Saviah Cellars is a fun place to stop for a little wine tasting. The day we stopped in, Rich Funk, the winemaker, was pouring tastes. He was friendly and told us the story of how he and his wife, Anita (his college sweetheart) came from Montana State University and ended up making wine in the Walla Walla Valley. It is a great story and I wouldn’t want to spoil it by telling it second hand.
The day we visited, the mobile bottling truck was there. Rich invited us to come back and watch the bottling process. They were producing a pallet of ready to ship wine in about 15 minutes – pretty amazing.
The tasting room is simple and clean. There is a brand new pond that Rich and his son had recently dug themselves. There is also a terrific statue of an eagle and salmon created by a friend in Montana. The family stays quite close to their roots with wines named after people and places they love – Big Sky Cuvee, Star Meadow white wine and The Jack – a terrific $15 Reisling or the number 1 skewed Merlot at QFC for $18 – Rich says this is a wine where their goal is to under promise and over deliver – it is the wine he says he uses to make friends.
I would like to hear more about the mobile bottling truck. How bid is it, how do you add the wine?
Good Stuff.
It is just the size of a big truck. Here is a local bottler who has videos on their site that show the process. (I am a sucker for automation and production lines like this) http://signaturebottlers.com/videos.html