From Woodinville’s warehouses and beyond, winemaker Peter Devison of EFESTĒ shares his pipe dreams and love of Canadian rock music.
Before Peter Devison landed in Woodinville, Washington, his formal and personal wine education spent several years (and a few continents) in the making. In fact, to say he simply “landed” in his current winemaking position at EFESTĒ would undermine the extensive bill of experience he so voraciously racked up since entering the industry shortly after leaving his Nova Scotia home for Vancouver, British Columbia.
By the time he headed for New Zealand, where he would go on to earn his Bachelor of Applied Science in Viticulture and Oenology, Devison had worked as both a server and a sommelier in and around the Vancouver restaurant scene. With his degree under his belt, Devison moved stateside, securing gigs with Precept Wine labels in Washington before he was tapped to head the winemaking program at EFESTĒ. Since his first vintage in 2012, Devison’s wines have earned local and national accolades but perhaps his continued success can be attributed to a minimalist, laissez-faire winemaking approach that allows each bottle’s Washington-grown and sourced grapes to express themselves fully and naturally. After all, his dedication to Old World-style winemaking techniques, including reductive winemaking (essentially limiting oxygen exposure), as well as native fermentation and bottle aging, were a seamless fit for EFESTĒ’s founding philosophies.
Or perhaps it’s his healthy musical diet of Canadian rock that keeps the magic alive. Here, we get a closer look at what makes him tick — his wife’s Negronis — and what could be yet another promising campaign platform to prove once and for all that rosé is a wine for all seasons.
1) Which of your own current offerings are you digging the most?
The 2013 Nana, which is a single-vineyard Bordeaux blend from Red Willow, 50 percent Merlot, 40 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 percent Cab Franc. Albeit young, [it] is one that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by. It’s just starting to crack its shell and show me what it will be in the next few years. We only make a small amount of this so it’s one that I take for my personal cellar.
2) Any winemaking pipe dreams you’re dying to make a reality?
Pipe dream? I thought I was living one! Let’s see… Wine drinkers understanding that they are allowed to drink rosé all year round? A cellar with more concrete fermenters? The country to open its eyes and see that Washington wine is absolutely world class? A harvest when I don’t have to do punch downs? To one day sell a brand to Constellation for $120 million?
3) What non-wine beverage is in your glass most these days? What is your favorite way to enjoy it and where?
Beer. Cliché, right? But yes, beer. Yellow and fizzy: European lagers and pilsners. Although my wife makes a killer Negroni that I cannot say no to.
4) Favorite song, album or artist to jam out to while throwing a few down the hatch?
I get a lot of crap from Chris Peterson of Avennia about this, but lately it’s been The Tragically Hip. By far the best Canadian rock band of all time. All albums are in the mix.
