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Signature Wines and Wineries of Washington
TOP: Harvest from the crush pad at Fielding Hills Winery. Visitors in the Fall
can gain firsthand knowledge of all the "crush" activities.
BELOW: Crush days can be long and go from sunrise to sunset. Owner
Winemaker Mike Wade inspects grapes as they enter the stemmer crusher
as the sun sets.
Photographs by Patrick Bennett
The winery produced its first commercial vintage in 2000, using
their Wahluke Slope AVA fruit from Estate Riverbend Vineyard.
Mike combined his love of agriculture with his passion for
wine and gave the winery a name that would honor the family
lineage. Fielding Hills Winery produced 400 cases of Cabernet
Sauvignon, Merlot, and a red table wine in 2000. He was named
Washington State's Rising Star winemaker by Wine Spectator
with that first vintage. Mike and Karen, together with family
and friends, produced Fielding Hills in an orchard warehouse
at their family home. Mike increased production after the
initial vintage but interest continued to grow and the demand
for Fielding Hills surpassed production ability at the orchard
warehouse. In 2014, the operation expanded and they built a
tasting room and production facility along the shores of Lake
Chelan in Washington State.
Today, Mike and Karen produce about 2,800 cases of world
class wines annually. Mike's vision for Fielding Hills has always
been to make wines that he and his family would enjoy. This
has produced bold, well-balanced reds with a focus on the fruit
and the high quality of grapes. The wines are typically aged 22
months in 70 percent new French and American oak with the
winemaker recommendation of enjoying the wines in four to
seven years from the vintage date. As production increased, an
assistant winemaker joined the team: Tyler Armour. He brought
knowledge of making Rosé and white wines that complemented
Mike's strong red know-how.
