Tacoma is attracting wineries. New downtown tasting room has a bonus mission

As Tacoma continues to attract wineries, Water from Wine joins the field as the only one with a nonprofit business model. The downtown tasting room opened Nov. 3 at 1704 Pacific Ave. within the University-Washington Tacoma campus.

Since bottling its first vintage in 2014 and selling its first bottle in 2017, the Paterson-based Water from Wine, founded by Pat Tucker and his daughter Jamie Senkubuge, has donated more than $1 million to water-related initiatives around the world.

In Tacoma, under high timber ceilings, guests can enjoy a tasting flight at the stand-up bar, where general manager AnnaLee Zenkner and her team will offer insight to the vines, the wines and their partner organizations. You can also pop in for a glass or settle into a table with friends — outside food is welcome, especially from direct neighbors Zeeks Pizza, Sam Choy’s Poke to the Max and Pho Thanks Brother. The bar also builds charcuterie boards in house.

Current core reds range from the flagship Horse Heaven Hills cabernet sauvignons to merlot and syrah made with grapes from Rattlesnake Hills (2017, 2018 and 2019 vintages). Whites include a super-dry, jasmine-scented 2021 riesling as well as a 2022 sauvignon blanc and chardonnay.

Limited bottles remain of some previously club-only editions, such as a silky viognier and a dry sparkling rosé.

A portion of proceeds from every sale benefits nonprofits that work, in some capacity, on water initiatives, whether that’s ensuring access to clean drinking water, improving sanitation or catching rainwater. The Water from Wine funds must be earmarked for water projects.

“I love that there’s a bigger purpose behind our wine,” said Zenkner.

The biggest boost for these partners, she explained, comes through the winery’s special label program.

“Partners have the opportunity to put their own label on these bottles, representing their organization,” she said — and they absorb 100 percent of the proceeds.

Partner labels always feature a $30 bottle of estate-grown cabernet sauvignon. (December sales will send an extra $5 to the organization.)

Their first partner was Water1st International, which builds infrastructure to bring water to rural communities. Others include Water Access Now that works primarily in Ghana and Gravity Water that sets up rainwater harvesting facilities in Asia.

Locally, Zenkner said, they have worked with rotary clubs — Thurston County and East Wenatchee among them — on water project funding.

Spring of Hope International is also one of a few with offices in Washington state, which Zenkner hopes can translate into meet-and-greets at the Tacoma tasting room.

WATER FROM WINE’S BEGINNINGS

Pat Tucker and his daughter launched the winery in 2012, bottling the first cabs two years later with fruit from vines he had planted a decade or so earlier on his vegetable farm. The winery is situated on about six acres in the Horse Heaven Hills A.V.A. of Columbia Valley, along the river near the Oregon border.

The estate-grown cabs remain Water from Wine’s focus today, to the tune of about 1,000 cases, plus 600 to 800 cases of Founder’s Vineyard rosé. They also purchase grapes from other Washington vineyards for select reds and all of their whites.

Tucker snagged winemaker Charlie Hoppes, a veteran of Chateau Ste. Michelle who helped start Three Rivers Winery in Walla Walla. Hoppes is known for his Fidélitas Winery on Red Mountain, which he runs with his son Will Hoppes and friend Mitch Venohr.

He’s a “big deal” in the Washington wine world, said Zenkner, who was connected to Water from Wine after writing a business plan for a nonprofit winery while enrolled in the global wine studies program at Central Washington University.

Here she has tied together experience in the nonprofit world and corporate marketing with an interest in viticulture.

“I love to talk about wine and especially the Washington wine industry,” she said during an early December visit to the Pacific Avenue tasting room.

She has also curated the selection of fair trade clothing, kitchenware, baskets and hats tucked into a nook near the bar. For non-wine drinkers, sip on suds from Metier Brewing Co., one of the only Black-owned breweries in the country.

Water from Wine chose Tacoma for its next tasting room in part at Zenkner’s urging.

Raised in Puyallup and a graduate of UWT, on a personal level, she wanted to return to the area, but professionally, she believes Tacoma has caught the eye of the state’s booming wine industry.

“In 2019 I had planted this seed,” she said. Tucker’s response? “He was hesitant. I said, ‘It’s going to happen, and we should be part of it.’”

She managed a booth at the Waterfront Market at Ruston from November 2020 until just this fall. Members followed, she said, proving there was an audience here. Water from Wine also sold at local night markets and farmers markets.

Following the Nov. 3 ribbon-cutting, at which a local harpist serenaded visitors, the Tacoma tasting room has planned live music for Friday and Saturday nights as well as sip-and-craft Sundays.

WATER FROM WINE - TACOMA

▪ 1704 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, waterfromwine.org

▪ Sunday-Wednesday noon to 8 p.m., Thursday-Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

▪ Details: nonprofit winery tasting room, sales benefit global and local clean water projects; flights $18-$25 for three 3-ounce pours, glasses $8-$12, bottles $22-40

▪ Accepting wine club memberships, partnerships and sponsorships; volunteer harvest opportunities available every fall