About the winery

The 8,000-square-foot building offers plenty of room for new activities. Owners Terry and Vivian Flanagan will invest about $80,000 to remodel the former helicopter hangar and business office. The largest area houses the huge commercial grape crusher, wine press and six stainless-steel fermentation tanks that can process up to 12,000 gallons of wine at a time. A new cooling system was installed in two adjacent bays for barrel storage. Temperatures can be dropped to 40 degrees, if necessary, to reduce evaporation and chances of contamination during the final stages of fermentation and oak barrel aging.

Another room will be used for bottling and case storage. A smaller room has been equipped with sinks and counters for Craig Mitrakul’s laboratory and office.

The glassed-in front of the building will house the tasting room, tables for catered dinners, a food-prep room and offices. There’s room outside the building for parking and future outdoor events with a river view.

Nearly all of the wines are made from grapes grown on the family’s 60 acres of vineyards near Quincy. The winery specializes in red wine blends and fruity whites. Rock Island Red is made from merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc from its Bishops Vineyard near Ancient Lakes. Its popular Naked Chardonnay — so named because it is not barrel-aged in oak — is made mainly from grapes grown at its Homestead Vineyard just west of Quincy. Premium wines include a reserve cabernet, syrah, barbera and an oak-aged chardonnay. The wines have been consistent award winners and have received high ratings from critics.

Wine could be boon for Cashmere economy

Cashmere has always been a town with lots of spirit. Now, more so than ever.

Several wineries and other spiritmongers are moving into town. This is in addition to Ryan Patrick Vineyards’s new highly visible winery on Aplets Way.

• Crayelle Cellars, Waterville Winery and Horan Estates are opening tasting rooms in a remodeled fruit warehouse at 200 Mission Ave.

• It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere Artisan Craft Distillery plans to connect its tasting room in the same building to the wine-tasting rooms.

• SnapDragon Coffee has opened its coffee shop in the building for those who don’t drink wine or need a caffeine chaser.

• The former Cashmere Brewery, located between the tasting rooms and Junkyard Gypsy’s antique store, is now the Public House No. 1 banquet room. It can be reserved for parties and business and social gatherings. A new brewery and restaurant are possible for the space in the near future.

Clustering several wine-tasting rooms is a concept that can work for the wineries and be a boon to the town’s economy, said Vicky Scharlau, a wine industry consultant and executive director of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers. She has an office on Mission Avenue a few doors down from the tasting rooms.

“Once people find Ryan Patrick, they can be led into town to the other tasting rooms. But it’s up to Cashmere to provide access,” Scharlau said. “The town has a huge opportunity knocking on its door.”

Jill FitzSimmons, Cashmere Chamber of Commerce manager, said she hopes to work with the tasting rooms to develop signs to lead tourists to the hidden Mission Avenue location. Some of the tasting rooms have already been very busy on weekends, so that may not be a problem, she said. There’s already been talk about other tasting rooms opening next year along Cottage Avenue, the town’s main street, FitzSimmons said.

“These wineries will really add something special to our community,” she said. “Folks around here are pretty excited about it.”