Long Shadows is, at its heart, a family of nine wineries. Each flagship label has its own winemaking approach and philosophy, inspired by the individuals behind the wine. Yet all of the labels share the same foundation: meticulously sourced fruit, a world-class winery, and exacting attention to detail every step of the way.
Founder Allen Shoup and winemaker Gilles Nicault’s years of work in the industry allowed us to establish relationships with some of the best growers and exceptional vineyards. These close partnerships are instrumental in our quest to produce the finest wines possible from Washington’s Columbia Valley terroir.
By establishing acreage instead of tonnage contracts we incentivize quality over quantity, and we can secure the same blocks and rows year after year.
Since 2003, with continual feedback from Gilles, we have evolved our viticulture practices to meet the winemakers' needs. It starts with our management team barrel tasting in winter and setting goals each year, evaluating honestly each year's results and making adjustments in the vineyard.
— Kent Waliser, Sagemoor Group Vineyard Manager
All grapes are hand-selected and picked to allow for extreme quality control. This practice assures the grapes arrive without damage or undesirable defects from premature crushing of the grapes.
From the moment grapes arrive at the winery, a careful selection process begins using two vibrating sorting tables - one for clusters and one for destemmed berries - to exclude leaves and underdeveloped berries. A gentle destemmer prevents damage, and a positive flow pump ensures a gentle transfer of the berries to the tanks.
Our large selection of different sizes and types of fermentation vessels allows for greater flexibility, so as to not compromise on extraction, maceration and fermentation time during harvest. This allows us to produce many different styles of wine and cater to our winemakers’ specific winemaking methods.
We are meticulous in our barrel selection. Each winemaker considers forests, coopers, wood grain, air drying time, toast, stave thickness, and more when selecting their 100% French Oak barrels.
The exacting process of blending our wines can lead to partially used barrels. Our Nine Hats winery allows us to select only lots that maximize the quality and style of our flagship wines, meaning only the absolute best is labeled Long Shadows.
Every original winemaker partner working in tandem with Long Shadows' Director of Winemaking and Viticulture, Gilles Nicault is a legend in their own right. Learn more about each of them here:
The concept of Long Shadows was predicated on founder Allen Shoup’s knowledge of the world-class quality of Washington State grapes. That belief has come to fruition, and today we pride ourselves in sourcing some of the absolute best Washington has to offer. Through close partnerships with growers, we oversee every detail, to ensure that the fruit in every Long Shadows wine is precisely—and sustainably—grown.
