The Story of a First Generation Family Winery
You only live once, so we took the leap. It’s been a challenging, yet incredible ride so far… and we’ve only just begun.
– Jennifer armstrong, Owner/General manager
We started Armstrong Family Winery to create a business that would produce world-class wines and support our family and community. We set out to make wines that were elegant, nuanced, and restrained with a classic, Old-World sensibility, as an alternative to the bigger, oakier West Coast style wines that had come to define much of what we were seeing from other U.S. wineries.
That is not to say we didn’t respect West Coast wines. Indeed, it was one of those big West Coast wines that first planted the seed that, 15 years later, would blossom into Armstrong Family Winery.
But our true passion for wine grew after that first seed was planted from our experiences drinking French wines – especially the wines of Bordeaux. We loved the complexity and layers. The juxtaposition of earth and spice, acid and tannin. How they evolved over time and elevated the meals – and times – they were paired with. How they reflected the weather of the vintage, the location of the vineyard and the decisions of the vignerons. How they told stories with every sip – and added to our enjoyment of time shared together.
Here is how the story unfolded…
2001
Tim grew up in Wisconsin and Jen grew up in New Jersey. Neither of us grew up around wine. However, in college, Tim worked in restaurants and gained an appreciation for hospitality. And on a business trip in New York in 1996, he had a glass of wine that opened his eyes to wine’s potential. That experience planted a seed and, when we met in 1999, Tim pulled out a bottle of wine on our third date – a canoe trip – and our mutual wine journey had begun.
In 2001, we went to our first winery together and Jen had her “aha” wine – a Cabernet Franc. We bought our first case of wine that day and every time we planned a nice dinner, Jen would declare “I want my Fronk!” The inspiration for our Cabernet Franc today…
2005
We were married in Chicago and soon began filling the cellar of the historic, 1921 Chicago bungalow (we were rehabbing ourselves) with wines Tim had researched and purchased. 2005 was also a great vintage in Bordeaux, providing him with the perfect excuse to research and collect more.
One night, during a late night dinner and bottle of Bordeaux, we realized there had originally been a fireplace and (likely) stained glass windows in the wall across from where we were eating. Inspired and optimistic, we took to the plaster wall with a crow bar and found the Hidden Windows. The inspiration for another future Armstrong Family Wine…
2007
As our family grew with the rescue of our beagle, Bogie (another future wine inspiration) and the birth of our first daughter, Audrey, so did our passion for wine. The more we tasted, the more intrigued and curious we became.
Eventually, Tim enrolled in a remote winemaking course through UC Davis. We watched the recorded lectures together and became fascinated not only with what was in our glass, but also in the many other elements of wine: history, culture, nature, geography, farming, science, art, food, hard work, celebration, and passionate people.
We began to realize wine reflected many of the things we valued most and started researching the prospect of building a winery business ourselves. One day, Tim picked up a bottle of Merlot from Walla Walla, Washington. When we tasted it, we were thrilled to discover character reminiscent of the wines of Bordeaux, with a bit more fruit flavor, which we liked. Our eyes turned toward Washington State.
2010
As we awaited the birth of our second daughter, Tim accepted a new role at his company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The family moved in August, weeks after Emily was born.
Before our furniture even arrived, Tim started working nights and weekends at Patterson Cellars in the booming Woodinville Warehouse District outside of Seattle. For fun, we bought a few hundred pounds of grapes and made wine that fall in our garage. Tim also started taking winemaking classes at South Seattle Community College and then enrolled in Washington State University’s Viticulture and Enology programs.
2011
Harvest 2011, we decided to dive in. We were lucky enough to partner with a well-respected vineyard in Washington’s Yakima Valley AVA for 6 tons of premium, hand-farmed grapes. That harvest, while continuing to volunteer at Patterson, work the day job, and study through the WSU program, Tim made what would become the first vintage of Armstrong Family Winery wine.
2013
With three years under our belts and our 2011 vintage in bottle, we rented our own space in Woodinville’s Warehouse Winery District and opened for business… getting our Certificate of Occupancy the night before we were scheduled to bring our first few tons of grapes in to the winery! With the help of a stellar volunteer crew of friends and family, we had a fun and successful harvest.
We opened our tasting room days later in the same space with 500 cases of 2011 wine. The 2011 vintage was well received – earning two Double Gold awards in the Seattle Wine Awards, as well as a following of wine enthusiasts… many of whom are still with us today.
2016
Over the next several years, we grew our production from those first 6 tons in 2013 to 50 in 2016. In the meantime, we welcomed guests, sold wine, hosted events, attended trade shows and grew our Wine Club. We were honored to attract fantastic team members to work with us in the tasting room, and our wines continued to gain recognition and praise.
Each harvest, Jen’s parents (Tom & Pam Robbins and the inspiration behind our wine, Four “Birds”) visited from North Carolina and moved in with us for 6-8 weeks. Jen’s Dad, Tom, spent his days (and many nights, too) in the cellar with Tim and Jen, and Jen’s mom, Pam, took over household and child care duties… and also helped in the cellar. Even the girls, who earned their name “The Wild Angels” (another wine name) in this era, spent a lot of time in the cellar – helping to sort grapes, deliver tools to Dad, squeegy the floor, and more. It was a true family operation!
2017
Following harvest 2016, it was clear we’d grown out of our space. We decided it was time to move to eastern Washington, where the grapes in Washington are grown. And it was clear to us that given Walla Walla’s reputation for wine excellence and high quality of life, it was the perfect place to raise our family and build our business. Through a twist of fate, we learned that a small farm on the north side of town that had caught our eye 2 years earlier was for sale. The 22-acre farm featured a vineyard with 2 blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon vines, an historic barn, a lovely home for our family, a guest house, and space to build a future winery.
In May, 2017, we began our next chapter with the purchase of our new property.
2018
In April 2018, we opened a second tasting room – this time in Downtown Walla Walla (we continued to welcome guests to our tasting room in Woodinville) . Located in a beautiful, historic building, the space was the perfect place to welcome guests and introduce Armstrong Family wines to our new community and its many visitors.
2019
The fall of 2019, we celebrated two milestones: our first harvest of our 2-acre estate vineyard, and our first partnership with a wine distributor, Well Crafted Beverage, to get our wines placed in bottle shops and restaurants in Maryland, Virginia and Washinton, D.C.
2020
2020 was a big year for Armstrong – and the world. That January, we entered into a long-term lease to farm a beautiful, 8.5 acre vineyard site called Wheat Ridge Vineyard. Wheat Ridge is located about 5 miles from our farm in the Mill Creek area of the Walla Walla Valley. It’s a gorgeous site with 25-year-old vines – 7 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 1.5 acres of Syrah. We look forward to growing our estate wine program from here.
In March, COVID brought massive change with months-long tasting room closures and 15 months of every-changing guidelines. To survive, we greatly increased our online offers and shipping, and created new virtual programs, and our Virtual Book Club that continues today.
2021
Inspired by extended time on the farm, and the flock of chickens we’d added to the farm the previous year, we decided to embrace the farm lifestyle and to begin to employ more regenerative farming techniques to reduce use of chemicals and better care for the land. We started by welcoming 6 lambs, who live in the barn and spend their days eating weeds in the vineyards and grass in the pastures. To keep them safe, we also brought home a maremma puppy named Louis (Armstrong) – a livestock guardian dog to live with them in the barn and deter predators around the property.
2023
After 5 wonderful (if not unusual) years in our downtown tasting room, we closed those doors at the end of 2022 to focus on our ultimate vision of centering our winery at our farm, just 15 minutes north of downtown Walla Walla. As a result, we did not have a Walla Walla tasting room in 2023 or 2024.
Instead, we focused on growing awareness in other markets, planning the future of our business, and hosting a small number of private events for members of our Club and list. With massive transition in the economy and global wine market in 2024, we’ve chosen to pause construction plans in order to ensure that our investment – when we make it – is the best for our business and family. We hope to begin construction in the coming year(s), but for now, we are focused on making the very best quality wine we can, launching this new website and online store to improve customer experience, and improving our marketing and shipping programs to better serve more wine enthusiasts across the country.
And so, the story continues…
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