Windfall Winery

While in Leavenworth, don’t miss the opportunity to visit the Kestrel Vintners satellite tasting room on Front Street. Here you get a two-for-one opportunity to sample Kestrel Vintners wines including their “Lady in Red” wines as well as Windfall Winery’s AP Wine. The Kestrel tasting room is the only location for sampling Windfall’s AP (i.e., Asian Pear) wine. Served cold, AP is a surprisingly dry wine to enjoy by itself or ‘paired’ with food.

Windfall Winery is the brainchild of San Juan Island-based Larry Soll who put his science background and love of making fruit wines into the creation of AP. During the 1980s, Larry sold his biotech company and moved to San Juan Island where “retirement” was not to be. Among other endeavors, Larry was active making a variety of fruit wines. His friends and neighbors convinced him that the Asian Pear wine was the best and he should go commercial. However, lacking the production facility Larry was fortunate to have Ray Sandidge of Kestrel Vintners fame offer his production facility in Prosser for the converting pear juice to pear wine. During the process, the pear wine (which checks in at 11 to 12% alcohol by volume) is aged in oak for two months. This gives AP a more wine-like taste and feel on the tongue ready to take on grilled chicken or pecan crusted halibut.

With your purchase of AP, you also get a two-for-one benefit. You get the golden bottle of AP wine with its distinctive label plus you get a good feeling knowing that 100% of the profits are invested in low-income housing. Larry Soll is an ardent supporter of the “community land trust model” that provides affordable housing for low income families that otherwise won’t enjoy home ownership. Many non-profit housing organizations benefit from AP sales including SHARE Community Land Trust in Leavenworth and San Juan Island Community Land Trust that Larry helped found. Your purchase of AP is a windfall for yourself and for those in need.

• 

  Order the book!

  Windfall Winery was featured in WineTrails of Washington as part of the Leavenworth-Peshastin WineTrail on page 198!