Sounds like he was ahead of the pack, but I never even heard of him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/us/16lake.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/Longtime-Columbia-Winemaker-David-Lake-Retires_3248" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
David was well ahead of the pack. AssociatedVintners was the first real winery founded in WashState by a group of mostly
wine nuts. One of them was a LosAlamos guy who was often at Hanford. They had the foresight of the potential for
making great wine East of the Cascades in the WallaWalla Vlly. Up until then, most of the grape growing was of Concords (they have
a winter-kill problem up there) for the juice biz. They convinced some growers to plant vinifera and DavidLake was theie first/founding
real winemaker. I think AndreTschelitshev was also involved as a consultant. In those early yrs, he made some terrific Cabs and Rieslings.
This was well before Leonetti started getting huge scores from critics and WashState became “famous” for their wines.
Even though the common wisdom in the mid-'80’s was that Syrah was a Mediterrean/warm-climate grape, David felt there was potential
for Syrah up there as well and made WashState’s first Syrah. I tasted his first efforts there in the mid-'80’s and was mightly impressed.
It showed more terroir and interesting character than most of the Calif Syrahs of that era showed.
I first visited w/ David at ColumbiaWnry (name changed from AssociatedVintners…better marketing potential) in the late '80’s. He was the
epitome of the word “gentleman”. His major flaw was that he talked funny…like most Brits do. But he was a very bright/articulate man, rather
quiet & low-key, not a self-promoter, and a real pleasure to have known.
I saw him twice more at Raisen’Rhones/HdR and had some very nice visits with him. Shortly thereafter, he (or his wife) was in a bad
auto crash. I believe there was some brain trauma involved. The quality of the Columbia wines started to slip in the early '90’s and David
started having some health ssues I believe. He eventually resigned as full-time winemaker. When ChateauSte.Michelle started their
low-$$'s ColumbiaCrest line, that didn’t help the image of ColumbiaWnry any. By the mid-'90’s, David had pretty much dropped from view.
When I’d inquire of WashState folks at HdR, they usually had no reports.
In David’s memory, I recently tried one of the Columbia Syrahs I stumbled across on the shelf of a store. It was pleasant enough, but
no where near the stature of the Syrahs David used to make.
So…all the Leonetti, QuilcedaCreek, Cayuse, McCrea, Harlequin, AndrewWill, l’Ecole, etc folks owe a gret debt of gratitude to the
vision and foresight of DavidLake. A true pioneer and one of the finest gentlemen I’ve ever met.
Tom
Tom, a good post about David, who deserves all the accolades.
David was, at all times and in all instances, a consummate gentleman. He tended to be quiet and reserved—don’t know that I ever knew him to raise his voice—and he had an impressive grasp of all things wine (he was an MW early on).
I had the great honor of sitting on some competition panels with David—and I believe I sat with him at the last major competition he did, prior to his health problems becoming too much for him—and I was always impressed by not only his perceptive palate, but also his wisdom and generosity (he was wonderful at gently improving and instructing younger and less experienced tasters without being didactic or oppressive about it).
And as Tom said, David was fierce in driving the development of new varieties in WA, and also in fostering the entire concept of single vineyard/single varietal sites to develop both excellence and a stronger expression of terroir.
His early Syrahs (long before Syrahs became a trendy buzz grape, and when Syrah was not even being considered by most for being planted in WA) were impressive. And although his Cabernet Francs didn’t receive as much press, some of them were splendid too.
It’s a shame that Columbia was driven to being a lowest common denominator volume and closeout bottom feeder grocery store brand by it’s eventual owners, because that’s certainly not the kind of winery that David Lake strived for…but eventually, I think, David got too ill, and had too little energy left, to continue fighting the decline created by the bean counters and the category managers.
David had a profound impact on the development and direction of the young WA industry. Add in that he was such a lovely guy—I know of no one who ever spent time with him that didn’t sincerely like and admire him—and you’ve got someone who should be honored.
Man…Hoke…hope that never happens.
Nice tribute to David, Hoke. Accurately depicts the David I knew & loved. He was one of a kind.
Tom