Napeequa Vintners

Plain, Washington? Who thinks of starting a winery in a small village 15 curvy miles north of Leavenworth? It isn’t exactly a major crossroads—you have to have a reason to go to Plain. But as this wine tourist discovered, winemaker/owner David Morris had a good reason. It’s called community. While waiting for David to return from nearby Plain Hardware, where he had gone to fetch a latte, a dozen visitors trickled into the tasting room as if they were coming home. They seemed to know one another. Friendly. Relaxed. It struck me that David could have chosen Woodinville for the location of their winery; instead he chose Plain. Not by accident, Napeequa’s slogan is, “Your Friends, Your Food, Our Wine.”

The winery’s namesake is the beautiful Napeeque River Valley, which is part of the Cascade Mountain range.

Winemaker David Morris relies on small lot vineyards in the Columbia and Yakima valleys to create wines that are “different and intriguing.” Balancing winemaking with his Lake Stevens chiropractic practice, David talks about his goal of perfecting the best wine for food and friends. He pays homage to his volunteer experience at Quilceda Creek in 2002, which added to his winemaking résumé. He also thanks his mentor, Ray Sandidge (of C.R. Sandidge Wines fame), whom he affectionately refers to as Master Po and to himself as Grasshopper, a bow to the hit TV show Kung Fu. David’s science background lends itself to experimenting. For example, working with a California cooperage firm, David is aging wine in hybrid barrels composed of American and French oak. Interesting concept, but when your goal is to create wines that are different and intriguing, you step outside the norm.

David wants his wine to be fruit-forward. “It should be the first thing you experience when tasting Napeequa wines,” he states. By keeping production small, David can focus on stylish red and white wines. His current offerings include “Randonee” (chardonnay), “Trailhead” (a red blend), sangiovese, malbec, merlot, gewürztraminer ice wine (wonderfully sweet with a long finish), and a dessert wine called Glissade, which is a gewürztraminer made in the Trockenbeerenauslese (say that 10 times) style to pair with chocolates and cheesecakes. However, my personal favorite (which brought out the Visa) was David’s SLR (Sexy Little Red) – a red blend that described by David as “baby-bottom smooth.”

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  Napeequa Vintners was featured in WineTrails of Washington as part of the Leavenworth-Peshastin WineTrail on page 204!