Palouse Winery

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So how does a winery with Palouse in its moniker end up on Vashon Island? The Palouse, eastern Washington’s famed farmland of smooth rounded hills lies 300 miles to the east. That’s Cougar country where wheat is grown and salt water and ferry boats are only experienced when visiting Seattle.

For owners George and Linda Kirkish coming up with the name for their winery was a head scratcher. However, a trip to Walla Walla crystallized the name when they turned on to Palouse Street and George recalled that his grandmother was born in the Palouse. Besides that, they liked the way the word “Palouse” rolled off the tongue. Their tagline, “Smooth, round and voluptuous” naturally followed from the imagery of the Palouse’s rolling hills. Layered and textured with colors of golden yellow, earth brown and chartreuse with a cloudless blue background is the iconic image of the Palouse.

A short five-minute car trip from the Vashon ferry dock takes you to Palouse Winery housed in a super-sized shed juxtaposed to their home. It’s an intimate space for a couple dozen friends to gather and sample wine as well as a production site for 1,000 cases per year. A small tasting fee entitles visitors to grab a table and have George and Linda pour samples of Palouse Winery’s riesling, viognier, cabernet franc, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot, petite sirah, zinfandel and a red blend named Eclipse.

In developing a wine style that emphasizes single varietal wines, they’ve relied on assistance from the likes of Paul Portteus (Zillah’s Portteus Vineyards & Winery) nearby Vashon resident Bill Owen (co-owner/winemaker for O.S. Winery) and Jim and Barbara Richards (creators of Napa’s famed Paloma Vineyards). Fortunately, for them it’s not difficult getting to wine country throughout the Western U.S. Turns out that George is a pilot and owner of three airplanes. For them, doing a flyover of the vineyards they source from in the Rattlesnake Hills AVA outside Yakima is an afternoon venture. It gives them a chance to see the smooth, round and rolling hills from up high.