South Seattle Artisan Wineries band together to attract customers

When Seattle architect Tom Wolken became an avid wine drinker a few years ago, he started volunteering at several wineries in South Seattle.

Wolken quickly realized the wineries would get more attention from the public if they banded together. The result is South Seattle Artisan Wineries, or SSAW, a group of four wineries that held their first simultaneous tasting in late 2006 and now coordinate four tastings a year.The crowds have grown as each winery's reputation spreads and customers realize they can visit four wineries at once — two in the same building in South Park, one across the street and another just north in Georgetown.

They tout their closeness to Seattle, particularly compared with Woodinville's wineries on the Eastside.

The joint marketing has helped Nota Bene Cellars' retail sales at least triple, said Tim Narby, who works in information technology at Boeing and owns the winery with his wife, King County Deputy Prosecutor Carol Bryant.

Nota Bene, whose first vintage was 2001, holds tastings in a warehouse room with high ceilings, concrete floors and barrels along the walls. Nothing fancy.

They crush grapes and make wine in the same industrial-park building as Cadence Winery, which is owned by a former Boeing engineer and his lawyer wife.

Across the street is the oldest of SSAW's four members, O-S Winery, which started on Vashon Island in 1997. The newest winery among them is four-year-old Fall Line Winery, which is on the north side of the Duwamish River.

O-S has enough wine and time to be open almost every Saturday, but attendance rises about 20 percent when the wineries are all open.

"All our signs are out, so if somebody's coming to visit any one of us, they tend to go to the others also," said O-S co-owner Rob Sullivan, a retired banker.

Pulling the group together was simple. There are no dues. They bought a Web-site domain name for $35, printed maps showing all four wineries and sent customers information about the joint tastings. The next one is May 10.

Wolken tried talking the wineries into sharing a building that he bought. Sullivan and Narby like the idea, particularly if they shared equipment, but said they're not ready.

For now, they'll settle for pitching themselves as a close-to-Seattle winery tour, and they hope the tour buses don't notice.

"People pay the tour bus to take them all over," Sullivan said, "and then they don't buy anything."

— Melissa Allison

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Retail Report appears Fridays. Melissa Allison covers the food and beverage industry. She can be reached at 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com. Amy Martinez covers goods, services and online retail. She can be reached at 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com