Matt Austin of Grosgrain Vineyards
A restaurant bottle of Pinot Noir sent Matt and Kelly Austin on their first wine country excursion. That was in California where Matt was working as a lawyer and Kelly as a fashion designer. When they decided to switch from these careers to wine, they came to Washington, first to the Northwest Wine Academy in Seattle. A cellar master job at Dunham lured them to Walla Walla in 2017, and an impulsive online auction bid made them vineyard owners that same year. The 5+ acre property they “won” housed an old winery and some equally old Nebbiolo and Aglianico vines. The old winery has now been transformed into a lovely vacation rental, and Matt and Kelly have designed and built a spacious, state-of-the art winery and tasting room at Grosgrain Vineyards. Some of the original vines remain in the Old Milton estate vineyard, but new vines have been added, as has a new 70-acre vineyard in the Sevein.
Matt and Kelly are making some of the most unique wines in Washington, and even in the US. About a fourth of their wines are sparkling ones made in the pét-nat style, some with underdog varietals such as Lemberger. In 5 or 6 years they will be offering the only Cava style wines produced in the US. They are in the process now of planting the Cava varietals (Macabeo, Parellada, Xarel-lo) in their Grosgrain vineyard in the Sevein. They are also fans of light bodied reds, especially Rhone style wines, and produce Grenache, Mourvedre, and Rhone blends. As a nod to the original vineyard and their love of underdog grapes, they also make a field blend with Nebbiolo, Aglianico, and Moscato varietals. Even the name Grosgrain is creative and unique, rooted as it is in fashion imagery that mimics rows in a vineyard. Learn more in this interview about grosgrain, field blends, pét-nat wines, concrete eggs, puncheons, Cava, and much more.
Listen to the Interview: