Wine tourism booms in Prosser as more wineries cluster in town

PROSSER — It was less than four years ago that Wade Wolfe built the first winery in a neighborhood of new streets and empty lots that only marmots called home.

Today, Vintner's Village in this Eastern Washington town is all but maxed out with 11 wineries and will soon expand to make room for a growing waiting list.

"We knew that other wineries would eventually come in," said Wolfe, owner and winemaker of Thurston Wolfe Winery. The wine industry has boomed in Prosser, which is positioning itself as a wine-tourism destination. Industry leaders also are raising money for the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center, which they plan to build overlooking the Yakima River near the east end of town.

Nowhere is that growth more visible than Vintner's Village, a 32-acre cluster of wineries in the north end of Prosser. Just a glance at the crowds in late April for Spring Barrel Tasting testifies. Wineries shuffled as many as 1,600 people per day through their doors.

Vintner's Village, at Merlot Drive and Port Avenue, was developed by the Port of Benton starting in 2000 as a light industrial park anchored by a bonded wine warehouse. The port pumped $1.3 million into buying the land and extending roads and water lines through the property.

However, when the warehouse deal fell through, port leaders scrambled to give the place a new name and vision. Calling it Vintner's Village, they began recruiting wineries, even steering non-wine developers, such as banks and a motorcycle shop, to other Prosser locations.

Dave Minnick of Willow Crest Winery built a warehouse there in 2004. Wolfe soon followed with his winery, which included the Village's first tasting room.

Minnick added his own tasting room a little later. Visitors quickly outpaced those at his vineyard's tasting room, some days attracting 50 times the traffic. His tasting room sales have jumped 300 percent since opening. He finally closed the vineyard tasting room in November.

That popularity reflects a change in wine tasting, at least in Prosser. Not all wine-country tourists want to drive miles and miles to visit wineries, no matter how sweeping the views of vine-covered hills. Some want a lot of choices in a small area.

"People are living this faster-pace lifestyle right now," Minnick said.

However, don't call it a trend just yet, said Ryan Pennington, a spokesman for the Washington Wine Commission. Other wine tourism areas, such as Red Mountain near Benton City and Walla Walla, still attract the vineyard crowd.

"Historically, Prosser has been about wineries rather than vineyards," Pennington said.

Today, wineries at Vintner's Village open at the rate of more than two a year. The port has only one lot left and a list of wineries expressing interest.

"We sold out of land so fast," said Jan Jackson, the port's marketing manager.

Port officials have just reached a verbal agreement with property owners to the south to purchase an additional 18 acres for $1.1 million. That includes the Seven Gables House, a historic home, and surrounding pasture.

It's now owned by Frank and Jolene Ver Mulm, who sold the property on the condition that the port try to preserve the house, built in 1907 as one of the first homes in the area, Jolene Ver Mulm said. It may become a bed-and-breakfast, Jackson said. The rest of the property will hopefully be home to more wineries.

Vintner's Village augments the Prosser Wine and Food Park on the east edge of town. That property is anchored by Hogue Cellars and populated by small startup wineries leasing space. That area still draws crowds for wine tasting, too.

Milbrandt Winery is the newest addition to Vintner's Village. It opened just in time for Spring Barrel Tasting, with owners Butch and Jerry Milbrandt still applying the finishing touches to the construction while the crowds sauntered in.

Milbrandt will produce some limited edition wines in Prosser, but their vineyards and production facility remain in Mattawa. They just wanted to be part of the buzz.

"We just thought that Prosser is going to be the center of the wine industry in the next 10 years," Butch Milbrandt said.