PHOTO: Steve Lessard, Jennifer Hopkins and Randall Hopkins set to move into Port incubator building. (Photo by Donna Lasater).

Port’s wine
incubators
fulfill hopes

Original start-up moves on,
new wine maker moves in

For Denise Slattery, starting Trio Vintners
in a Port of Walla Walla wine incubator was “an opportunity to grow slowly and prepare for the future.”
Slattery, who with husband Steve Michener
owns Trio, was among the first to occupy one of the Port’s incubator buildings in 2006. “It was fantastic,” she said. “Being there gave
us an opportunity to decide how we wanted things to be.”
In a business that “changes every year,”
Slattery today hosts visitors in Trio’s recently opened tasting room at 102 S. Second Avenue in Downtown Walla Walla and partners with Forgeron Cellars to create wines there.
Reflecting on her incubator experience,
Slattery has no regrets. “I would do it again,” she says.
The Port building left vacant by Trio is now
occupied by Corvus Cellars., the creation of a Tacoma couple, Randall and Jennifer Hopkins and Stephen Lessard, winemaker.
Hopkins says that while the three have
vineyard and winery experience, the Port’s
incubator building is its “first real presence.”
“We’ve been thinking about this and
looking for a site for three years,” Hopkins
explained. “This opportunity comes at the
right time...and it’s the right place.”

PHOTOs: Dennise Slattery and Trio Vintners new Downtown Walla Walla tasting room. (Photo by Donna Lasater).