Our Story

CLAAR CELLARS is our family owned Estate Winery. My parents, Audrienne and Russell Claar developed the first farm in 1950 and planted the first grapes in 1980. Bob and I were both Active Duty Naval Officers when in 1983, he retired and I transferred into the Naval Reserve. Since then we have developed over 300 acres into premium wine grapes,apples and asparagus.

Our 80 acres of vineyards are on south and southwest facing hillsides above the Columbia River. In this distinct microclimate, located within the White Bluffs growing region, we are endowed with an almost ideal combination of climate and soil. This region receives more heat than growing areas to the west of us and avoids the more frequent frosts and killer freezes to the east. Also our south facing hillsides allow cold air to drain in the spring and collect more heat during the growing season. Our sandy, rocky soil is especially conducive to growing quality grapes and researchers have frequently stated that this region is one of the best in the state of Washington.

After 13 years of selling our grapes to wineries throughout Washington, from New York to Mississippi to New Mexico, and of being told of their unique taste and quality from numerous Winemakers, we decided to take the steps necessary to become an Estate Winery.

With the 1997 crush we became an Estate Winery processing and bottling all of our grapes in our own 10,000 square foot facility and in 1999 we added a 4,000 square foot Temperature and Humidity controlled Barrel Building. Our winemaker, Bruno Corneaux, is French by birth, having grown up in a family vineyard operation in Hautes Cotes de Beaune, and received his Degree in Enology from Universite de Bourgogne, Dijon France. He has many yearsexperience in wineries in France, South Africa, Oregon and California. We arepleased to have him join with us to produce quality Premium wines.

We have award-winning Premium wines including: Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Sangiovese. They are available for tasting, daily from 10am to 6pm, in our Tasting Room in Zillah, WA. We will soon have in production Syrah and Cabernet Franc. We will produceabout 25,000 cases of wine annually.

CLAAR CELLARS -- a family owned Estate winery committed to quality!

Crista Claar Whitelatch