernet Producers.” Nice job.
At Badger Mountain’s tasting room, you may be faced with a dilemma: Which of the many wines offered should you sample? Here’s a thought: Give those synapses a rest and enjoy them all! Ever the innovator, Badger Mountain Winery also began offering wine-in-a-box under the names Pure White and Pure Red. This method of packaging essentially negates that annoying little oxidation problem, and there’s no need to worry about cork failure either. In keeping with the winery’s philosophy of offering affordable wines, these attractive 3-liter boxes sell for approximately $22 a box.
WineTrail Note: Badger Mountain’s cabernet sauvignon sells for a mere $15 a bottle. This is an amazingly low price, especially when compared to the reds of Walla Walla. It was no surprise when, at the inaugural 2006 Seattle Wine Awards, Badger Mountain took the silver medal in the “$10 and under” category for its cabernet-merlot blend.
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Badger Mountain Vineyard / Powers Winery was featured in WineTrails of Washington as part of the Tri-Cities WineTrail on page 410!
