Family crafts new wines sure to be best Cellars

DALTON GARDENS’ loss is Coeur d’Alene’s gain.

Coeur d’Alene Cellars Winery wasn’t welcome in the community just north of Coeur d’Alene, where vintners Bob and Kimber Harris opened it. So the Harrises moved their fledgling business a mile or so south. Even they admit that wine production fits better in the growing business district near the Coeur d’Alene Police Department than it did among Dalton Gardens’ family homes.

“We feel welcome here,” Bob says, looking past his new building to a forested hillside that suggests a more rural location than it is.

Bob and Kimber introduced Coeur d’Alene Cellars’ first wine a year ago. They crafted a rich fruity nectar, a viognier – pronounced vee-nyay – in a metal warehouse behind their home in Dalton Gardens using what they’d learned in other wineries and in extension classes on winemaking.

They also made a syrah, a medium red wine like liquid jam from an oak barrel. Their field research had taught them that world-class Rhone grapes grew in Eastern Washington. They chose to settle in Kootenai County because the area had no wineries but a healthy tourist population. Kimber was raised in Hayden Lake and her parents, Sarah and Charles Gates, still lived there.

Neighbors protested and the city of Dalton Gardens ordered Coeur d’Alene Cellars out. City zoning codes banned home-based businesses. Bob and Kimber hunted for another site.

They found the perfect spot a year ago, just east of Fred Meyer One Stop Shopping. With the required state and federal permits in hand, the Harrises asked for and received the city’s approval of their new business. Bob called an architect friend, Matt Haba, in Seattle and the planning began with permanence in mind.

“I’m never moving again,” Bob says.

Bob, who studied architecture, wanted the winery to reflect a blend of the art of tradition and the science of technology. He and Matt toured wineries throughout Oregon, California and Washington to choose the characteristics the winery needed to produce the best wine. Bob wanted most an area that allows him to look at every grape delivered.

“Quality control,” he says. “Taking care of the fruit is most important. You can’t make great wine with poor grapes.”

Construction began after six months of planning. A 7,500-square-foot building arose from charcoal-colored brick and red metal siding. Arched doorways and hallways give it an old European flavor. Huge metal fermenting tanks wrapped in dimpled metal blankets share space in a warehouse-like tank room with rows of French and American oak barrels. Concrete floors, metal and brick walls and a gray metal roof preclude worries of molds associated with wood.

A covered concrete patio extends from the tank room’s rear entrance. That’s where trucks deliver bins of grapes. The grapes are dumped onto a conveyor belt that pulls them past five or six people for inspection before they’re crushed. Most inspectors are volunteers treated to sushi, salads and more while they work.

“They just want to help,” says Sarah Gates, who volunteers with 15 others to sort grapes. “It’s a lot of fun.”

The arched hallway, painted a buttery yellow and blood red, leads to a tasting area and a room for special events.

“It’s an opportunity for people to have small gatherings in a wine cave,” Bob says, chuckling.

He envisions company and family parties. He carved an area for an amphitheater on the hillside behind the winery with visions of future concerts, weddings and more. Kimber is stocking the tasting area with wine accessories and accompaniments – corkscrews, gourmet foods, chocolates, specialized books.

The area also will serve as an art gallery. The labels on the Coeur d’Alene Cellars’ bottles are reproductions of watercolors by Sarah, an accomplished artist. She’ll exhibit her newer works and the winery will carry prints of her scenic works that adorn the wine bottles.

“We’re trying to assemble what people want when they’re trying wine,” Kimber says.

What should go over best with visitors to the new winery are Coeur d’Alene Cellars’ 2003 viognier and 2002 syrah. Judges at the Idaho Wine Festival in Boise this summer awarded the viognier a gold medal and the syrah a bronze, feeding Bob’s determination to make a perfect wine.

“I’m very obsessive,” he says, admitting 14-hour days at the new winery are common. “To make a perfect wine just once. … With a great grape year and the best yeast, the results can be astounding.”

He’s dabbled with chardonnay and a cabernet blend, but his emphasis will stay on producing viognier and syrah. His 4-month-old daughter, Scarlet, has inspired him to work toward an elite syrah he can name after her. Eventually, the Scarlet Syrah will join the 3,000 other cases Coeur d’Alene Cellars produces. It’s a small operation and Bob intends to keep it that way.

“We have no intention of growing now,” he says. “Our growth will be in the area of refinement.”

The Harrises will open their new Coeur d’Alene Cellars Winery to the public 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Nov. 5 and 6. The grand opening will include wine, food, music and tours. Admission is free. For more details on Coeur d’Alene Cellars, check out www.cdacellars.com.