Tinte Cellars: A Passion For Giving Back

Tim Gamble and Teresa Spellman Gamble are on a mission to uplift community through wine at Tinte Cellars

Article & interview by John Vitale

TIM GAMBLE AND TERESA SPELLMAN GAMBLE are on a mission. Some husband and wife winery owners enter the industry seeking a better lifestyle, but the Gambles established Tinte Cellars with a calling to make life better for others.

Raised in Seattle, community volunteerism and humanitarian causes were core personal values introduced to each of them at a young age. “Tim and I both grew up in families that looked out for the underdogs,” says Teresa. Her father, John Spellman, became the 18th Governor of Washington in the early 1980s, after serving as the first King County Executive for over a decade. “We were taught you take care of your community. You volunteer. If you had any money (which neither of us grew up with), you would find ways to share it. That translates to a focus on caring for others, and caring for the place that you call home. And doing what you can to influence that,” she adds.

Social Mission

Tinte Cellars, founded in 2018, is the platform the Gambles use to create that influence they describe as their “social mission.” Last year, the winery donated over $170,000 to charities, right off the top of gross revenues, something they don’t brag about often enough. The model combines the winery’s everyday business with a transparent formula for cash donations, committing five percent of all gross wine sales and 10 percent of gross wine club sales. One of this year’s selected charities is Mary’s Place in Seattle, a non-profit that provides safe shelter and services to support women and children transitioning out of homelessness.

In other acts of giving, Tinte serves as the exclusive wine sponsor for various organizations such as Studio East, for example, one of the largest children’s theater training programs in the Seattle Metro area. The winery contributes items to charitable auctions as well.

But the social mission doesn’t stop with cash or in-kind donations and sponsorships. The Gambles take it a step further and welcome club members and guests to join in volunteer projects and community activities, thereby creating ripple effects throughout the community that foster a greater sense of public-spiritedness.

“To be true to that mission of impacting people, it’s about getting people to pause and think,” Teresa explains. “So we try to always have some sort of activity going on. Right now we’re conducting a food drive. Our son is involved in that because it’s about motivating future generations as well.” Last winter they held a drive to collect blankets to distribute to area shelters for the homeless. And this past April, they initiated a metro-wide campaign called “Letters of Love for the Elderly,” to deliver handwritten notes and cards to senior citizens isolated in nursing homes in the midst of the coronavirus stay-at-home orders.

Every aspect of the winery’s business model has a built-in mechanism to trigger goodwill. For example, when artwork, chocolate bars or other sundries are sold inside the tasting room they simply ask the artist or vendor to agree on a non-profit to receive 10% of the proceeds in lieu of any sales commission that the winery might receive. Wine club members have input too; their requests regarding donations to auctions and non-profits are given priority. The Gambles go as far as to even match their employees’ donations to causes each year.

Probiotics to Wine

In the late 1990s, Teresa shifted her career at the University of Washington to join the health care arena. She became CEO of the University of Washington (UW) Medicine Neighborhood Clinics and later joined the executive team for the entire UW health system. Prior to Tinte Cellars, the Gambles owned the Redmond-based biotech firm Nutraceutix. The company specialized in probiotic production and supplement manufacturing and Tim served as CEO and marketing whiz. During his 15-year stint, the company grew from 12 employees to 120, attaining worldwide annual sales of over $40 million.

With the timing right for a new opportunity, the couple agreed to sell the company in 2016 after persistent wooing from a number of global firms. “In both non-profit and for-profit worlds, we had a great deal of expertise building businesses, and doing it right by supporting our employees and customers,” Tim describes. “So we paused and realized we wanted to do something that would feature giving back.”

They admit they could have started a foundation and just written checks to charities but that didn’t satisfy the Gambles. “We wanted to create a mechanism, an engine, a catalyst for giving back—for creating philanthropy and creating community supports that would outlive us,” says Tim with certitude. “That’s what we want to leave behind.”

The Gambles had a strong allegiance to Washington State wine long before they formed the winery. Teresa recalls that when her father was in the governor’s mansion, her mother decried the fact that wines from California were being served at state functions and insisted only Washington wines be poured from then on.
Tinte Cellars got a jump-start when Tim and Teresa, who were fans of the William Church and Cuillin Hills wineries (located side-by-side in the Woodinville warehouse district), fortuitously learned that both owners were looking to sell and do other things. In June of 2018 the Gambles acquired the two small warehouse wineries, taking over the building leases along with inventory. Thus began the process of building the Tinte brand.

Channeling Nature

A major part of Tim and Teresa’s earlier career successes were based on their penchant for quality, an element that permeates the winery, from hospitality to production.

Tim is fond of the phrase “channeling nature” and the Gambles continue to raise the bar on wine quality with significant investments in state-of-the-art winemaking equipment. Recent additions are concrete egg tanks from France, a high-grade Europress grape press for gentler fruit processing, and larger capacity wine tanks for superior blending capabilities.

“We pay attention to quality,” Tim asserts. “Yes, we have this philanthropic mission but the quality of the wine is not going to be at the expense of our philanthropy.”

Internally, the Gambles openly encourage the winemaking team of head winemaker Noah Fox Reed and assistant winemaker Rebecca Germano to try new varietals and techniques. For example, Rebecca was instrumental in the development of a Rosé made with Counoise grapes— a sensational version that competes easily with the finest Provence might offer. And head winemaker Noah Fox Reed has found new ways to incorporate the influence of the concrete eggs into old favorites, and has been working on a variety of new projects including a Marsanne, the white Northern Rhone style grape that can barrel and bottle age gracefully, something not very typically produced by wineries of this region

Georgetown Tasting Room

Growing up in the Greater Seattle area, it’s fitting the Gambles would expand their footprint to the city. Soon to open will be a new tasting room and event venue, in a refurbished building on Airport Way South in the historic Georgetown neighborhood.

“Our dream for Georgetown is a tasting room, but also a space for events that non-profits can use at a reduced cost. It’s a natural extension of our plan to weave our philanthropic social mission of ‘Great wine for the greater good’ into the fabric of the community,” Teresa says. In addition to wine, beer will also be served with a rotating selection from local breweries and the space will feature art from local artists, as well.

Erected over a century ago, the landmark building had most recently been a scooter sales and repair shop for decades, so the Gambles saved the iconic Vespa that sat on top of the roof and had it restored and repainted as a nod to neighborhood’s history. “It’s really a good story,” says Tim of the property. “Teresa and I decided that we were going to save the building rather than bulldoze it. You could just feel the spirit of that place. It’s been through Prohibition; it deserved some respect.”

I met with Tim and Teresa Spellman Gamble one sunny morning in late August 2020 under a large canopy tent outside the winery’s main facility in Woodinville to learn more about their social mission and efforts to catapult wine into a force for the greater community good.

What does Tinte mean and how is it pronounced?
Teresa: The secret meaning is Tim and Teresa. But it has many different and relevant meanings.
Tim: Tinte in German means ink. Tinte in a number of the romantic languages, so Italian, Spanish, a lot of those, it means colored water or dye. In French, it means the sound of two glasses clinking together, when you’re toasting and two glasses meet. We simply pronounce it as ‘tint.’
Teresa: When people ask me how to pronounce Tinte, I always tell them you can say it however you want because depending on the language, it has a different meaning and they all relate to us!

How did your earlier executive careers prepare you for running a winery?
Tim: Both of our careers had a focus on quality. Teresa had a great deal of experience dealing with the customers and developing systems, policies and procedures—and my background included production. We hire really good people and give them the tools, facilities and resources to make the best wine they can make, and deliver an exceptional customer experience.
Teresa: When I look at certain elements of my 33-year career at University of Washington they are directly transferable to this business. Being responsible for quality improvement in a health care system transfers well to a winery’s focus on quality and creating standards that we won’t budge on. Tim developed a great deal of patience having spent years focused on research to heighten product quality. We both have high standards and an aversion to taking shortcuts. I know that our wines will continue to be exceptional moving forward, as a result.

What compelled you to choose the wine industry as a means to a philanthropic mission?
Teresa: I think for us the wine industry had a lot of the factors that we didn’t know we were looking for. But they started to percolate in our minds as really wonderful elements that could allow us to use this platform for doing what we wanted to do—which was ignite a passion in others to take care of the community and take small actions that would make huge differences.

When you say “small actions that make a huge difference” does that include wine tasting too?
Teresa: Yes, taste the wine. Or come see us because you read about us and you know about our mission. Either way, it’s a good thing. Because just by being here, just by tasting our wine you are making a difference in the lives of others. You can be more passionate about that and join our wine club. You can do volunteer work with us. You can engage in the activities. Or you can just drink the wine and know that you’re supporting the community.
Tim: We wanted to lead by example. So we said we’re going to donate a portion of sales to charities, to non-profits that deserve that kind of support, but we’re not going to raise our prices to do so, nor are we making an ‘ask’ of customers to add anything to their purchases.

Do you have a specific goal in terms of overall winery size?
Tim: Size in terms of production quantity is not one of our top goals.
Teresa: We don’t have any grand designs for being a big brand. That’s not what it’s about. If people see our label and think of exceptional wine and that we give back to the community, that’s enough for me personally. Four thousand cases, five thousand cases, we don’t need to be huge.

Do you have a favorite wine?
Tim: I’m learning to appreciate truly well made wines, even if the varietal isn’t a personal favorite. I will always enjoy a red blend, like the nice Bordeaux and Rhone style blends we produce because they can really exhibit a winemaker’s skill and creativity with what nature gives them to work with.
Teresa: I am very fond of our Rosé of Counoise. I love it. And I am also very fond of our Cabernet Franc.

You encourage your winemaking team to experiment?
Tim: Yes, we said ‘we want you to try something new every year, and don’t worry about minor setbacks.’ One of the earliest projects we undertook was an extensive yeast trial that did result in a few discarded barrels, but that was expected and resulted in a really nice new wine for us and our customers.

Will you be adding or changing vineyards?
Tim: We’ve encouraged our winemakers to explore at least one or two new vineyards every year. It’s not out of necessity, really, but is driven by our curiosity —what are we going to try that’s new this year? It’s fun, it’s exploration. The availability of growers and vineyards in the many Washington AVAs is amazing. We don’t currently own a vineyard of our own but that’s not out of the realm of reality for us.

What do you enjoy most about working with your spouse?
Tim: That she does all the hard work (laughter). And I’m not kidding. She doesn’t take anything lightly, so she really puts her shoulder into everything, and cares about a lot of things. Anything Teresa does for the winery and for us—and that’s a lot—is impeccably done. I am SO lucky.
Teresa: His sense of humor. Tim has a great sense of humor. But that’s probably one of the reasons I married him, too! And Tim is smart! He can figure out a solution to pretty much anything, which certainly comes in handy owning a new business.

Tour & Taste at Tinte Cellars

Check website for hours and reservation info at www.tintecellars.com
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Phone (425) 659-9463

Woodinville Winery Warehouse District
19495 144th Ave NE, #A-100 Woodinville

Woodinville Tasting Room
14455 Woodinville-Redmond Rd, Woodinville

Tinte Cellars Georgetown
5951 Airport Way S, Seattle