Sparkling Wines Are Bubbling Up in Washington

As newer generations are drawn to all-occasion sparkling wines, a handful of innovators are carving out strongholds in this growth category

SPARKLING wine sales always go up during the holiday season, it’s true. The marketing gods long ago were able to marry celebrations with sparklers and whether it’s the holidays themselves, a newborn’s arrival, or a graduation—pop the cork and pour the fizz. But in recent years, the celebratory moniker has expanded, marking everything from a good day’s work or a long trip, to perhaps just a quiet night at home with spouses, friends or family.

Even as worldwide wine sales have decreased overall in recent years, sales of sparkling wines have grown as more people enjoy a lower alcohol, light and fruit-forward beverage with crisp acidity and, of course, tingling effervescence.

According to Meininger’s International, revenues in sparkling wine increased 0.8 percent in 2023, a trend that continued from similar increases in 2021 and 2022. That’s not all, either. According to the International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR), about 25 percent of

American adults are now sparkling wine consumers, a growth of 17 percent since 2019. And while French Champagne sales have declined by about 12.5 percent in the U.S. in 2023 (due mostly to higher prices from inflation), Italian Prosecco and domestic sparkler sales have continued to increase about 5 percent from 2021 to 2023—an indicator of the demand for reasonably priced bubbly that doesn’t have to originate from France.

For a few Washington winemakers, these surprising statistics aren’t all that surprising.

Washington Sparklers Soar

“It’s pretty simple,” says Andrew Gerow, one of three partners who own Tirriddis Sparkling Wines, a Yakima Valley-based winery dedicated to making only sparkling wines. “In the wine industry, public enemy number one is White Claw, you know? And then seltzer and ready-to-drink cocktails. The most popular beverages in the industry are a sparkling, sort of fruit-forward drink that’s traditionally dry.”

Gerow says sparkling wine has always been reserved for special occasions, but that’s changing, particularly with younger consumers. “Good wine has always been considered big, bold red wine. But think about a majority of 100-point wines, or what’s considered the best wine in the world, and that’s not approachable for 99 percent of consumers. But what is approachable is something that’s carbonated, fruit forward, mineral-driven, fresh and vibrant,” he points out. “And that’s sparkling wine.”

Tirriddis is one of several Washington wineries taking advantage of the state’s variety of grapes, and making sparkling wine from both traditional and non-traditional sources. Gerow, along with partners Gabriel Crowell and Matthew Doutney at Tirriddis, have seen growth of about 80 percent year over year since they started their winery in 2021.

Though still relatively small, Tirriddis just recently opened one of the larger tasting rooms in Prosser. All of their wines are made in the traditional method (méthode Champenoise) in which a still wine is made, but with a little lower alcohol and higher acid levels. Yeast and sugar are added to the wine and it’s put into a bottle where the yeast eats the sugar, and carbonation is produced. “We’re not trying to make Champagne in Washington,” remarks Gerow. “We want to utilize the traditional method and just showcase the grapes that grow really well here.”

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Blending varietals like Washington-grown Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Albarino and others, Tirriddis is producing approachable and affordable sparkling wines with fruit-forward profiles, most of which can be purchased for under $30 a bottle. And the response has been tremendous.

“We started off with really classic wines like Blanc to Blanc and Rosé, and the obvious trend would have been to continue that,” says Crowell. “But one of our biggest sellers now is a Pinot Gris-based wine, which isn’t as easy to make, but it’s a challenge that both we and our customers appreciate.”

Pinot Gris, which offers elegant florality, is from the Pinot family and as such can be a difficult grape to grow. Tirriddis pushes the creative boundary by fermenting their sparkling Blanc de Gris in oak barrels, a process that enhances the structure and gives it a full-bodied mouthfeel that becomes a springboard for the extracted tropical fruit flavors and waxy opulence.

Organic Grapes, Additive-Free

Juergen and Julie Grieb started Treveri Cellars in Wapato making exclusively sparkling wines. “The older generation, like Julie and I, grew up on red wine and that was the thing to drink,” says Juergen. “For me, coming from Germany, I was always into the white wines more than the reds. What we produced in Germany was cooler climate wine, and more whites than reds. But my mother always drank sparkling wine and I was always fascinated with it.”

Juergen was most taken by the natural process of making sparkling wine; that it was something that came about using only natural ingredients. 
“I think the younger generation is more into that process. They want to know how it’s produced, and they like how there are no additives in it. They’re also more picky about what they buy—and who they buy it from—and sparkling wine fits that sort of in thing.”

Julie adds that while there is an uptick in young consumers, the market is trying to meet the demand. “There aren’t a lot of commercial producers of sparkling wine in Washington, and that’s our only focus. We grow all of our own grapes organically, and understand the process, so our buyers get an education in what a raw and natural product it is.”

The Griebs, like the Tirriddis partners, also use the traditional method of making sparkling wine, and are experimenting with non-traditional fruit.

“German sparkling wines are often made out of Riesling, and we do that as well. We also do a Gruner Veltliner, which is an Austrian grape, and we make one out of Australian Shiraz,” says Juergen. “We make a sparkling Gewurztraminer, which is unique, and we’ve built a clientele for it. They really like it and want us to make more of it.”

In addition to the unusual, Treveri produces traditional sparklers from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes.

Treveri Cellars started about 15 years ago making 200 cases a year. “Now we make around 40,000 cases a year,” comments Juergen. “We’ve grown a lot, especially in the last five or six years.”

Treveri’s sparklers have continued to grow, and sales have gone up. “We’ll grow a little bit more, but there will come a point where we’ll say that’s as far as we want to go.” They began by doing all the winemaking by hand, including riddling the bottles, which is a time-consuming process of slowly rotating each bottle to keep the yeast and sugar moving to the top eventually to be disgorged. Now, that process is done entirely by machine.

“Based on the volume that we do, we have to have machines do the riddling now,” says Julie. Machine riddling allows a winemaker to slowly rotate and riddle a large number of bottles, but without human intervention, allowing winemakers to produce wine on a consistent timeline.

Sparkling Pét-Nat

Matt Austin of Grosgrain Vineyards in Walla Walla primarily makes still wines. But a fascination with the method of sparkling winemaking called Pét-Nat got him interested in trying an old technique that has become popular again.

Most people who encounter Pét-Nat wines think that it’s a new method of creating sparkling wine. In fact, Pét-Nat (short for Pétillant Naturel, or naturally sparkling) is the oldest method of making sparkling wine.

Known as “méthode ancestrale,” and dating back to the 1500s, Pét-Nat is made by bottling the wine while it’s still fermenting, allowing it to finish fermentation in the bottle and therefore adding natural carbonation. The result is bubbles that tend to be larger and more uneven than the traditional method, and deliver a more frothy, and fizzy mouthfeel.

“We started our winery in 2018, and we wanted to incorporate what my wife and I were drinking at the time,” says Austin. “We were very excited about low-intervention winemaking, and when it comes to sparkling wine, that’s the least invasive way of making it. There weren’t a lot of examples of it in Washington, and it seemed like a great opportunity to experiment with it.”

Pét-Nat often also employs natural yeasts, rather than a winemaker adding yeast, though Austin said he uses both largely because he ferments his wines at a cooler temperature.

Austin said that he too believes that Pét-Nat’s popularity with younger drinkers comes from its natural process, as well as its lower alcohol. “There are a lot of different things at play in sparkling wines from the processing method to the taste, and it has appeal because it’s still fresh and fruit-forward,” he says.

Unlike traditional sparklers, Pét-Nat wines are often made from a wide variety of grapes. Grosgrain produces a Lemberger Pét-Nat that has become quite popular with his customers. “We debuted our wines at Taste Washington, and the Pét-Nat Lemberger was one of them,” Austin says. “We instantly started to get press coverage for that wine, and it became our most popular from the get-go. We continue to make it to this day; it’s become a very special wine for us.”

Making Pét-Nat from Chenin Blanc and Semillon grapes, Austin has also done a red Pét-Nat that’s in an Italian Lambrusco-style, and features Nebbiolo and Aglianico grapes grown in Washington. “It’s fun to play around with a lot of different things for sparkling wines.”

The tasting rooms for a winery that sells sparklers is, like the product, a little more fresh and vibrant as well, Austin maintains. “People do get excited about them. It’s fun to drink sparkling wines, and we’ll often have a few different ones in the lineup. Our customers like the diversity and the variety of wines.” Grosgrain’s Pét-Nat production falls between 15 and 20 percent of their overall output.

As Washington sparkling wine continues to enthrall consumers young and old with fresh flavor profiles, unique fruit sources and affordable prices, sales continue to climb. Perhaps the next frontier for wine in the Pacific Northwest is just now beginning to bubble up.

Written by Mark Storer