About Cedar River Cellars
A Winery with a Sense of Place
We chose Cedar River Cellars for our winery name due to our winery proximity to the river in Renton, WA. We wanted to have a name that is recognizable by consumers who live or grew near by, floated down in the Summer, or fished the Cedar River. Here in the Puget Sound region we get our drinking water from the Cedar River Watershed.
It has beneficial and ecological significances with regards to its salmon fisheries as well.
Cedar River Cellars is our dream of getting back to the roots of agriculture and the love of fermentation science. It is also seed that we plant for our family.
Our Team
In 1990, Micah made his first 5 gallon batch of beer, and he has been fermenting ever since. But his inspirations for wine making came from various stimuli in his adult life, but it was not until about 21 years ago that he started to make wine.
Micah grew up in a small agricultural town in the Willamette Valley and as a teenager worked in the restaurant business as a line cook. He continued working in culinary into college and was an influence on why he started making beer and as well as why he pursued a Food Science and Technology degree.
Micah's first post-college job was with a micro-brewery in Portland, OR as a Brewing Chemist/QA Manager. The brewery was founded by Willamette Valley Vineyards Jim Bernau and he worked with him closely. Micah managed the quality of the yeast, monitored tank fermentation, bottle CO2, O2, and general overall sensory and sanitation quality of the product and brewery. Micah made his way to Seattle, to work as a Sensory QA Technician in the R&D department for Starbucks Coffee Company. As Micah's palate for wine matured, he slowed the pace of his beer making, and he realize that making wine would be one of his next life adventures.
HEATHER NASAROWThe Sales Manager / Owner
Heather is the glue that keeps the winery humming along. She sets up our tastings, keeps the event calendar up to date, and co-makes the wine, among many, many other duties. When not at the winery, Heather is the mother of our two beautiful daughters. She is a cat and dog wrangler as well. In her free time, you will find Heather at the local dog park, local dance fitness dojo, or volunteering at our children’s school.
As a fun fact, a keen eye will observe something special and different about Heather on each one of our wine’s labels, every vintage, since our very first vintage.
Our Label (New) - Next 10 Years +
CEDAR RIVER CELLARSThe Label Design vNext
To freshen things up, we have desinged a new logo and label for our next journey of the winery's life.
Our new labels are screenprinted onto our bottles with a precious copper infused ink to celebrate the Pacific Northwest. The concentric rings represent how a cedar tree grows with the 'C' in the center for CedarRiver Cellars. The swirl tails and the logo itself refresents the flow of water (or wine) and the breaking wave to represent our love for the surf of Hawaii (Kauai).
We believe that each bottle and each vintage you are getting a unique piece of art.
Our Label (Old) - First 10 years
CEDAR RIVER CELLARSThe Label Design
Our label is multi-faceted. The name Cedar River represents a local sense of place that indicates a geographical area where our wines are made. The basket press represents where we came from as a company, small, and from humble beginnings. The water color-like picture represents the artisanal side of our brand.
We believe that each bottle and each vintage you are getting a unique piece of art.
We like to have a little fun as well on our labels. If you are observant and been an avid fan and collector of our wines since the beginning, you can see that there is something different about Heather on each back label.
Our Vineyards
VINEYARD SOURCESThe Grapes
Destiny Ridge Vineyards - Patterson, WA
True story. We met Jarrod in 2008 at a wine tasting event. And when we were licensed in 2009,
we reached out to purchase grapes from Destiny Ridge, but all fruit was allocated. So when Paul Burgess
retired in 2018, we reached out again to Jarrod, and this time around we were able to secure a contract for
the new fruite we needed.
I suppose it was destiny.
We *now* source our Syrah, Viognier, Merlot and some Cab Sauv from this vineyard.
Burgess Vineyards - Pasco, WA
Paul retired in 2018, but we are still have wine make from his vineyard in inventory.
When researching vineyard sources, we fell in love with Paul Burgess's no B.S. low-tech take on grape-growing
and vineyard management. We also liked the fact that this vineyard site caters to smaller wineries and fit
in our business plan as being a bit of an "unknown" vineyard site.
In warm years, we see anise, eggplant color, and ripe blackberry in our Syrah. And in cool years, a bit more allspice, pepper, and blueberry.
We source our award winning Syrah, Viognier, and Merlot from Burgess.
Portteus Vineyards - Zillah, WA
Portteus Vineyards give us rustic, earthy, and spicy tones in our wines. We have access to
thirty year old blocks of fruit to make really unique wines.
In warm years, we get rich pipe tobacco, black currant, and black tea in our Cab Sauv. In cool years, we see a bit more spiciness, earthy-forest-floor aromatics, and pie cherry.
We source our award winning Cabernet Sauvignon (old vines) and Merlot from Portteus.
Two Blondes Vineyard - Zillah, WA
2013 is our second year working with Cabernet Franc from this site. We like Two Blondes Vineyards' focus on just a few varietals.
So far we have only experienced warm years at this site. We get chocolate covered strawberries, light acidity, and classic spice nose in our Cabernet Franc.
We source Cabernet Franc from Two Blondes vineyard.
Airfield Estates - Sunnyside, WA
2013 is our first vintage with Airfield Estates.
We are looking to get familiar with this vineyard for their large selection of varietals.
We source Riesling from Airfield Estates.