Isenhower Cellars Celebrates 20 Years of Walla Walla Winemaking
During the past 20 years, owners Brett and Denise Isenhower built a winery, opened satellite tasting rooms, sold thousands of cases of wine, and collected multiple winemaking awards. Next month, the Isenhower team will say "Cheers to 20 Years" with a special wine release.
On February 9 and 10, the Isenhower team will release a much-anticipated 20th Anniversary Port, made from Dionysus Vineyard Petit Verdot grapes and Summit View Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon brandy.
"I wanted to knock it out of the park with the 20th Anniversary Petit Verdot Port," says winery co-owner Brett Isenhower. "We combined brandy made from our own Cabernet Sauvignon with the ripest Petit Verdot grapes from Dionysus Vineyard. The result is a 20th Anniversary Port that will be delicious for 20 years."
The wine will be released in the Walla Walla winery, along with Isenhower Cellars satellite tasting rooms in Woodinville and Leavenworth.
Additional events are planned throughout the year, and schedule updates will be announced on the Isenhower Cellars Facebook page and the Isenhower Cellars website.
"We’re looking forward to celebrating 20 years of wine with our community of supporters, and we're hoping to connect with new friends too," says Isenhower. "20 years is a big milestone, and we're just getting warmed up. We'd love to celebrate our successes and toast to the future with friends new and old."
About us
1998 – The Isenhower's move from Colorado to Walla Walla to follow their winemaking dream. Denise and Brett obtain full time pharmacist jobs.
About us
1999 – Winery founded and first crush of 17 tons at Glen Fiona.
About us
2000 – Crush 40 tons at the Inn at Mill Creek.
About us
2001 – Opened Walla Walla downtown tasting room at the Depot Building.
About us
2002 – Completed construction of our winery building. First white wine made.
About us
2003 – Birth of our first child, Olivia. Brett retires from pharmacy. 93 point score from Wine Spectator raises our profile.
About us
2004 – Denise retires from Pharmacy. First freeze year and rainy Fall makes for a challenging vintage. 80 tons crushed.
About us
2005 – Distribution of wine in 19 states and Canada.
About us
2006 – Birth of our second daughter, Keegan.
About us
2007 – Purchase of our own bottling line (nicknamed the Maserati). First Rosé wine made.
About us
2008 – Birth of third daughter, Eliana. First cool vintage since 1999. Crushed 80 tons again. Plant Estate Vineyard.
About us
2009 – Recession vintage; decreased production to 40 tons. Many distributors unable to buy wine. Open Woodinville Tasting Room with Maison Bleue Winery.
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2010 – End distribution of wine and only sell directly to consumers. Maison Bleue moves out of Woodinville. End many vineyard contracts. Crush only 17 tons.
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2011 – Coolest vintage experienced. Crush 37 tons. All red grapes fermented by native yeast from now on.
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2012 – Back to normal weather. First harvest of Malbec from Estate Vineyard. Crush 52 tons of grapes in total. First Sparkling Roussanne made.
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2013 – Crush 53 tons of grapes. Very warm year.
About us
2014 – Warmest year on record. Crush 70 tons of grapes. Begin to distribute wine in Oregon, Southwest Washington, and Ohio again. Extensive cold damage to estate vineyard forces ripping out of the vines.
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2015 – Reintroduction of Isenhower to Ohio and Florida. New label designs and website.
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2016 – Release of i-label wines, our second label, to our Pacific Northwest distributors.
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2017 – Opening of our Leavenworth, WA Tasting Room!
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2018 – Crush 138 tons of grapes. Continue to expand distribution, adding the Chicago area and Montana.
About us
2019 – Celebrating 20 years of winemaking!
Coming soon
- 2015 Children's Reserve Cuvee
- 2016 Jongleur Petit Verdot
- 2016 Wallula Vineyard
Mourvedre
Sold out
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2012
- 2012 A BLOC
MALBEC - 2012 Columbia Valley
Eliana's Blend - 2012 COLUMBIA Valley JONGLEUR
PETIT VERDOT - 2012 Columbia Valley
Olivia's Blend Cabernet Sauvignon - 2012 Yakima Valley
Keegan's Blend
- 2012 A BLOC
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2013
- 2013 Batchelor's Button
Cabernet Sauvignon - 2013 Columbia Valley
El Conquistador - 2013 COLUMBIA valley LAST STRAW
RED WINE - 2013 Dutchman Vineyard
Syrah - 2013 Eliana's Reserve
Blend - 2013 Horse Heaven Hills
Cabernet Sauvignon - 2013 Horse Heaven Hills FOI No. 11
Merlot - 2013 Jongleur
Petit Verdot - 2013 Keegan's Reserve
Blend - 2013 Olivia's Reserve
Blend - 2013 Rara Avis
Red Wine - 2013 River Beauty
Syrah - 2013 Yakima Valley
Cabernet Franc - 2013 Yakima Valley
Purple Paintbrush Red Wine - 2013 Yakima Valley Road Less Traveled
Cabernet Franc
- 2013 Batchelor's Button
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2014
- 2014 Batchelor's Button
Cabernet Sauvignon - 2014 "Barrel Fermented"
Roussanne - 2014 Blanc de Blanc
Sparkling Roussanne - 2014 Children's Reserve
Cuvée - 2014 Columbia Valley
El Conquistador - 2014 Columbia Valley
Last Straw - 2014 Columba Valley
Holiday Paintbrush - 2014 Dutchman Vineyard
Syrah - 2014 Jongleur
Petit Verdot - 2014 Rara Avis
Red Wine - 2014 Restoration Red
Malbec - 2014 River Beauty
Syrah - 2014 Road Less Traveled
Cabernet Franc - 2014 Snipes Mountain
Viognier - 2014 Wallula Vineyard
Mourvèdre - 2014 Wild Thyme
Red Blend - 2014 Yakima Valley
Golden Paintbrush Marsanne - 2014 Yakima Valley
Marsanne - 2014 Yakima Valley Pink Paintbrush
Cabernet Franc rose
- 2014 Batchelor's Button
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2015
- 2015 A Bloc
Malbec - 2015 Barrel Fermented
Roussanne - 2015 Batchelor's Button
Cabernet Sauvignon - 2015 Blanc De Blanc
Sparkling Roussanne - 2015 Columbia Valley
Cabernet Franc Rosé - 2015 Dutchman Vineyard
Syrah - 2015 Holiday Paintbrush
Red Blend - 2015 Jongleur
Petit Verdot - 2015 Rara Avis
Grenache - 2015 Road Less Traveled
Cabernet Franc - 2015 Snipes Mountain
Viognier - 2015 Wallula Vineyard
Mourvèdre - 2015 Wild Thyme
Merlot - 2015 Yakima Valley
Golden Paintbrush
- 2015 A Bloc
- 2016
- 2017
Where to find
- Walla Walla
- Brasserie Four
- Harvest Foods
- The Marc Restaurant
- Olive Marketplace & Café
- Ox and Cart
- Shiki Hibachi Sushi
- Walla Walla Bread Company
- Walla Walla Country Club
- Whitehouse-Crawford
- Western Washington
- Contact Unique Wine Company
- Eastern Washington
- Contact Cru Selections
- Portland
- Contact Vin De Garde Wines
- Boise
- Contact Cru Selections
- Spokane / Coeur d'Alene
- Ambrosia
- Benneditos BrewPub
- Bottles
- Contact Cru Selections
- Downriver Grill
- Hay J's / The Butcher Shop
- Left Bank Wine Bar
- Nectar Wine Bar
- The Rocket
- Vintage Vines
- Vino! Wine Shop
- Wild Sage
- Yoke's Fresh Market
- Montana
- Contact Winegardners Wines
- Florida
- Contact Western Wine Group
Winemaking
HAND CRAFTED–LIMITED PRODUCTION–NATIVE FERMENTATION
Our winemaking is simple in concept yet complex in execution. We have long term contracts to purchase grapes by the acre from great sustainable vineyards in the Northwest. Key to our vineyard selection are farmers who we trust and have an excellent relationship with. Brett Isenhower is a scientist and a history buff. He is into new grapevine clones for wine complexity and old vines for wine depth and concentration. All our grapes are hand picked and hand sorted to guarantee only perfect grapes enter the winery.
We use traditional winemaking methods to craft the wines. These methods include punchdowns, foot stomping, saignée, native yeast fermentation, barrel stirring, and sur lie aging. The top tier reds are all free run wine and aged in the finest new and once used French oak barrels. The white wines are aged in a combination of neutral French oak barrels and stainless steel barrels. Our rosé is briefly aged in stainless steel barrels. Our goal is for each Isenhower Cellars wine to be unique, age worthy, and delicious. Isenhower Cellars currently produces 7500 cases of wine per year.
Horse Heaven Hills
Snipes Mountain
Rattlesnake Hills
Walla Walla Appellation
Yakima Valley
Columbia Valley
Horse Heaven Hills
Wallula Vineyards
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Mourvèdre
Found in Wild Thyme, El Conquistador, Rara Avis, and Mourvèdre
Snipes Mountain
Upland Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Viognier
Found in Olivia's Blend, Eliana's Blend, El Conquistador, Batchelor's Button and Viognier.
Rattlesnake Hills
Dineen Vineyard
Cabernet Franc (clone 214)
Found in Road Less Traveled, Pink Paintbrush and Purple Paintbrush
Walla Walla Appellation
Les Collines Vineyard
Washington Side of the Valley
Malbec and Tempranillo
Found in Á Bloc Malbec and El Conquistador
Seven Hills Vineyard
Oregon Side of the Valley
Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot
Found in Olivia's Blend, Eliana's Blend, Jongleur Petit Verdot, and upcoming Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon
Summitview Vineyard
Oregon Side of the Valley
Cabernet Sauvignon (clone 191 and clone 6)
Found in upcoming Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon
Yakima Valley
Olsen Ranch Vineyard
Located near Benton City
Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Roussanne, Syrah (clone 877)
Found in Road Less Traveled, Purple Paintbrush, Rara Avis, Sparkling Roussanne, Keegan's Blend, and River Beauty
Dutchman Vineyard
Located north of Grandview
Syrah (Joseph Phelps Clone) and Marsanne
Found in Dutchman Syrah, Keegan's Blend, River Beauty, and Marsanne
Columbia Valley
Dionysus Vineyard
Petit Verdot
Found in Eliana's Blend, Jongleur and Petit Verdot
Vineyards
We have acre contracts with excellent vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley, Yakima Valley, Columbia Valley, Rattlesnake Hills and Horse Heaven Hills. The vineyards are farmed in a sustainable manner to ensure the long term health of the vines and the soil. Multiple times during the growing season the vines are meticulously addressed by hand to maximize the quality of the resulting wines.
Tasting rooms
Join us for tastings at the following locations.
Woodinville, WA: Thursday-Monday 12-5
$15 tasting fee refundable with wine purchase.
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Walla Walla, WA: Thursday-Monday 11-4
$10 tasting fee refundable with wine purchase.
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Leavenworth, WA: Sunday-Thursday 12-5, Friday/Saturday 12-7
$15 tasting fee refundable with wine purchase.
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Sustainability
- Reduced use of hot water and chemicals for sanitation through use of steam and ozone.
- Natural corks, and no capsules.
- CFC lighting & extensive use of insulation to reduce energy costs.
- Native yeast fermentation of wine.
- Walking gardens that grow produce and herbs for the Isenhower family and employees.
- Future plans for installation of solar panels.