Betz Family Winery
"The true balance of winemaking is achieved when science and art come together to create a bottle of wine worth drinking."
Bob Betz
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Washington State is now the second largest wine-growing state in the USA. But when Bob Betz founded his winery there with his family in 1997, he was one of the pioneers. Today, Betz wines are state of the art.
Washington State is undoubtedly one of the most unusual wine-growing regions in the world. In Washington State, there are extreme daily temperature fluctuations of up to 20 degrees Celsius and up to 17 hours of sunshine per day in summer. Eastern Washington, where most viticulture is practised, is a dry or semi-dry desert with an annual rainfall of six to seven centimetres, as the wine-growing areas are almost all located in the rain shadow behind the Olympia and Cascades mountains, which are up to 4,400 metres high. The fact that viticulture is still possible there is due to the fact that the mountains provide the necessary water, which can be used in doses.
The climatic conditions and the soils characterised by basalt prompted Master of Wine Bob Betz to found his winery in 1997. With a mixture of meticulousness, skill, knowledge and the necessary flair, he has turned it into one of the best wineries on the West Coast in just a few years. While the Betz family purchased grapes from winegrowers in the early years, in 2014 they decided to acquire 22.5 hectares and plant them with Bordeaux grape varieties and 12.5 hectares with Rhône grape varieties, primarily Syrah.
The vineyards are all located in the renowned Walla Walla site. The grapes are fermented in small open fermentation vats, with the skins being treated very gently to minimise extraction. The must is then pressed using a basket press.
The effort involved in selecting the wines, which are aged in the best French barrels, is probably unique in Washington State: "We taste five cuvées at a time using a double-blind method with three-digit random numbers to rule out any bias. At each tasting, we select a top wine from the five wines and then put together four more cuvées for the next tasting. This process continues for several months until we finally decide on the final wine."
This is the essence of what characterises the Betz family's wines and what Steve and Bridgit Griessel adopted when they took over the winery from the Betz family in 2011. The philosophy behind it has not changed with the takeover. This is also reflected in the fact that Bob Betz is still active as a consultant winemaker and the wines continue to enjoy the highest reputation among international critics and fans of the winery. They are absolute blockbuster wines!
© Photos: Betz Family Winery