The Vintners of South Park
By Jim Gullo
WE COULDN’T FIND a warehouse on Vashon Island, because of the dot-com boom,” says Rob Sullivan of OS Winery, explaining why his winery is headquartered in the Seattle neighborhood of South Park, the dingy industrial pocket of South Seattle that is more Newark than Nuits Saint Georges. Amazingly, OS Wines, which opened two years ago, was the second winery to set up shop there. The first: Nota Bene Cellars, started by Boeing systems analyst Tim Narby. They were soon joined by Cadence, another Boeing baby run by Benjamin Smith, who used to work in flight control systems. Last year the collective became South Seattle Artisan Wineries, when a fourth, Georgetown-based Fall Line, joined the club. All buy high-quality grapes from Eastern Washington vineyards and produce luscious, Bordeaux-style blends of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, malbec, and petit verdot that garner high marks from the wine press. Which is why Sullivan, a retired banker, now spends his time selling wine to distributors and restaurants, and why Seattle’s southerly industrial hood is slowly making its way onto the oenophile map of America.
Published: March 2008
