Alexandria Nicole Cellars is a Washington winery that specializes in making estate wine from its Destiny Ridge Vineyard located in the

Horse Heaven Hills AVA Horse Heaven Hills is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in southeastern Washington lying in portions of Klickitat, Yakima, and Benton counties, north and west of the Columbia River and south of the Yakima Valley and lies within the vast ...

. Founded in 2001 by Jarrod and Ali Boyle, the winery expanded to include

tasting room A tasting room is a part of a winery or brewery, typically located on the premises of the winery or brewery's production facilities, at which guests may sample the winery or brewery's products. Originally an informal public relations outreach ef ...

s in

Prosser, Washington Prosser () is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Washington, United States. Situated along the Yakima River, it had a population of 6,062 at the 2020 census. History Prosser was long home to Native Americans who lived and fish ...

and

Woodinville wine country Woodinville wine country is an area of Western Washington situated around the city of Woodinville, approximately 30 minutes to an hour driving time from downtown Seattle (depending on traffic). The area is home to more than 130' wineries and tasti ...

where it is housed in the historic Hollywood Schoolhouse that was built in 1912 and designated as a

King County, Washington King County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of counties in Washington, most populo ...

landmark in 1992.P. Gregutt ''"Washington Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide"'' pgs 69, 72, 78, 215-216 University of California Press 2007 In 2011, Alexandria Nicole was named the ''Washington Winery of the Year'' by ″Wine Press Northwest″, the wine publication arm of the

Tri-City Herald The ''Tri-City Herald'' is a twice-weekly newspaper based in Kennewick, Washington, United States. Owned by The McClatchy Company, the newspaper serves southeastern Washington state, including the three cities of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland ...

.Andy Perdue '
2011 Washington Winery of the Year: Alexandria Nicole Cellars
'' Wine Press Northwest, March 14th, 2011

Destiny Ridge Vineyard

Destiny Ridge Vineyard is the estate vineyard of Alexandria Nicole located in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA near

Alder Ridge Vineyards Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species exten ...

between Champoux and Canoe Ridge Vineyards. First planted in 1998, the 367-acre estate has grown to include more than 258 acres planted with over 17 different varieties including relatively rare varieties like

Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, ...

Tempranillo Tempranillo (also known as Ull de Llebre, Cencibel, Tinto Fino and Tinta del País in Spain, Aragonez or Tinta Roriz in Portugal, and several other synonyms elsewhere) is a black grape variety widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in it ...

Counoise Counoise is a dark-skinned wine grape grown primarily in the Rhône valley region of France. Counoise is also grown in California, Texas, New Jersey, and Washington. Counoise adds a peppery note and good acidity to a blended red wine, but does n ...

Petite Sirah Durif is a variety of red wine grape mainly grown in Australia, California, France, and Israel. Since the end of the 20th century, wineries located in Washington (state), Washington's Yakima River Valley, Maryland, Arizona, Texas, West Virgini ...

, Mourvedre,

Lemberger Lemberger is a surname of German origin demonym for a person from the Polish city Lwów (German: ''Lemberg''), now Lviv, Ukraine. Notable people with the surname include: * Georg Lemberger (c.1490–1500 – c.1540–1545), German painter and wood ...

Roussanne Roussanne () is a white wine grape grown originally in the Rhône wine region in French wine, France, where it is often blended with Marsanne. It is the only other white variety, besides Marsanne, allowed in the northern Rhône appellation d'Orig ...

and

Marsanne Marsanne () is a white wine grape, most commonly found in the Northern Rhône region. It is often blended with Roussanne. In Savoie the grape is known as ''grosse roussette''. Outside France it is also grown in Switzerland (where it is known a ...

that are not widely grown in Washington State. The vineyard was planted in collaboration with the Boyles, the Mercer family (original owners of Champoux Vineyard) and noted Washington

Rhone Ranger The Rhone Rangers are a group of American winemakers who promote the use of grape varieties from the Rhône Valley. They are mostly based on the West Coast, particularly California, and have created a not-for-profit organization for the promotion ...

Doug McCrea of

McCrea Cellars McCrea may refer to: Places * McCrea, Louisiana * McCrea Heights, Ontario * McCrea Township, Minnesota Other * Clan Macrae, a Highland Scottish clan * Javon McCrea (born 1992), American basketball player * Joel McCrea (1905–1990), American acto ...

. When McCrea first saw the site for Destiny Ridge, overlooking the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

with steep rocky hillsides made of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

, he said he taken back by how much the site resembled the northern

Rhône Valley The Rhône ( , ; Occitan: ''Ròse''; Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea ( Gu ...

(home to the Côte-Rôtie,

Condrieu Condrieu () is a Communes of France, commune in the Rhône (department), Rhône Departments of France, department in eastern France. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhône, some south of Vienne, Isère, Vienne and 44 km south of Ly ...

and

Hermitage AOC Hermitage () is a French wine ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) in the northern Rhône (wine region), Rhône wine region of France south of Lyon. It produces mostly red wine from the Syrah grape; however, small quantities of white wine ...

s that are noted for

Syrah Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse ...

and

Viognier Viognier () is a white wine grape variety. It is the only permitted grape for the French wine Condrieu AOC, Condrieu in the Rhone Valley (wine), Rhône Valley.J. Robinson ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'', Third Edition, p. 754, Oxford Univers ...

wines). But being one of the hottest regions in the state, McCrea, Boyle and Mercer also decided to plant several southern Rhône varieties like

Grenache Grenache (; ) or Garnacha () is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' p. 25, JP Bøger – JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. . It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry condi ...

, Roussanne and Marsanne on the rocky slopes with Syrah and Viognier planted in the cooler,

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

ier soils of the vineyard.Christina Kelly '
McCrea Cellars:The Sound of the Rhône is Music to McCrea's Ears
"'' Avalon Wine. Accessed: September 10th, 2012 While many vineyards in

New World wine New World wines are those wines produced outside the traditional winegrowing areas of Europe and the Middle East, in particular from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan (primarily Tokachi), Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and the ...

regions are planted with vines spread widely apart from each other (900 vines per acre being a typical density), the vines at Destiny Ridge are planted close together with a high density of 2000 vines per acre that is more typical of

Old World wine Old World wine refers primarily to wine made in Europe but can also include other regions of the Mediterranean basin with long histories of winemaking such as North Africa and the Near East. The phrase is often used in contrast to " New World w ...

regions. The Boyles are active in every level of vineyard management for Destiny Ridge with a philosophy that prioritizes balanced crop levels and gentle handling of the grapes, including

hand harvesting The harvesting of wine grapes (vintage) is one of the most crucial steps in the process of wine-making. The time of harvest is determined primarily by the ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels with winemakers basing t ...

.S. Roberts ''"Wine Trails of Washington"'' pg 334, South Slope Productions 2007

History

A Prosser native, Jarrod Boyle learned

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

and

winemaking Winemaking, wine-making, or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its Ethanol fermentation, fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over ...

while working with Washington wine pioneers Dr.

Wade Wolfe Wade, WADE, or Wades may refer to: Places in the United States * Wade, Maine, a town * Wade, Mississippi, a census-designated place * Wade, North Carolina, a town * Wade, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Wade Township, Clinton County, Illin ...

of Thurston Wolfe and the Hogue family of

Hogue Cellars Hogue is a surname common to France, England and Scotland. Hogue is a Norman-French topographic name derived from the Old Norman word ''hogue'', itself from Old Norse ''haugr'' meaning hill or mound and appears as a habitational name for locations ...

. While at Hogue, Boyle spotted an area of uncultivated land along the Columbia River in the

Horse Heaven Hills The Horse Heaven Hills are a long range of high, rolling hills in Klickitat, Yakima, and Benton counties in Washington. The hills are an anticline ridge in the Yakima Fold Belt formed by north–south compression of lava flows in the Columb ...

that he thought would be an ideal spot for a vineyard. Working with the owners of land, the Mercer family who first planted Champoux vineyards in the 1970s, Boyle founded Destiny Ridge Vineyard in 1998. After planting Destiny Ridge Vineyard, Jarrod and his wife Ali opened up Alexandria Nicole Cellars in 2001 with a production facility at Destiny Ridge completed in 2004. Wine writer Steve Roberts has noted that with their tasting room in the Lee Road wine district, down the road from nearby

Chinook Wines Chinook is a Washington winery located in the Yakima Valley AVA. Founded in 1983 by the wife and husband team of Kay Simon and Clay Mackey, Chinook was one of the pioneering wineries that established Prosser, Washington as a major wine-producing r ...

, the Boyles and Alexandria Nicole have done much to enhance the prestige and tourist recognition of Prosser as the city grew into a

wine tourism Wine tourism (also: enotourism, oenotourism, or vinitourism) is tourism whose purpose is or includes the tasting, consumption or purchase of wine, often at or near the source. Where other types of tourism are often passive in nature, enotourism c ...

hub for Washington state. In 2007, Alexandria Nicole was one of the first Eastern Washington wineries to open up a second satellite tasting room in

close to the large

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

metropolitan region. As head viticulturist and winemaker of Alexandria Nicole, Jarrod Boyle credits Dr. Wolfe, Dave Minnick of Willow Crest Winery and Ray McKee of

Covey Run Winery A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called ''herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals. The term ''herd'' is g ...

with guiding him during his early winemaking work. Together with his wife Ali, the sales and marketing director of the winery, the Boyles have grown Alexandria Nicole Cellars into a notable winery in Washington State producing around 10,000 cases a year and being named the 2011 ''Washington Winery of the Year'' by Wine Press Northwest. Future plans for Alexandria Nicole include expanding their Destiny Ridge Vineyard, potentially opening up a third tasting room in

Hood River, Oregon Hood River is a city in and the county seat of Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is a port on the Columbia River, and is named for the nearby Hood River. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 8,313. It is the only city in O ...

and continuing a collaboration with

Dogfish Head Brewery Dogfish Head Brewery is a brewing company based in Milton, Delaware founded by Sam and Mariah Calagione and, as of 2019, owned by the Boston Beer Company. It opened in 1995 and produces 262,000 barrels of beer annually. Select brews (inclu ...

in making wine inspired beers.

Wines

While Alexandria Nicole will occasionally source supplemental fruit from other vineyards in the

Columbia Valley AVA Columbia Valley is an American Viticultural Area, American Viticultural Area (AVA) which lies within the Columbia River Plateau, through much of central and southern Washington (state), Washington state, with a section crossing the state bounda ...

, the vast majority of their wines are vineyard designated wines produced from grapes harvested at Destiny Ridge Vineyard. Over the years the vineyard has garnered a reputation for producing grapes with "intense" flavors that reflect the ''

terroir (; ; from ''terre'', ) is a French language, French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, th ...

'' of the estate. Wine writer

Paul Gregutt Paul Gregutt is an American wine writer whose focus is the wine of Oregon and Washington. Gregutt publishes a column titled "Wine Adviser" in ''The Seattle Times'', and contributes to publications such as ''Vineyard & Winery Management'', ''Yakima ...

has praised the quality of the fruit coming from Destiny Ridge Vineyard and the wines produced by Alexandria Nicole, noting in particular how they can take some varieties (such as Tempranillo) and produce wines that still retain the "Old World varietal character" of the grape within the New World style popular in Washington State. Other critics and wine writers who have written favorably about Alexandria Nicole wine include Alder Yarrow of ''Vinography'' and Jon Bonné of the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

Collaboration with Dogfish Head

Dogfish_head_noble_rot_Alexandria_nicole

In 2010, Jarrod Boyle of Alexandria Nicole collaborated with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware to produce a "hybrid" beer-wine beverage labeled ''Noble rot''. A

saison Saison ( French, "season," ) is a pale-colored ale that is highly carbonated, dry, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high leve ...

-style beer, the brewery uses

botrytis Botrytis may refer to: * ''Botrytis'' (fungus), the anamorphs of fungi of the genus '' Botryotinia'' **''Botrytis cinerea'', a mold important in wine making *Botrytis, the cauliflower cultivar group of ''Brassica oleracea ''Brassica oleracea'', a ...

-infected

and

Pinot gris Pinot gris, pinot grigio (, ), or ''Grauburgunder'' is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the pinot noir variety, it normally has a pinkish-gray hue, accounting for its name, but th ...

grapes from the Destiny Ridge Vineyard with its

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

pils Pils may refer to * Pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsn ...

and wheat

malt Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as "malting". Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, ...

. The result is a beer with 49.5% of the fermentable sugars coming from grapes that finishes with a 9%

alcohol level Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...

. Alexandria Nicole presses the grapes, leaving the skins with the must, and Dogfish co-ferments the Viognier and grains while adding the Pinot gris later in the process. In 2012, the beer went nationwide in the United States in more than 27 states and received favorable critical reviews.Jim Galligan '
Beer from fungus-infected grapes is anything but rotten
"'' MSNBC, February 23rd, 2012

References

External links

*Alexandria Nicole Cellars
Official Site
*Wine Peeps "
Women of Washington Wine: Ali Boyle of Alexandria Nicole Cellars
'' April 25, 2011 {{coord, 45.8794452, -119.8983283, display=title Wineries in Washington (state) American companies established in 2001