Heather & Dean Neff of Nefarious Cellars
In 1998 when they first planted grapes on family lands near Pateros, Heather and Dean Neff were pioneer grape growers in the Chelan area. They planted 7 grape varieties to see what would grow, and they still have two of those varieties, Riesling and Syrah, on the land today. Heather and Dean both had business related degrees but knew little about enology and viticulture, so they headed to the Willamette Valley to work in the industry and study in the Chemeketa Community College Wine Studies Program. After starting a small label in OR, they returned to Washington in 2004 and found a perfect vineyard site on the south shore of Lake Chelan. Today that site contains their Defiance Estate Vineyard, a spacious guest house rental, and the Nefarious Cellars tasting room, all with stunning views of the lake.
In addition to their lakeside Defiance Vineyard, the Neffs have Rocky Mother and Stone’s Throw Vineyards on the original family lands near Pateros. The vineyards are planted to Syrah, Viognier, Riesling and Malbec. The Neffs source other grape varieties from both Chelan area vineyards and the Weinbau Vineyard in the Wahluke Slope AVA. Heather makes all the white and rosé wines and Dean the reds. The dry Rosé of Syrah and Pinot Noir is the perfect style for a Lake Chelan Rosé, given the prominence of those two grape varieties in the area. Nefarious Cellars’ biggest production wine is a unique white blend they call the “patio sipper,” and a popular estate Malbec is known as the “gulpable selection”. For Central Washington University alums, there is a new CWU Alumni Wine Club with Nefarious wines to choose from. Learn about these wines and more in this interview.
Listen to the Interview: