Our Startup Winemakers series focuses on micro-producers who make their debut bottles under the roof of a larger facility. Well, after years of interviews and documenting, we decided it was time to take the leap ourselves. Enter Thane Hawkins, owner of Hawkins Cellars–a boutique wine operation tucked away in the beautiful Underwood Mountain. Thane offered use of his commercial equipment for harvest, and space in his modern, climate-controlled cellar for aging our barrels.
Having spent a good amount of time working alongside Thane, we wanted to tell his story: From working in animation and visual effects to winemaking.
But first, let’s set the scene. Underwood Mountain in the Columbia Gorge AVA is characterized by a significant difference in vineyard elevations, ranging from as low as 600-700 feet (White Salmon Vineyard) up to 1,800 feet (South Hill). Thane points out Underwood’s unique geographical location, noting “both the wind and elevation are factors that keep the heat in check, resulting in wines with higher acidity. Yet we get enough heat where we can still ripen our Pinot Noir. So kinda the best of both worlds.”
Wine Scribes: Did you grow up in a wine family?
Thane Hawkins: Not really. My parents liked wine, and I used to steal their wine in the basement when I was 16 or 17. I actually got interested in wine when I was working in the Bay Area in animation and visual effects for films.
WS: How did that happen?
TH: We were just kind of looking for things to do in the Bay and Napa and Sonoma were places to go. My family on my mom’s side are all farmers, and I was always captivated when we would go visit their farm during the summers. So visiting these vineyards brought me back and I just connected with the lifestyle and flavors; I especially gravitated towards Rhone varietals.
WS: Tell us about your first harvest experience.
TH: I had worked on three films in a row and was kind of burnt out. So I took a leave of absence and moved up to Oregon, where I fell in love with Pinot Noir and the Willamette Valley wine scene. I decided to work a harvest and ended up at Wine by Joe, where I would punch down fermenters in the morning and work the sorting line or clean out giant tanks in the afternoon.
During that crush I met the winemaker there, Chris Lubberstedt.The next year Chris got hired as winemaker at Methven Vineyards in Dundee and asked if I wanted to be his assistant. I also made a small batch of my own wine, a Syrah from Red Mountain. It was a really cold vintage, the fermentation didn’t finish and the wine turned out pretty sweet. To my surprise people loved it! That was my first happy accident.
WS: So you kept your day job and were just dabbling in winemaking? When did things get more serious?
TH: Yeah I was able to land an animation job in Portland, and was making a couple hundred cases a year and selling it mainly to grocery stores. But by 2011 I had built up an inventory of 500 cases and was like, how am I going to get rid of this wine? Fortunately I stumbled upon this great little space in downtown Dundee. I signed a one year lease and to my surprise it did really well to the point where I was able to quit the day job in 2013.
WS: That’s impressive to have success out of the gate like that. What was the strategy for the Dundee tasting room?
TH: We were serving bigger Reds in Pinot country. Our tagline was “Got Pinot fatigue?”. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people that go tasting in Willamette and don’t like Pinot. So, we had something different to offer.
WS: When did you open your operation here in Underwood, Washington?
A: I met my partner Deb Michelson in 2010. She owned the property in Underwood and like me, was dabbling in the wine industry. We planted the vineyard in 2013 and opened up the tasting room on a limited basis in 2017, which was also the first year we were able to harvest our Underwood fruit.
WS: How many wineries were there in Underwood at that time?
TH: It was just AniChe Cellars –that’s it. And we were the second. Now there are a lot more, which is great because it gives people more of a reason to visit the region.
WS: We know you work with Pinot Noir, as do we. And you have Pinot vines on your estate. What’s your take on the grape? How challenging is it to grow here?
TH: Well I’ve learned that it’s very easy to screw up Pinot. On the vine in this cool climate site, you really want them to ripen, but you don’t want to expose the fruit zone too early, or else the berries will fry with the heat spikes in August. It’s best to leave the canopy shaded until early September and then start pulling leaves.
But it’s tricky because you want airflow in the canopy, so you don’t want to leave too many leaves in the summer. We’re organic here and don’t spray chemicals, so mold is always a concern. We did well with ripening Pinot this year and got to 24 Brix; partly due to the fact that we only harvested 2 tons per acre, so there was more concentration.
WS: That’s cool you’re so actively involved in both the vineyard and winemaking operations. We noticed some differentiation on your bottle lineup such as black labels featuring Rhone Varietals?
TH: Yes, the Black label series takes the best tasting barrels from four distinct vineyard sites which incorporate Mourvedre, Grenache and Syrah grapes–we call the blend “Caldera”. This is our highest tier, and we reserve this for our wine club.
WS: Shifting from red to white, you have a blend called “True North”, which we love. Tell us more about that.
TH: I started doing the TruNorth blend as a way to highlight some of the cool-climate varietals that do really well up here. Originally the TruNorth was a blend of Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris. But in 2024 the Gewurz came in really ripe, so I was thinking of ways to bring down the alcohol. I was also making a sparkling Riesling, and I was like, well, let’s just throw some of the Riesling base wine into the blend here and brighten up the acidity. It turned out wonderfully and I’m really excited about this wine.
If you’d like more information or want to visit Hawkins Cellars, they can be contacted via their Website or Instagram.
