Milbrandt Vineyards

Emily Haines of Milbrandt Vineyards

Not many 33 year olds oversee the making of a million cases of wine.  But that is Emily Haines’ new job, now that she has been promoted to Director of Winemaking at Millbrandt Vineyards.   Roughly 60,000 of the cases will be produced under the MilBrandt label, and the rest for the 30 clients of Milbrandt’s custom crush facility in Mattawa – the Wahluke Wine Company.  Emily has been well prepared for her new role.  After joining Milbandt Vineyards in 2009 as a lab technician, she was later promoted to lab manager, then enologist, assistant winemaker, and, just recently, Director of Winemaking. 

Butch and Jerry Milbrandt started growing grapes in 1997 and today farm several thousand acres of vineyards in the Wahluke Slope and Ancient Lakes AVAs.  Nearly 20 different varietals go into the many different Milbrandt wines, which are some of the finest and most affordable wines in the state.  Milbrandt wines can be found in all 50 states, and will soon be available internationally.  They pair nicely with many foods, as you can see from Butch’s “Pair This” cooking show on the Milbrandt website.  In this interview, Emily talks about Milbrandt’s unique wines, the benefits of blending, her passion for white wine making in particular, why being a millennial is an asset in the wine world, and much more

Listen to the Interview: