Alexandria Nicole Cellars is a

Washington wine Washington wine is a wine produced from grape varieties grown in the U.S. state of Washington. Washington ranks second in the United States (behind California) in the production of wine. By 2017, the state had over of vineyards, a harvest of ...

ry that specializes in making

estate wine A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

from its Destiny Ridge Vineyard located in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. Founded in 2001 by Jarrod and Ali Boyle, the winery expanded to include

tasting room Dégustation is the careful, appreciative tasting of various food, focusing on the gustatory system, the senses, high culinary art and good company. Dégustation is more likely to involve sampling small portions of all of a chef's signature dish ...

s in

Prosser, Washington Prosser () is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Washington, United States. Situated along the Yakima River, it had a population of 5,714 at the 2010 census. History Prosser was long home to Native Americans who lived and fished ...

and Woodinville wine country where it is housed in the historic Hollywood Schoolhouse that was built in 1912 and designated as a

King County, Washington King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the ...

landmark in 1992.P. Gregutt ''"Washington Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide"'' pgs 69, 72, 78, 215-216 University of California Press 2007 In 2011, Alexandria Nicole was named the ''Washington Winery of the Year'' by ″Wine Press Northwest″, the wine publication arm of the

Tri-City Herald The ''Tri-City Herald'' is a daily newspaper based in Kennewick, Washington, United States. Owned by The McClatchy Company, the newspaper serves southeastern Washington state, including the three cities of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland (which ...

.Andy Perdue '
2011 Washington Winery of the Year: Alexandria Nicole Cellars
'' Wine Press Northwest, March 14th, 2011

Destiny Ridge Vineyard

Destiny Ridge Vineyard is the estate vineyard of Alexandria Nicole located in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA near Alder Ridge Vineyards between Champoux and Canoe Ridge Vineyards. First planted in 1998, the 367-acre estate has grown to include more than 258 acres planted with over 17 different varieties including relatively rare varieties like

Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, ...

Tempranillo Tempranillo (also known as Ull de Llebre, Cencibel, Tinto Fino and Tinta del Pais in Spain, Aragonez or Tinta Roriz in Portugal, and several other synonyms elsewhere) is a black grape variety widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its ...

Counoise Counoise is a dark-skinned wine grape grown primarily in the Rhône valley region of France. Counoise is also grown in California, New Jersey, and Washington. Counoise adds a peppery note and good acidity to a blended red wine, but does not have ...

Petite Sirah Durif is a variety of red wine grape primarily grown in Australia, California, France, and Israel. Since the end of the 20th century, wineries located in Washington's Yakima River Valley, Maryland, Arizona, Texas, West Virginia, Chile, Mexico ...

, Mourvedre, Lemberger,

Roussanne Roussanne is a white wine grape grown originally in the Rhône wine region in France, where it is often blended with Marsanne. It is the only other white variety, besides Marsanne, allowed in the northern Rhône appellations of Crozes-Hermitage ...

and

Marsanne Marsanne is a white wine grape, most commonly found in the Northern Rhône region. It is often blended with Roussanne. In Savoie the grape is known as ''grosse roussette''. Outside France it is also grown in Switzerland (where it is known as ' ...

that are not widely grown in Washington State. The vineyard was planted in collaboration with the Boyles, the Mercer family (original owners of Champoux Vineyard) and noted Washington Rhone Ranger Doug McCrea of McCrea Cellars. When McCrea first saw the site for Destiny Ridge, overlooking the Columbia River with steep rocky hillsides made of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

, he said he taken back by how much the site resembled the northern

Rhône Valley The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At ...

(home to the Côte-Rôtie,

Condrieu Condrieu () is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhône, some south of Vienne and 44 km south of Lyon, at the foot of the lower slopes of the Mont Monnet. It has an area of 921 h ...

and

Hermitage AOC Hermitage is a French wine ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) in the northern Rhône wine region of France south of Lyon. It produces mostly red wine from the Syrah grape; however, small quantities of white wine are also produced fro ...

s that are noted for Syrah and Viognier wines). But being one of the hottest regions in the state, McCrea, Boyle and Mercer also decided to plant several southern Rhône varieties like Grenache, Roussanne and Marsanne on the rocky slopes with Syrah and Viognier planted in the cooler,

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

ier soils of the vineyard.Christina Kelly '
McCrea Cellars:The Sound of the Rhône is Music to McCrea's Ears
"'' Avalon Wine. Accessed: September 10th, 2012 While many vineyards in New World wine regions are planted with vines spread widely apart from each other (900 vines per acre being a typical density), the vines at Destiny Ridge are planted close together with a high density of 2000 vines per acre that is more typical of

Old World wine Old World wine refers primarily to wine made in Europe but can also include other regions of the Mediterranean basin with long histories of winemaking such as North Africa and the Near East. The phrase is often used in contrast to " New World win ...

regions. The Boyles are active in every level of vineyard management for Destiny Ridge with a philosophy that prioritizes balanced crop levels and gentle handling of the grapes, including hand harvesting.S. Roberts ''"Wine Trails of Washington"'' pg 334, South Slope Productions 2007

History

A Prosser native, Jarrod Boyle learned

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

and

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

while working with Washington wine pioneers Dr. Wade Wolfe of Thurston Wolfe and the Hogue family of Hogue Cellars. While at Hogue, Boyle spotted an area of uncultivated land along the Columbia River in the

Horse Heaven Hills The Horse Heaven Hills are a long range of high, rolling hills in Klickitat, Yakima, and Benton counties in Washington. The hills are an anticline ridge in the Yakima Fold Belt formed by north–south compression of lava flows in the Columbi ...

that he thought would be an ideal spot for a vineyard. Working with the owners of land, the Mercer family who first planted Champoux vineyards in the 1970s, Boyle founded Destiny Ridge Vineyard in 1998. After planting Destiny Ridge Vineyard, Jarrod and his wife Ali opened up Alexandria Nicole Cellars in 2001 with a production facility at Destiny Ridge completed in 2004. Wine writer Steve Roberts has noted that with their tasting room in the Lee Road wine district, down the road from nearby Chinook Wines, the Boyles and Alexandria Nicole have done much to enhance the prestige and tourist recognition of Prosser as the city grew into a

wine tourism Enotourism, oenotourism, wine tourism, or vinitourism refers to tourism whose purpose is or includes the tasting, consumption or purchase of wine, often at or near the source. Where other types of tourism are often passive in nature, enotourism ca ...

hub for Washington state. In 2007, Alexandria Nicole was one of the first Eastern Washington wineries to open up a second satellite tasting room in Woodinville wine country close to the large

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

metropolitan region. As head viticulturist and winemaker of Alexandria Nicole, Jarrod Boyle credits Dr. Wolfe, Dave Minnick of Willow Crest Winery and Ray McKee of Covey Run Winery with guiding him during his early winemaking work. Together with his wife Ali, the sales and marketing director of the winery, the Boyles have grown Alexandria Nicole Cellars into a notable winery in Washington State producing around 10,000 cases a year and being named the 2011 ''Washington Winery of the Year'' by Wine Press Northwest. Future plans for Alexandria Nicole include expanding their Destiny Ridge Vineyard, potentially opening up a third tasting room in

Hood River, Oregon The city of Hood River is the seat of Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is a port on the Columbia River, and is named for the nearby Hood River. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 8,313. It is the only city in Oregon whe ...

and continuing a collaboration with

Dogfish Head Brewery Dogfish Head Brewery is a brewing company based in Milton, Delaware founded by Sam and Mariah Calagione and, as of 2019, owned by the Boston Beer Company. It opened in 1995 and produces 262,000 barrels of beer annually. Select brews (includi ...

in making wine inspired beers.

Wines

While Alexandria Nicole will occasionally source supplemental fruit from other vineyards in the Columbia Valley AVA, the vast majority of their wines are

vineyard designated wines A vineyard designated wine is a wine produced from the product of a single vineyard with that vineyard's name appearing on the wine label. Throughout the history of winemaking and viticulture, the differences in quality between one plot of land ...

produced from grapes harvested at Destiny Ridge Vineyard. Over the years the vineyard has garnered a reputation for producing grapes with "intense" flavors that reflect the ''

terroir (, ; from ''terre'', "land") is a French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, these contex ...

'' of the estate. Wine writer Paul Gregutt has praised the quality of the fruit coming from Destiny Ridge Vineyard and the wines produced by Alexandria Nicole, noting in particular how they can take some varieties (such as Tempranillo) and produce wines that still retain the "Old World varietal character" of the grape within the New World style popular in Washington State. Other critics and wine writers who have written favorably about Alexandria Nicole wine include

Alder Yarrow Alder Yarrow is an American wine blogger and restaurant blogger, and since 2004, publisher of ''" Vinography"'', one of the internet's most highly rated wine blogs.''Reuters.com'' (July 10, 2008)HYDRANT Helps Vinfolio Design the World's Best Wine ...

of ''Vinography'' and Jon Bonné of the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

Collaboration with Dogfish Head

Dogfish_head_noble_rot_Alexandria_nicole

In 2010, Jarrod Boyle of Alexandria Nicole collaborated with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware to produce a "hybrid" beer-wine beverage labeled ''Noble rot''. A

saison Saison (French, "season," ) is a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high levels of alcohol. ...

-style beer, the brewery uses botrytis-infected Viognier and

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

grapes from the Destiny Ridge Vineyard with its

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

, pils and wheat malt. The result is a beer with 49.5% of the fermentable sugars coming from grapes that finishes with a 9%

alcohol level Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

. Alexandria Nicole presses the grapes, leaving the skins with the must, and Dogfish co-ferments the Viognier and grains while adding the Pinot gris later in the process. In 2012, the beer went nationwide in the United States in more than 27 states and received favorable critical reviews.Jim Galligan '
Beer from fungus-infected grapes is anything but rotten
"'' MSNBC, February 23rd, 2012

References

External links

*Alexandria Nicole Cellars
Official Site
*Wine Peeps "
Women of Washington Wine: Ali Boyle of Alexandria Nicole Cellars
'' April 25, 2011 {{coord, 45.8794452, -119.8983283, display=title Wineries in Washington (state) American companies established in 2001