"Strong Root, Great Fruit"
From our vineyards and cellars to our tasting room and sales, Gilbert Cellars is a story of family collaboration. Check out some of the faces of Gilbert Cellars in this short video about us:
Gilbert Cellars from Josh Perrault on Vimeo.
ABOUT US
We’ve decided to take the gravel road. Here in the Ahtanum Valley, our ancestors chose it too—the agrarian way of life. It means that we know who owns our shops and cares for our land. It means the air is filled with earth, mint, hops and apple blossoms. It means there are vineyards just outside of our front door, and a community where our work and play are closely intertwined.
We’ve worked in cubicles and in labs. What we found out is that what’s most important can’t be found there. We are most interested in pursuing truth and beauty with family and friends. For us, wine is the gateway to that. We’d rather have a great dinner on our patio, candles lit, with a bottle of wine than almost anything else.
That’s not to say the pace is slow around here. Adventure? We love it. Dinner table conversation, fueled by beautiful wines, can meander through archeology, mountain climbing, camp songs, travel, and family tall tales. Most of the time, we make our own fun, which involves throwing a party (or two) and inviting our favorite musicians and artists to share their talents with us. (check out the upcoming events page for more local culture!)
Growing and making products and experiences that matter is both our ends and our means. We believe that what we’re doing matters: we’re sharing an authentic product that comes from the place that we love. In a time when everything comes from everywhere, our wines come from a place that isn’t anywhere else.
Photo: Gilbert Cellars Shareholders, Managers & their families. October 2011. Hackett Ranch. (not pictured: Curt, Conor, Nate & Charlie Gilbert)
A LITTLE FAMILY HISTORY
In a speech to the Washington State Horticultural Association in 1908, H.M. Gilbert said, “Let us follow the invitation of our great mountains which lift our eyes and inspire us to better things.”
The Gilbert Family has been in the Yakima Valley since 1897, when Horace Mark Gilbert moved his family from Geneseo, Illinois and started farming apples and other produce. H.M and his wife Marion's homeplace is owned by the Yakima Valley Museum. The family business has passed down from father to son since then and Gilbert Orchards is owned and operated by brothers Curtiss and Cragg Gilbert today. The family history is rich and extensive--for a glimpse into the past, there are excerpts from old family letters that were gathered as content for the paintings in our Tasting Room by Barb Smith Gilbert.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT WASHINGTON WINE
How exciting to be at the beginning of something important. To be part of shaping what it might become. They say the best way to predict the future is to invent it. That’s what we’re up to in the world of Washington wine. Compared to the other great wine regions of the world, we are in our infancy, and we’re proud to at the root of something with so much potential. This land can and does produce great fruit, and we’re here keeping watch, vintage after vintage.
WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT US
Yakima is the rural west, with tumbleweeds flying and the sun consistently shining on acres of vineyards and orchards. Ranchers, farmers and the people who support them are the backbone of our community.
We believe that Yakima is the next great wine town—and you’re invited to discover it. After all, we just a short drive from the great metropolitan cities of the Northwest. Yes, you can access wine in a lot of venues these days (yay for wine democracy!), but THIS is where the grapes are grown and where the people are closest to the land. THIS is where you can capture feeling of looking out over the orchards, vineyards and lavender on the family farm that cocoons our winery—the Hackett Ranch. For an authentic wine country experience, this is the place to be.
