The World According to Dick – Boushey Vineyards – Yakima Valley

As I mentioned before one of the highlights for me of the entire WBC’10 weekend was our Thursday visit to DuBrul Vineyard north of Sunnyside where the Wine Yakima Valley folks had arranged a picnic for the bloggers, along with a chance to meet and talk with some of the Yakima Valley’s leading growers and winemakers.

Barb and I got there a little while before the main group and were immediately greeted by a number of people, one of whom was Dick Boushey. Dick was as cordial as could be and we chatted for a while about the weather and a few other things.  We told him we lived nearby and had always wanted to visit his vineyards. Once the bigger crowd arrived, I noticed someone putting namecards of the wine people at some of the place settings. I found Dick’s card and claimed the seats to his left for myself and Barb. In the photo, taken by our new friend Ed Thralls of Wine Tonite!, Dick is obviously thrilled that I’ve been bending his ear for 2 straight hours.  I think I was looking for the dessert in the photo. 

Thoughout both of these encounters I asked Dick questions, as did others, along with the natural flow of conversation.  Dick is funny, self-effacing, generous with his knowledge, and sometimes a little sly.  He’d make a perfect politician if he weren’t the best grape grower in the State of Washington.

I could try to make a story of what I learned from Dick but the best thing probably is just to share the tidbits I remembered.  So here goes in no particular order…

• On the guys who pioneered Red Mountain, Jim Holmes and John Williams, “They were crazy!”  Of course, Dick was pioneering his own vineyards up the Valley a ways at the same time in the mid 1970′s.
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•  ”Winemakers make me look good”.  I offered that it was the other way around, but Dick says no.  In this case, I think we’re both correct.  Dick’s grapes are used by some of the best winemakers in the state who seek him out because he grows some of the best grapes in the state.
• Dick makes wine himself for personal use, would he ever start his own winery? “Too much capital needed to build all that stuff.”  I would guess that’s not the real issue, but time constraints and the love of being in the vineyards are what keeps Dick out of the wine production side.  That and the fact the winemakers who work with Dick have established a long record of success using Dick’s fruit, so why would he want to mess with that.
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• What do you think of Charles Smith?  Dick first responce (to Andrew), “What do you think?”  Then he offered, “Charles is a great marketer”.  Enough said.
• Black Rock Dam project?  Dick’s answer, “Boondoggle!  There are other ways to get water.”  Of course, Dick knew the other ways were already happening because two days later a press release went out that a large water project to deliver more water to Red Mountain was approved.
• “Wine grapes use a third of the water of tree fruit”.  I don’t know how accurate this is, but it certainly sounded convincing and since the nation doesn’t depend on Washington for apples or cherries or any other tree fruits, it makes sense to divert the scarce water resource to a more valuable and important crop, wine grapes.  I’m being a little sarcastic here, but Dick’s argument does make some sense and I’m sure he and others wine growers became good politicians to support the project mentioned just above. 
• When looking up at Ryan Johnson’s Grand Reve vineyard high above everything else on Red Mountain.  “He’s crazy.  It takes mountain goats to work in that vineyard.  No equipment can make it up there, all hand digging in rock.  He’s crazy!”  I later met Ryan and would agree with Dick’s assessment.
• As we walked down Red Mountain, Dick seemed to know every acre of every vineyard, who owned what, and when each block was planted.  Do you study this?  His answer, “I’ve worked this hill forever.”  I imagine Dick has consulted to a vast number of vineyards in the rest of the Yakima Valley as well and knows that patchwork just as well.  When I say consult here, I doubt Dick is paid by most people to consult, but he’s probably just a neighbor helping out his neighbors in the farming business.
•  On vine spacing, “I don’t know whether it helps or hurts the grapes, but I do know it costs an extra $1,000 more per acre for every foot closer together you plant the vines.”  Dick’s preferred spacing is minimum 6 1/2 feet.  He also makes a convincing argument that once a vine is mature, cordon and canopy management means more than how many trunks are in the ground.  And winemakers want low crop loads anyway, so more vines means more pruning, more cost to the vineyard with no more return per acre.  “Nah, six feet is close enough.”
•  I also learned that vine cuttings from Red Mountain, as well as Dick’s own vineyards near Grandview and I’m assuming many other vineyards in the Yakima Valley and elsewhere, are used by Inland Desert Nursery in Benton City to develope roots in creating the baby vines that are resold to vineyards across the state for new planting.  I knew about Inland and have driven past there; it’s a remarkable place to see the thousands of tiny grape vines growing on about 6 inch spacing.   As an aside, I’ve been told by other vineyard owners, if you want good planting stock, go to Inland.  I’ve heard this in Zillah, Naches, Mattawa, Alderdale, and Walla Walla, so it’s possible a case could be made that just about every grape in the state has some Benton City terroir in its history.   
• And the most interesting thing to me, Barb asked Dick where his vineyards are located?  “Over there somewhere.”  No, where exactly?  We know the roads above Grandview and Prosser, County Line, Snipes, Factory, Gap Rd, etc…  where are your vines?  Dick just smiled.  

I respect Dick’s privacy and would never think of sneaking onto his land between 2 and 3 A.M. on a moonless night in mid to late October with 3 or 4 buckets, a small hand wagon, some grape snips, dressed entirely in black or camoflage and a can of pepper spray in case the dogs come.  I’d need to take some water, a thick pair of cotton gloves, a flashlight and a brix refractometer, and a blanket to hide the light for the brix test.  Quiet but comfortable clothes, layers because it can be cold at nighttime in October, shoes with good tread, but the kind that can’t be traced, an extra pair of snips in case I drop the first ones, some way to keep Barb from talking the whole time (hardest one yet), some Snickers bars in case I need an energy boost.  And a hiding place for the getaway  black truck.

No, I’ve never thought about doing any of that.

But I think Dick probably has.