Bethany Vineyard & Winery

Walt Houser named his vineyard and winery after the love of his life: his wife, Bethany. Another great love of his is wine, making it not with the aim of winning awards, mind you, but for the sheer joy of it. In his younger years, Walt focused on berry wines, but quickly moved to making premium grape wines. Nevertheless, he still makes berry wines and manages to sell a lot of blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry wines.

But it is Walt’s vinifera wines that cause WineTrail lovers to take Exit 14 off I-5 and head east to the Bethany Vineyard and Winery. The vineyard grows 15 different varieties of wine grape that are suitable for southwestern Washington’s cool climate. Walt is proud of the fact that all Bethany Vineyard wines include some grapes from his vineyard, which surrounds his winery and tasting room. The other grapes come from Eastern Washington and go into making cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and syrah. Preferring to emphasize the taste of the grape, Walt will transfer his wine, after just seven months in new oak, to older neutral oak barrels. He then allows the wine to remain in the barrels for an additional two years or longer, depending upon the varietal. The result is handcrafted, ultrapremium wines, and his no. 1 seller is his pinot noir.

Walt and Bethany present a meticulously kept winery and tasting room worthy of a navy admiral’s inspection. Inside the small tasting room, visitors can view barrels in the backroom resting comfortably between racking. During the summer, visitors flock to the winery to enjoy four music concerts featuring local artists. The concerts take place next to the winery’s private lake (which is also the setting for outdoor weddings held with weekend regularity). But the big bash is held every August when Walt and Bethany sponsor and organ-donor fundraiser dinner in support of Oregon’s donor program. Two-hundred and fifty guests pay $60 each toward this life-giving cause. Bethany Vineyards and friends provide the food, wine, and entertainment for the event, donating nearly 100 percent of the proceeds to this worthwhile cause. Walt and Bethany know from personal experience the importance of organ transplantation. In 2002, Bethany was stricken with a life-threatening liver disorder. Fortunately, and in the nick of time, she became the recipient of a donor liver while at the Oregon Health & Science University Hospital.

Directions: From I-5 take exit 14 and head east on SR-501 [Pioneer St.]. Road name changes to S. 65th Ave. Continue on S. 5th St. for 1 mile and turn right onto NE 10th Ave. and proceed about .25 miles. Turn left onto NE 259th St. and proceed 1.5 miles. Look for Bethany Vineyard & Winery on the right.

Events: 4 concerts in summer; organ donor benefit in August, weddings

Addresses

• Southwest Washington WineTrail

  Winery/Tasting Room

  4115 NE 259th Street, Ridgefield, WA 98642-9749
  Hours: Saturday 11–6, or by appointment
  45.808547-122.628407