Wine Spectator: Winemaker Charles Smith Opens Jet City, An Urban Winery in Seattle

Washington vintner Charles Smith flung open the 21-foot-tall doors of his Jet City winery to the public Saturday. Billed as the largest urban winery on the West Coast, Jet City occupies a 32,000-square-foot former Dr. Pepper processing plant in the Georgetown district of Seattle. The runways of Boeing Field stretch south, directly across the street.

“Buying this building was purely about winemaking,” Smith told Wine Spectator. Smith’s K Vintners and other high-end bottlings will be produced here beginning with the 2015 vintage. “Before, we were making wine in three different facilities in Walla Walla. I’ve always needed to consolidate everything I was doing in Walla Walla, and then I realized it made sense to move it all to Seattle, where we could reach 100 times the number of people we could in Walla Walla.”

Several dozen Seattle-area wineries, including some of the best in the state, truck grapes over the Cascade Range to turn them into wine. Smith joins a list that includes Baer, Betz, Cadence, Domaine Ste. Michelle, Efeste, Gorman, Januik, Quilceda Creek, Sparkman and Andrew Will. Wine Spectator has the full story.

Tagged : Andrew Will, Baer, Betz, Boeing Field, Cadence, Domaine Ste. Michelle, Dr. Pepper, Efeste, Gorman, Januik, Jet City, K Vintners, Quilceda Creek, Sparkman

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