Like a fine summer wine

Longtime Moses Lake resident goes commercial with winery

MOSES LAKE — Kyra Baerlocher likes a good mystery.

It's part of the reason she enjoys her work as a winemaker and owner of a Quincy-area vineyard.

"You get out in that vineyard where things are really growing and you really see the creation of nature," she explained. "Once that fruit has grown and you take it home and you crush it, it's like a little mystery, because you know all these little chemical reactions are taking place and you don't know how they're going to turn out. So it's like a huge mystery novel. All the groundwork has been laid and in the end, it's just the taste. It's just that kind of suspense that draws you in."

In 1999, Baerlocher and her husband of 26 years, Bruce, bought an apple orchard and began developing a vineyard. The first season they were able to harvest, they made their own wine in order to work with winemaker clients and better understand the process. From that first vintage, Baerlocher said, the couple caught the passion and has been making wine ever since.

"Our youngest daughter started driving this year, so that frees up a few family commitments, so we decided it would be a good time to go commercial," Baerlocher said. Prior to that, the wines were private bottlings given out to friends and family. "They've been around Moses Lake, but you kind of had to know Kyra to get it."

Kyra Wines' first releases are a pinot gris and a pinot noir. Labels on the bottles are reproductions of artwork done by Baerlocher's Portland-based brother, Kyle Evans.

"Both of these wines are actually great for summer," Baerlocher said, noting the former — made in an Alsatian style, which makes it fruitier and more full-bodied — goes well with fish and oysters, and the latter — a rarity in-state — with vegetarian and mushroom dishes. Of the noir, Baerlocher said it is more graceful than some red wines, "more sippable on a hot evening and yet it still goes with a lot of great summer foods."

Residents of the area for 18 years, the Baerlochers began the process of licensing their winery late last year, and officially began selling products May 19. They are available at Food Pavilion in Moses Lake and by the glass and by the bottle at Michael's on the Lake, with more local outlets expected soon, as well as in Portland, Ore. and Wenatchee.

Because the winery facility doesn't have room for much more than making and storing wine, it is not open to the public, but Baerlocher said she hopes the business will eventually expand to the point where a facility could be open, as well as to have enough market to sustain and continue the business.

"Washington wine has an excellent reputation everywhere," she noted.