Ambassador Wines of Washington

The quality of any given wine begins in the vineyard. This is the reason that we chose to enter the wine business” backwards.” The overwhelming majority of wineries in the United States begin their winemaking journey by purchasing grapes from established vineyards in their area. This is done primarily for economical reasons: buying land, planting grapes and maintaining a vineyard is expensive! Most aspiring winemakers simply can’t afford to own their own fruit. Our founding partners recognized that creating world class wine meant owning and maintaining a piece of world class dirt. But how do you find good dirt? You start by implementing good land management practices before ever making an offer on a potential vineyard. Elements such as site selection, past crop history, slope, drainage, and quality of our nursery stock and pest-free plant materials were all taken into consideration during our land search. Selecting the right land means minimizing the risk of weather impacts such as freezing which can result in expensive replanting. We were fortunate to find the land that has since become our Ambassador Vineyard, which is situated in the world class growing region of Red Mountain. It’s gentle, southwest facing slope allows the frost to blow down the hill without settling on the fruit. In 2011, this advantage became glaringly evident as the majority of the state’s growing regions suffered large losses while Red Mountain emerged with some of the best fruit in the country.