COURTESY OF FIRESTEED WINERY
Owner Howard Rossbach made a success of Firesteed winery through a combination of practicality and passion. Now he's branching into a new venture, offering a premium pinot that's aged 10 years.

He pops a cork with the inspired zeal of the True Believer as he introduces his newest wine, "Citation." The vintage is 1994, which makes it eight years older than the rest of the reserve-level Oregon pinots coming into the market this year.

"We take all the risk," he proclaims. "I think age-ability is the real test of a wine region. So I wanted to hold onto this and release it only when I felt it was ready. Our goal is to make something world-class. When people try it, I want them to look at their ankles to see if their socks got blown off."

Despite the hyperbole, Rossbach is no starry-eyed dreamer. His bread-and-butter Firesteed wines are the products of a practical business plan. A bio-sciences major in college, he first became immersed in wine in the early 1970s, while working at La Cantina, one of King County's original premium wine shops. From there he moved to distributor G. Raden & Sons; in 1985 he started his own business, Vintage Northwest.

His roster of clients included Hogue Cellars, Erath, Panther Creek, Barnard Griffin, Kiona and Covey Run. As he traveled the country on their behalf, he fine-tuned his understanding of the wine market. "I'd see opportunities," he recalled in a recent conversation at Firesteed's Oregon facility, "and I'd come up with ideas for new items for the wineries."
 

	COURTESY OF FIRESTEED WINERY
	Bryan Croft has been head winemaker at Firesteed since 1999, overseeing production of the winery's soft, fruity, $10 pinots as well as the new venture into the premium market.

It is most unusual for a privately held winery, as opposed to a corporate enterprise, to position its wines for a price-driven niche in the marketplace. Most wineries are begun by someone who's found success in an unrelated field, by farmers looking to diversify their crops or by under-funded amateurs with a genuine passion for wine-making.

Rossbach is none of the above. He is a businessman who happens to love wine. He listens to the voices of his customers, and uses the information to clear a path through the thicket of competitors.

Some years ago, the voices were saying, "Why isn't there an Oregon pinot with good fruit, low tannin, that's easy to drink and costs $10?" He pitched the idea to his client wineries, and no one bit. So, he started Firesteed.

Firesteed's soft, fruity, $10 Oregon pinot bottling has been the mainstay of the brand since 1992. The price has remained constant, as has the quality, while market share and revenues have steadily grown. A Firesteed pinot gris was added in 1999, and an upscale Willamette Valley pinot noir in 2000. An Italian barbera is also marketed under the brand, mostly in the United Kingdom.

Firesteed was a virtual winery for a decade. Rossbach contracted grapes, leased winemaking space and built the brand in markets well outside the Northwest. After buying Flynn Vineyards winery in 2002, he turned his "virtual" brand into a real, bricks-and-mortar operation overnight. Today Firesteed's 70,000-case production makes it the third-largest winery in Oregon, and it's on track to grow 35 percent this year.

So why mess with success by introducing a $50 bottle of 1994 Citation? Has the market-savvy, value-oriented Howard Rossbach been replaced by his evil twin, intent on giving the world yet another ego-driven, high-priced, hedonistic fruit bomb?

Not at all, he assures me. "Winemaking is part science and part art," he explains. "I wanted to appeal to the artistic side of our wine-making crew." It started as an experiment, he says, and he realized they could have something special. And if they failed, "we could blend it in with the Oregon bottling and make it a little better. So there wasn't much risk."

I think he's way too modest; there are risks aplenty. To begin with, the winery has held onto it for 10 years! That's expensive inventory. Beyond that, there is no market for old Oregon pinot. And value brands like Firesteed rarely succeed in joining the uber-premium ranks.

Rossbach is quick to point out that his new wine has its own name and unique label, apart from the rest of the Firesteeds. "Citation was the name of the 1948 Triple Crown winner," he adds. A horse, you see. Which ties it back to the Firesteed brand and logo.

I like the '94 Citation very much. I applaud a winery owner willing to break the rules to give consumers something extra. "It's a lot like fly fishing," Rossbach believes. "It takes patience, and it takes focus also. Knowing what you want to do from the onset."

The 1994 Citation is sold at the winery, restaurants and select retailers. The 1995 vintage will be released later this fall. The wine comes in six-bottle cases, priced between $40 and $50 a bottle, depending on the vintage. Other vintages are still in the barrel, but the 1996 and '97 got 86'd.

"Those were not world-class wines," says Rossbach. "For Citation to have validity, we have to make those decisions to blend it away. . . Citation must be truly great wine."

Just like the horse it rode in on.

Tasting Notes

Firesteed 2002 Pinot Gris ($10). Soft, round, appealing flavors show off a nice, juicy, semi-tropical style.

Firesteed 2002 Oregon Pinot Noir ($10). Light, clean and pretty, with fragrant, spicy primary fruits.

Firesteed 2000/2001 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($18). A darker, more serious, still elegant effort; juicy fruit, good, tannic grip.

Firesteed 1994 "Citation" Pinot Noir ($50). Supple and round; beautiful bouquet. Full, resonant flavors, dense with strawberry preserves, yet just 13 percent alcohol.

Firesteed 1995 "Citation" Pinot Noir ($40-$45). More mature than the '94, with a lovely burnished cherry color. Fragrant, secondary fruits and evolved hay and herb aromas.