Rocky Pond Vineyard in Orondo, Washington introduced right now the hiring of Elizabeth Keyser as winemaker. Keyser had beforehand been assistant winemaker for California’s HALL Household Wines, which incorporates HALL, Walt, and Baca.
“I am at my level in my profession the place I’m prepared and on the lookout for extra inventive license and the chance to take extra possession within the [winemaking] course of,” Keyser says of becoming a member of Rocky Pond. “I am actually excited to be transferring to Washington.”
Keyser’s appointment follows Rocky Pond’s hiring of famend Napa Valley advisor Steve Leveque in 2020. Leveque has labored with a who’s who checklist of shoppers that features Chalk Hill, Opus One, Robert Mondavi, and HALL. Keyser’s connection to Leveque whereas at HALL is a part of what drew her to Rocky Pond.
“I’ve benefited a lot from having Steve as a mentor,” Keyser says. The pairing now offers Rocky Pond a formidable duo.
Rocky Pond was based in 2013 by David and Michelle Dufenhorst, who planted the primary winery within the proposed Rocky Attain appellation that very same yr. They subsequently planted a second winery beginning in 2018. Rocky Attain is now residence to seven vineyards along with a considerable amount of tree fruit acreage. Rocky Pond is at the moment the one vineyard within the proposed appellation.
Keyser says the youth of this nascent wine space was a part of the enchantment. “One of many issues that attracted me most to Rocky Pond is we’re really pioneers of this area,” she says. “We’ve the chance to take virtually a clean slate and work on the most effective set of varietals for the area and outline this particular piece of land.”
Keyser grew up within the suburbs of New York Metropolis and attended Miami College, specializing in communication and advertising. After commencement, she initially appeared to work in these areas.
“At that time limit in my life, I by no means thought that I’d be working with an agricultural product or desirous to be a winemaker,” Keyser says. “I believed that I needed to possibly go into PR for a trend home or one thing alongside these traces.”
Nonetheless, after attending a wine tasting together with her mother and father at a neighborhood retailer, she was provided a seasonal job on the firm. Keyser subsequently spent three years working for Zachy’s Wine & Liquor in Scarsdale, New York.
“For the primary time, it was like the whole lot was aligning by way of my mental curiosity and my starvation for extra information round wine,” Keyser says.
In 2014 she labored as a harvest intern and manufacturing assistant at Cedar Creek Ranch & Vineyards in California. She subsequently labored as a cellar assistant at Hermann J. Wiemer Winery in Dundee, New York and as a harvest laboratory technician at A to Z Wineworks in Newberg, Oregon.
From there, Keyser spent a harvest at Hardys Tintara in Australia’s McLaren Vale area earlier than returning to California to intern at Cliff Lede in Napa Valley. She joined HALL Household Wines in 2017. Alongside the best way, Keyser obtained a grasp’s diploma in enology from Cornell College.
In recent times, the Dufenhorsts have moved aggressively to determine Rocky Pond’s presence. They planted two vineyards in Rocky Attain and a 3rd within the close by Lake Chelan viticultural space. In 2020, they employed John Ware as president. Ware had spent 20 years at Quilceda Creek, most just lately as vice chairman and common supervisor.
Although Rocky Attain is younger as a wine rising area, the world exhibits nice promise. Its bedrock and soils are distinctive from most different areas of the Columbia Valley. It is usually significantly hotter than the encircling areas, permitting a large assortment of types to ripen. Leveque says the world’s “uncommon mixture” of things is what attracted him to seek the advice of for Rocky Pond.
“All of those particular and distinctive attributes present grapes with complexity, focus and vineyard-derived personalities that I’ve not seen anyplace else throughout the higher California-Oregon-Washington Pacific stretch,” says Leveque.
With the announcement, former winemaker Shane Collins, who has been with Rocky Pond since 2017, will turn out to be director of viticulture. Keyser will start working at Rocky Pond February 1st.
Picture of Elizabeth Keyser courtesy of Rocky Pond Vineyard.
