Quick Conversations In Wine Leah Adint Chateau Ste. Michelle
The Vancouver International Wine Festival starts this week and we’ve interviewed a few of the attendees. Good Wine Gal’s Barb Wild and I choose some of the women in attendance for this year’s festival and have presented them with a few quick fire questions to get to know them better. Here’s our Q + A with Washington State’s Leah Adint from Chateau Ste. Michelle. More on the Wine Festival here.
Proudest moment?
I learned about fortified winemaking production during my time in the Riverland, Australia. After 5 years at Chateau Ste. Michelle, I released my first fortified wine to our club, which sold out in 8 weeks!
Favorite grape variety?
Syrah! It is an amazing grape that offers so much potential to winemaking – co-fermentation, whole cluster fermentation, extended maceration. It really shows terroir and is truly underrated.
Favorite wine you make? Why?
The Pundit Syrah. It’s been such a great experience working with Michel Gassier and Philippe Cambie; we’ve changed viticulture management, winemaking techniques, and barrel programs based on their recommendations and ideas. And they are consistently impressed with what Washington fruit provides and what we are able to accomplish.
Favorite food? Meal?
I grew up in Alaska, so all things seafood are on my favorite list. King crab is our family Thanksgiving meal; fresh sushi, bacon-wrapped scallops, grilled salmon, I love it all.
Funny thing happened on the way?
It always makes me smile how small the wine industry is. I’ve ran into fellow WSU graduates on the street in Margaret River; made connections in the Adelaide Hills that took me to Champagne and Burgundy; and almost always run into someone from my California days at the Vancouver Wine Festival.
Yoga? Meditation? What keeps you going?
Being outdoors in the mountains. I love hiking and camping in the summer, and snowboarding in the winter.
Blundstones or Blahnik?
Redbacks – straight from Australia.
What are you looking forward to this year?
Chateau Ste. Michelle had a challenging harvest in 2019 – Mother Nature threw us more than one curve ball. While it’s an important reminder that the weather dictates the vintage, I’m looking forward to a normal “right down the middle” season.
Organic, biodynamic, vegan, low alcohol wines. What are your thoughts on these?
I think that anytime a grower spends more time in the vineyard and pays close attention to the season, the fruit will benefit and so will the wine. Both organic and biodynamic practices promote this idea. I don’t believe that there is one farming protocol that suits the entire world, but emphasis on low intervention, symbiosis in the vineyard, and a focus on high quality are all great concepts.
Advice for women in the industry?
Work hard, give it 110%, and stay positive during harvest. Hard work gets noticed whether you’re a man or woman, and can lead to incredible opportunities.
Leah Adint
For Leah Adint, a love of winemaking has taken her around the world, making her the perfect fit for the Traveling Winemaker position when she joined Chateau Ste. Michelle in 2015. In 2018 she was promoted to Red Winemaker based at Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Canoe Ridge Estate red winery in Eastern Washington.
Through Leah’s winemaking journey, she has worked in viticulture and winemaking positions in California, Australia, France, Switzerland and Washington. “I was really attracted to the wine industry as a trade that could take me around the world, and it has!” says Leah.
Leah graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in Viticulture & Enology as a recipient of the Chateau Ste. Michelle scholarship. Following college, she worked several vineyard and winery internships in California, including internships at Hall Wines in Napa Valley in 2007, Balletto Vineyards and Dutton-Goldfield in Russian River in 2008, and at Trinchero Family Estates in Napa Valley in 2009. She went on to earn a master’s degree in Oenology at the University of Adelaide in 2012.
While in Australia she participated in work experiences in the Hunter Valley, Adelaide Hills and Riverland and as red winemaker at Berri Estates, the largest winery in the Southern Hemisphere. During her five years abroad, Leah also worked three harvests in Burgundy, central England, and Switzerland. After living in Australia for five years, Leah decided it was time return to the U.S. and joined Chateau Ste. Michelle in July of 2015.
“I’ve been very fortunate to make wine in some amazing parts of the world,” explains Leah. “It’s been a wonderful homecoming to return to Washington and be able to work for the winery that gave me my first helping hand through the Vit & Enology scholarship at Washington State University. After working in extremely cold and extremely hot climates, I appreciate being in Washington where we can make so many different varietals really well. It’s an honor to work for Chateau Ste. Michelle and be a part of the team of winemakers who are leading the way across the state.”
Chateau Ste. Michelle
Founded in 1934, Chateau Ste. Michelle pioneered vinifera grape growing in Washington state and has been producing classic European varietal wines under the Ste. Michelle label since 1967. The winery combines an ongoing dedication to research with a commitment to classic winemaking traditions.
