Gouger Cellars Winery

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Winemaker Gary Gouger’s bio reads like a man in pursuit of eclectic passions. His professional career and education comprise pharmacy, optometry and winemaking. At first glance, this may appear as unrelated interests but the winemaking community has many a practitioner with a health science background. In fact, when I was writing the WineTrails of Washington book in 2006-2007 there were a half dozen pharmacists engaged in winemaking in the Walla Walla Valley. Yes, there is an art to winemaking but there is also a heavy dose of science.

Speaking of science, it was none other than Louis Pasteur that explained fermentation and the role of yeast in converting sugar to alcohol. For scientists at the time, the belief was that alcoholic beverages resulted from a chemical reaction rather than a biological reaction. Those little yeast critters just weren’t appreciated. Clearly, Gary’s penchant for science led him to make wine at the turn of the millennium but a drive for excellence had him move to Australia and complete a degree in enology (or is it oenology there?) from the University of Adelaide in 2005.

Interestingly, Gary focuses on the art of blending to create award-winning wines. Rather than single varietal wines, Gouger Cellars Winery blends syrah, malbec, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, zinfandel, petite syrah, viognier, pinot gris and muscat ottonel. Because of his location in southwest Washington, he sources grapes from eastern Washington, Oregon and California. Once blended, he names each wine using numbers – for example, his bold #128 is a blend of syrah and cabernet sauvignon; #522 is a blend of old and new zinfandel vines; and #903 (which took home the Platinum Award from the 2011 San Diego International Wine Competition) is a blend of cabernet, petit sirah, zinfandel and syrah.

One final note worth mentioning – you may want to pack a jacket for your visit to Gouger Cellars Winery. Located in a wine storage facility the temperature is on the cool side although they do provide heat lamps strategically placed near the tasting bar. In the summertime when it’s hot outside, this is a particularly inviting place to be!