FARM & RANCH: WSU grads put their schooling into action

For three Washington State University alumni, opening a winery after graduation made sense. They had all attended school at WSU’s Tri-Cities campus in the viticulture and enology program.

After Gabriel Crowell, Andrew Gerow and Matt Doutney graduated in 2021, they opened a shop, Non Vintage Wine and Tirriddis Winery. Crowell said they all had come to WSU for the viticulture program and opening the shop and winery was a dream come true.

Their shop is located in Richland and opened in 2021, and the winery and tasting room came a year later in Prosser, Wash.

Crowell came to WSU Tri-Cities from Europe, Gerow came from Michigan and Doutney came from New York. They are all first-generation winemakers. Crowell said he chose this program because the Washington wine industry is growing and a good place to get started in the industry.

“There’s nothing better than capturing and doing what you got an education for,” Crowell said.

Sparkling wine contains carbon dioxide gas, which is made from a second fermentation when in the bottle. A popular kind of sparkling wine is Champagne — which can only be made in the Champagne region of France, Crowell said.

At their winery, Tirriddis, the three partners practice a traditional method of sparkling wine. They would spend one night each week trying a different bottle of Champagne to see the different flavor profiles of the drink.

They would all take a blended learning class where they would make sparkling wine, which is now available for purchase in the WSU Brelsford Visitor Center, 150 E. Spring St., Pullman.

This wine is a mix of 13% chardonnay, 66% gewurztraminer and 21% riesling grapes and tastes like fresh ginger with hints of rose, lemon and lime, Crowell said. The grapes were grown at The Albert Ravenholt Research and Teaching vineyard in Richland.

The proceeds from the wine will go back into the blended learning class, Crowell said, which will give other students the opportunity to have hands-on experiences with winemaking.

“It’s an artistic, unique experience to Washington,” Crowell said. n