October 16, 2009 David Lake, Washington Wine Innovator, Dies at 66 By WILLIAM GRIMES David Lake, a pioneering Washington winemaker who made the state.s first vineyard-designated wines and its first wines from the syrah, cabernet franc and pinot gris grapes, died on Oct. 5 at his home in Sammamish, Wash. He was 66. His wife, Connie Sile-Lake, confirmed the death. She did not give a cause but said he had been in poor health for years. When Mr. Lake arrived in Washington in 1979, hired as an enologist by the company that would become Columbia Winery, he was venturing into virgin territory. As few others could, he foresaw great days ahead for Washington wines, especially the syrah, which is now, largely because of his efforts, the state.s third-most-widely-planted red-wine grape, after cabernet sauvignon and merlot. .Nobody believed syrah would do well here,. said Richard Kinssies, the director of the Seattle Wine School. .They thought it could not survive the winter, that you couldn.t ripen it and even if you ripened it you couldn.t make good wine out of it. He proved everybody wrong.. Mr. Lake favored a French style of wine despite his American training. His cabernets, syrahs and chardonnays had a sleek, understated profile that contrasted markedly with the concentrated, oaky, high-alcohol wines of California. .He understood and could make modern, New World wines, but the Old World was his template,. Mr. Kinssies said. .He wasn.t out to produce the biggest, baddest wine. He was interested in producing wines with elegance and a sense of place. And he did.. David Lancelot Lake, a Canadian citizen, was born in London on March 27, 1943, and spent his childhood in Britain. After earning a degree in history and political science at McGill University in Montreal, he began working for Saccone & Speed, a wine and liquor company, in Britain. In 1975 he passed the notoriously demanding Master of Wine test. In 1977 he came to the United States and took graduate courses in enology and viticulture at the University of California, Davis. After doing brief stints with Eyrie, Amity and Bethel Heights wineries in Oregon, he was hired as an enologist by Associated Vintners, Washington.s first winery, where he became winemaker within a year. The winery, founded in 1962 by a group of friends who made wine in a garage, changed its name to Columbia Winery in the early 1980s and in 1988 relocated to Woodinville. In 1981 Mr. Lake released Washington.s first vineyard-designated wines, cabernet sauvignons from the Otis, Red Willow and Sagemoor vineyards. He was particularly enthusiastic about the potential of the Red Willow vineyard in the Yakima Valley and encouraged its grower, Mike Sauer, to plant syrah, the principal red-wine grape of the Rhone Valley in France. In 1988, Columbia released Washington.s first syrah, which led to a syrah boom in the state. In 1991, again using grapes from Red Willow, Mr. Lake produced the state.s first cabernet franc. In 1994, Mr. Lake scored another first when he introduced a pinot gris from Otis Vineyard, a white wine with a floral quality. Although red wines, especially syrah, were his passion, Mr. Lake was successful with his gewüminers and rieslings. In 2006, Mr. Lake retired because of poor health. His wife is his only immediate survivor. -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *