TROTHE

A partnership founded on four generations of family farming and 29 vintages of making wine in Washington has produced one of the northwestern state’s most exciting new wines in years: Trothe

- CLIVE PURSEHOUSE

In the 1940s, Jeff Andrews' great-grandfather arrived in the area where the Andrews Family Vineyards stand. Today, aside from row after row of grapevines, only a few buildings break the horizon line. There are a couple of farmsteads and the family's wine production facilities. It remains a very uninhabited part of eastern Washington, rising between the Yakima and Columbia rivers.

It was all sagebrush and arid desert back in those days. Shortly after Andrews' great-grandfather George Smith had broken the ground and planted dry-land wheat, the US military seized his land.

It was soon after America had entered into World War II. His farm and most of the area in the high, rolling hills above the Yakima river were used as a bombing range by the US Navy throughout the war.

WHERE CABERNET IS KING

Today, much of the former bombing range is known as the Horse Heaven Hills AVA, one of Washington state's most significant wine-growing regions. These hot, windswept hills produce much of the state's most outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon, often including fruit from Andrews Family Vineyards.

Ray McKee has made wine for almost 30 vintages in Washington state. He knows Washington's vineyards and AVAs as well as anyone making wine here. His decision to partner with Jeff Andrews' vision for Trothe was an easy one. Having made wine at Chateau Ste Michelle for nearly 10 years, I've known for a long time that the quality of fruit produced by the Andrews family is at the highest levels in the state. It's about the Horse Heaven Hills, certainly, but it's this site. It's what they've got going on here specifically.

While they grow 26 varieties, a select group of Washington winemakers have come to the Andrews family year after year for their Cabernet.

So Andrews and McKee decided that instead of selling off all their choicest blocks of fruit, they would keep much of it for the Trothe wines.