Balboa Winery
“Hey, what happened to the screw caps?” I asked, eyeing the bottle closure for a Balboa bottle of wine. In response, our tasting-room host said, “We went with a more environmentally sound closure. A conglomerate cork that uses sustainable cork products that are biodegradable.” I should have seen this coming. After all, Balboa is known for its environmentally sound practices. From the vineyards it chooses to work with to its decision not to use decorative foil around bottle necks, Balboa Winery is all about sustainability. Guiding this endeavor is owner, winemaker and “go green” advocate Tom Glase.
There’s a certain breed of person who feels compelled to roll the dice and leave the comforts of home to resettle in a new place. These are adventurous souls, willing to take a risk and try something new. Tom is just such a person, giving up a comfortable existence on Bainbridge Island and moving to Walla Walla in 1997. Tom was volunteering at Walla Walla’s L’Ecole No 41 Winery when its owner/winemaker, Martin Clubb, asked him if he knew of anyone available to work at the winery. In fact, Tom did know of someone — himself. However, there was one slight problem: Tom had just accepted a position as a loan officer with a local bank and was expected to report to work the next Monday morning. It took about two minutes of soul searching before Tom had decided what his course of action would be. On Monday, he called the bank and informed management that he wouldn’t be taking the job.
There followed a three-year stint at L’Ecole No 41, during which Tom learned to make wine—very good wine. He then left L’Ecole No 41 to become winemaker for Tom Waliser at Beresan Winery. With a winemaking facility and premium grapes at his disposal, it wasn’t long before Tom had created his own wine under the Balboa label. With fruit sourced from vineyards managed by Waliser’s Premiere Vineyard Management company, Tom focuses on single-vineyard wines such as Mirage Vineyard Syrah, Pepper Bridge Syrah and Mirage Vineyard “Cat’s Meow” (I love that name almost as much as I relish the blend).
If you are looking for good-value wines, consider Balboa Winery’s merlot. At only $18 a bottle, you can opt for the top sirloin instead of the hamburger special. Now that’s sustainability of the economic kind!
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Balboa Winery was featured in WineTrails of Washington as part of the Walla Walla WineTrail South on page 516!
