Good Fruit Grower

December 2013

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Grapes Home is where THE WINE IS Mike and Judi Scott meet most of their wine buyers face to face at their basement tasting room. by Geraldine Warner very Thursday night in summer, Mike Scott and his wife, Judi Martin Scott, have about 60 people over for dinner on their patio in East Wenatchee, Washington, overlooking the Columbia River. After going out to work for most of their lives, the Scotts enjoy having visitors at their Martin-Scott Winery tasting room, which is located in the basement E PHOTOS BY GERALDINE WARNER "Staying at home and tending our property is our goal, and that drives us to have grapes here." —Mike Scott of their home. It's the place to be on a Thursday night for couples looking for a quiet romantic dinner. Twenty years ago, when the Scotts bought the site where they would later build their winery and home, it had a 32-acre Red Delicious orchard that was probably 30 years old and 15 acres of undeveloped land. Mike had concerns about the future of the Red Delicious variety and the availability of labor to pick the apples. And the strain—Top Red—was not the most productive. But it was an opportunity to own a nice piece property. Believing there was not much future in the Red Delicious, they began to replant the orchard over a period of several years with Gala, Granny Smith, and Fuji apples and invested heavily in irrigation systems, trellises, and trees. The Scotts both had full-time jobs besides the orchard. Judi, who has a degree in bacteriology and public health, worked as manager of the laboratory and then as a systems analyst at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. Mike was general manager of Jones Fruit Company, based in Quincy. Tree fruit Mike spent his career in the fruit industry and has served as chair of both the Washington State Fruit Commission and the Washington Apple Commission. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in horticulture and a master's degree in agricultural economics from Washington State University, he worked with WSU Extension alongside agent Dick Bartram in Wenatchee. After two years, he went to work for Stemilt Growers, 42 DECEMBER 2013 GOOD FRUIT GROWER Mike Scott believes his Malbec, Tempranillo, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc grapes are as good as any, but would not plant more Cabernet Sauvignon in East Wenatchee. where he was influenced by Tom Mathison's progressive vision for the fruit industry. In the early 1980s, he formed an orchard management company, and in about 1986, he went to work for the cooperative Chief Wenatchee as a field horticulturist. Realizing that most of the money in the tree fruit industry was being made in the packing end of the business, he decided to learn about that and ran the cooperative's packing operation for a couple of years. Grapes In 1988, he was approached by Jack Jones, owner of a large diversified farming operation based in Quincy, who wanted him to run an apple-packing operation in Cashmere. Mike continued to work for Jones as he moved into grape production in the Columbia Basin, developing large tracts of land under contract with Stimson Lane winery. Scott said he benefitted greatly from his association with Jones, "a multifaceted agricultural entrepreneur," and that's where the idea of having his own winery took root. The Scotts planted their first grapvines at their East Wenatchee property in 1997 with the idea that Judi might be able to apply her technical skills to winemaking. "She fell in love with the grape plants, so I multiplied that opportunity by planting some every year," Mike said. "She would come over after work and prune the grapes. "We would never have had the financial wheels to do our agricultural expansion without her having the commitment to working in the hospital and being good at it, and pursuing it to a very successful level," he stressed. They made their first two vintages in a controlled-atmosphere storage room belonging to Jack Jones before they built a winery on their property. They were living at Eagle Rock, north of Wenatchee, and before long realized that the only way they could continue to do their outside jobs and take care of the orchard/vineyard would be to live close by. So, in 2003 they built a house on the property. The following year, they converted the basement to a wine tasting room with a large patio. Mike said they had opportunities to have a tasting room in downtown Wenatchee, or Leavenworth, or even www.goodfruit.com

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