Carménère? Aglianico? How did unusual, Old World wines arrive in Rattlesnake Hills of the Yakima Valley?

Tanjuli celebrates wine as a labor of love and attention to detail; the magical synergies of old and new; the camaraderie and small joys of winemaking.

Many people thought that after 35 years of producing wine, Washington wine pioneer Tom Campbell would be looking at retiring. No way! Tom loves the grapes that come from the Rattlesnake Hills of the Yakima Valley, an area he came upon in 1981 thanks to UC Davis classmate Stan Clarke. Stan had Tom establish the white wine production for Quail Run Winery in Zillah in 1982, and in 1984 Tom and his wife Hema settled into the Rattlesnake Hills of the Yakima Valley to start Horizon's Edge Winery, eventually selling it to the Padgetts in 1999 to focus on other ventures in Woodinville and his home state of Montana.

But they couldn't stay away for long, and in 2005 they returned to plant a small, seven acre vineyard for the production of truly unique estate wines. Today, the Tanjuli vineyard consists of Pommard Pinot Noir, Lampia Nebbiolo, Carménère, Mourvèdre, Aglianico, Sagrantino, Teroldego, Viognier, Picpoul Blanc, Orange Muscat and Black Muscat. Each small block of grapes is meticulously managed from vine to bottle, resulting in exceptional wines that are at once old and new, imaginative and familiar, rare and remarkable.

Check out this excerpt from Signature Wineries of Washington

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