Virginie Bourgue studied and worked at some of the most famous properties in France’s Champagne region before coming to Walla Walla, where she is now winemaker at Cadaretta.
Wine
Winemaker Comes to Washington
Virginie Bourgue crafts wines with the intense fruit flavors of Washington and the restraint of her native France. Becoming well versed in Bourgue’s creations is one goal you’d be glad you achieved

Cadaretta’s first releases have hit the shelves and are worth searching out at local wine merchants:

2007 Cadaretta SBS Sauvignon Blanc–Semillon, Columbia Valley | $20
The wine is refreshing, with lots of crisp citrusy and fresh green herb flavors, but it also has a richness and depth of flavor that add beautiful balance and class.
available at McCarthy & Schiering (Queen Anne
and Ravenna locations)

2006 Cadaretta Syrah, Columbia Valley | $32
A rich, smoky syrah with lots of blackberry and dark cherry fruit and an elegant structure. A nearly perfect red wine.
Released June 1, available at McCarthy & Schiering.

2006 Cadaretta Merlot
Columbia Valley | $32
Expect a late-summer release for this wine.

Bourgue’s own winery, Lullaby, will release its first wines—now resting quietly in barrels—“sometime in the future,” she says: likely in early to mid-2009.

You may not have heard of Virginie Bourgue, but have one taste of her wine and you will fall in love.

The winemaker for an ambitious new winery in Walla Walla called Cadaretta, Bourgue released the winery’s first wines—a 2007 sauvignon blanc–semillon blend called SBS and a 2006 syrah—in June of this year. She expects to release the first wines from Lullaby, her own (much smaller) winery, sometime in 2009.

Bourgue grew up in Bonnieux, Provence, in the south of France, and her winemaking style combines the sense of restraint that is typical of wines from France with the best elements of Washington wine: intense fruit and concentration of flavor. She credits her family’s agricultural roots, her mother’s restaurant and her own master’s degrees in science for influencing her decision to pursue winemaking. “Studying winemaking allowed me to use my scientific background and my palate, to combine knowledge [of science and agriculture] with the unexplainable: flavors,” she says. “Winemaking is the best way to put them both together.”

Beginning at a young age in France, where she worked first in Provence at Domaine de la Verriere, then in the Loire Valley at Domaine de la Taille aux Loups, Bourgue went on to Champagne, where she studied and worked at some of the most famous properties, including Champagne Louis Roederer and Champagne Bollinger.

In 2002 Bourgue moved to Washington, drawn by the state’s reputation as an emerging wine-growing and -making area. First working as an enologist for Chateau Ste. Michelle, Bourgue became winemaker at Walla Walla’s Bergevin Lane Vineyards in 2003. She left Bergevin Lane three years later to start her own winery and was simultaneously hired by Cadaretta as a winemaking and grape-sourcing consultant.

In 2007, Virginie became Cadaretta’s full-time winemaker. The job was a perfect match for her skills and ambitions. “The family who is behind Cadaretta [Kristin and Rick Middleton] has a 100-year history, and because they have been in forestry, they have a concept of growing and harvesting and the time it takes to do that,” she says. “They have been in business for a long time, but they still look toward the future and the cutting edge. They say, ‘Virginie, if you feel that this will increase the quality, let’s try it.’ ”  

Lullaby, Bourgue’s own winery, is a somewhat different project, but one that should prove equally exciting for Washington wine lovers. Cadaretta is a small winery, currently producing 3,500 cases of wine and planting just 320 acres of vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley. But Lullaby will be a tiny winery, never producing more than 1,000 cases and with none of its own vineyards, Bourgue predicts. “A lullaby is a song you sing to a baby,” she says, explaining the name for her infant project. “I’ve always had a dream of having my own winery; the dream is like a song that keeps playing in my head.” 

Bourgue’s philosophy and knowledge of winemaking are shaped by her upbringing and education in France, but also by her love of Washington and the wines produced here. More important, the wines she is making are delicious and unique: They stand out even on Washington’s ever-growing list of very good wines.