Washington State has seen explosive growth over the last 15 years, ballooning from 200 wineries to more than 940 today. With this growth has come an influx of talented winemakers, all with their own ideas about what Washington wine is and how it should be made.
Though young, many of them have diversified the style and increased overall quality statewide. The five winemakers chronicled here are among those having an outsized impact on Washingtonâs wines.
Victor Palencia
Palencia Wines/Monarca Wines
âMy upbringing was in the vineyards,â says Victor Palencia.
Born in Mexico, Palencia came to eastern Washington with his family when he was two. His father began working in the stateâs vineyards and, once he was 13, Palencia would join him after school. âIt was very labor-intensive,â he says.
Come high school, he shifted to working at his neighborâs winery, Willow Crest. âI fell in love with [winemaking]. By the time I was a senior, I had my mind set that this was fully what I wanted to do.â
Palencia was granted a scholarship for Walla Walla Community Collegeâs viticulture and enology program. Though still underage, he was allowed to participate in the programâprovided he didnât taste. âThat was a bit of a handicap early on,â says Palencia.
He interned at local wineries during the program and, upon finishing at 20 years old, became winemaker at Willow Crest.
Since then, Palencia has moved up the ranks in the stateâs wine industry. He currently works as director of winemaking at a custom-crush facility that oversees production of more than one million cases of wine, making it one of the largest facilities in the state.
âA lot of people think big production is an assembly line, but thereâs really a lot of art,â he says. âWhether the fermenter is 1.5 tons or 100 tons, the amount of attention it needs is very similar.â
In 2013, Palencia launched his own brands, Palencia Wines and Monarca Wines.
âI took a leap of faith,â he says. âThe wineries are a celebration of my dreams and doing something I thought that I would never be able to do.â One of only two Latino winemakers in a state of over 940 wineries, Palenia says, âThe dream is possible. Thereâs a lot of opportunity.â
Palencia, now 33, already has 13 years of winemaking under his belt. âItâs really humbling that people think of me as one of the veterans now,â he says. âI say, âNo, no, no. Iâm just getting warmed up!ââ

Kerry Shiels
CĂŽte Bonneville
Kerry Shiels made her first wine in middle school. It was part of a science project.
âI donât even remember what it was,â she says. âIt was red. It was awful.â
Shielsâs parents had planted DuBrul Vineyard in Yakima Valley in 1992, subsequently founding CĂŽte Bonneville winery. Early on, however, she wasnât interested in joining the wine industry.
âLike anyone whoâs 17, I wanted to leave home and go experience a bigger world,â Shiels says.
So she opted to study mechanical engineering in college, then went on to join the car company Fiat in Turin, Italy, working on prototypes. After transitioning to more of a business role, Shiels decided it was time for a change.
âWashington is one of the coolest places in the world to make wine right now.ââKerry Shiels, winemaker, CĂŽte Bonneville
âI was making spreadsheets and Powerpoints. I decided that I didnât want to do that for the rest of my life.â
Instead, she decided to turn her focus to winemaking. âI like to make things,â Shiels says. âIf you like to make things, wine is pretty cool.â
After working harvest at Joseph Phelps Vineyards and then a stint in Australia, Shiels entered the University of California, Davis wine program, working crush and interning at Folio Fine Wine Partners while studying. âI went to school three days a week and then spent another four days a week commuting to Carneros,â she says. âI was running myself pretty ragged.â
Upon graduation, she worked harvest in Argentina before finally returning home to join her familyâs winery as winemaker. âI wanted to earn my position at the winery,â she says. âI didnât want to come into it just because it was my family.â
Shiels, now 39, is a firm believer in Washington wine. She points to the stateâs ability to successfully grow a range of varieties. âIn our vineyard, we have Riesling and Cabernet, and they grow right next to each other,â she says. âYou canât do that in Napa. You canât do that in Bordeaux. You canât do that in Germany. Itâs something thatâs very Washington.â

Mike Macmorran
Mark Ryan Winery & Manu Propria Winery
âOne of my earliest memories is sitting on a bench with my great-grandmother, watching her ferment cucumbers and cabbages,â says Mike Macmorran of Mark Ryan and Manu Propria wineries in Woodinville. âShe just loved fermenting things. It sparked my interest.â
Macmorranâs fascination with fermentation led him to study science and pursue a medical degree in Seattle. At the end of his second year of school, his wife posed a question that would change his life.
âShe asked me what I wanted to do when I was done being a physician,â Macmorran says. âI told her I wanted to open a small winery. She said, âSo youâre going to medical school to someday have a winery? Why donât you just cut out 30 years of the process?ââ
âOne of my earliest memories is sitting on a bench with my great-grandmother, watching her ferment cucumbers and cabbages.ââMike Macmorran, winemaker, Mark Ryan Winery & Manu Propria Winery
Putting his medical career on hold, Macmorran, now 40, began to volunteer at DeLille Cellars in Woodinville in 2005. In 2006, he was hired full-time as a cellar worker and, from there, worked his way up to assistant winemaker. He joined Mark Ryan Winery in 2008, becoming winemaker the following year.
âI try to stay true to Mark McNeillyâs style from when he started the winery in 1999,â Macmorran says of his approach. âThe wines are bigger and more broad-shouldered, with a full-fruited profile.â
This stands in contrast to his own brand, Manu Propria. Its focus is on producing Cabernet Sauvignon from Red Willow Vineyard, planted in 1972 by Mike Sauer.
â[With] Red Willow wines, the fruit is there, but itâs wrapped in these non-fruit elements that are reminiscent to me of a slightly cooler climate,â he says.
Ultimately, Macmorranâs intention with Manu Propria is larger than the wine itself.
âI think itâs important to recognize the people who have contributed so much to this industry,â he says. âThatâs really what Manu Propria is aboutâhonoring Mike Sauer and his family and what they have done for this industry.â

Andrew Latta
Latta Wines
Andrew Latta was just 13 years old when his interest in wine was first piqued.âOne of my dadâs friends explained to me how to spot a counterfeit Chianti,â Latta says. âI thought, âOh, thereâs more to this than just some stuff that I donât think tastes very good!ââ
While attending college in northern Kentucky, Latta waited tables to pay the bills, learning all he could about wine. He studied to become a sommelier and spent a year as a wine director at a five-star resort in Phuket, Thailand, then moved to Walla Walla to study viticulture and enology.
âI saw a lot of potential in Washington and in Walla Walla,â he says.
Latta started out working at Dunham Cellars and, in 2006, he interviewed with winemaker Charles Smith (K Vintners, Wines of Substance, Sixto, ViNO, CasaSmith), whose star was quickly rising. It did not go well.
âI saw a lot of potential in Washington and in Walla Walla.ââAndrew Latta, winemaker, Latta Wines
âWe had the most contentious interview Iâve ever had in my life,â Latta says. Smith grilled him about grapes, producers and wines. âHe would ask me what the five first growths were, and then while I was answering, would start mentioning super seconds to throw me off.â
And then, Smith offered Latta a job.
He worked as winemaker for Smith from 2006â2014, overseeing a program that grew to include more than 750,000 cases of wine across six different brands.
âCharles gave me tremendous responsibility, trust and leeway,â Latta says. âI wouldnât be where I am without him.â
In 2011, Latta started Latta Wines as a side project. He left Charles Smith Wines in 2014 to make it a fulltime endeavor.
Now 39, Latta focuses on Grenache, Malbec and Roussanne. âItâs 100% varietal and site driven,â Latta says of his objective at the winery.
âIâm just trying to make the wines that Washington wants to make,â he says. âYou have concentration and richness here, but you also have balance. Itâs a great place to be making wine.â

Ryan Crane
Kerloo Cellars
Ryan Crane became interested in wine while waiting tables in college. After briefly selling wine for a distributor and working for an industrial painting company, he moved to Walla Walla in 2005 to study viticulture and enology.
âI took the plunge,â Crane says. âIt was honestly nothing more than wanting to try my hand at making wines from Washington State.â
He worked stints at Forgeron Cellars and Va Piano, then launched his own winery, Kerloo Cellars, on a shoestring in 2007.
âI wanted to build a portfolio of wines that made you feel something versus just taste something.ââRyan Crane, winemaker, Kerloo Cellars
âI didnât have any money,â he says. âI had like 10,000 bucks, so I said, âHow much fruit can I get for 10,000 bucks?ââ Like that, Kerloo Cellars, named after the call of the crane, had begun.
At Kerloo, Crane focuses on wines that come from specific blocks of specific vineyards, each of which are listed on the back label.
âI was tasting a lot of wines that I felt like didnât have a sense of place,â Crane says. âI wanted to build a portfolio of wines that made you feel something versus just taste something.â
Kerloo specializes in Syrah, MourvĂšdre and Grenache, but also dabbles in other varieties like Malbec and Tempranillo.
âWeâre mostly a RhĂŽne shop, with the rest fun varieties that I think are up-and-coming in Washington,â he says.
Regardless of grape, Crane, 41, focuses on making wines in an old-fashioned style. âWeâre really gentle with the fruit,â he says. âWe foot-stomp all the Syrah and Grenache. It doesnât go through any sort of destemmer or anything. I want whole clusters to bring some texture, length and earthy restraint to the wines.â
Ultimately, the emphasis at Kerloo is on creating wines of character.
âFor me, every single lot tells a different story,â Crane says. âThe goal is to create wines that challenge peopleâs palates and focus on the rawness of the fruit that we have in Washington.â
âI wanted to build a portfolio of wines that made you feel something versus just taste something.â