In early summer 2017, Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen stood on the slopes of Rainmaker Vineyard, a natural southern-facing amphitheater of land on the Columbia Gorge, and saw the future.

Lindsay-Thorsen is the cofounder of W.T. Vintners in Woodinville, a rare winemaker who’s also an accomplished sommelier. The land on the Gorge’s cool western edge set both sides of his wine brain vibrating with possibilities. Rainmaker’s 21 acres rise 950 to 1,350 feet above sea level, a zone classified as subalpine. Here, ringed by trees, grapes get ample sun, but way less heat than Eastern Washington vineyards. The land overlooks the town of White Salmon and just happens to have a straight-on view of Mount Hood.

“The vineyard was twigs at the time,” says Lindsay-Thorsen. But the young vines had a certain energy. Not to mention major potential for sparkling wine, since the cooler climate encourages flavor and heat wouldn’t zap grapes’ natural acidity. But to make sparkling wine the traditional French way, he realized, “it’s going to take for-freaking-ever, so we better get started now.”

Rainmaker also happened to have owners game to invest in the sort of painstaking farming methods that can make for exceptional wines—but don’t pencil at a bigger commercial vineyard. Lindsay-Thorsen and James Mantone of nearby Syncline Wine Cellars function like anchor tenants, guiding that cultivation. (Syncline uses its Chardonnay in its own sparkling wine.)

The bottles Lindsay-Thorsen released all these years later feel contrary to Washington wine’s boldly fruited action-hero identity. They also turned out to be so distinct from W.T. Vintners’ serious syrah, he decided to form an entirely new label.

Now the first Gorgiste releases have trickled into restaurants and bottle shops, albeit in tiny quantities. And he wasn’t kidding about the sparkling wine. 

The 2018 brut rosé of pinot noir grapes followed the same abundance of steps required to produce traditional Champagne. It’s aged for 50 months—uncommon, even amid Washington’s current sparkling wine boom. This bottle’s rosy contents have a roundness and depth you’d swear came from France, but also a certain wild streak that speaks of the Gorge.

Gorgiste’s six-bottle lineup coaxes some vibrant flavors out of those juvenile vines, including a Francophilic dream of a Gamay. Half the Gamay underwent carbonic fermentation, which delivers zip; the other, traditional half provides what Lindsay-Thorsen calls “bass notes.” Another sparkling wine that’s in the works—a blanc de blancs Chardonnay—will be made via a perpetual reserve, a process akin to a master stock or sourdough starter, so each bottle will always have some small portion of the oldest vintage.

These days, the Gorge is home to some of the most exciting developments in our state’s wine industry. Gorgiste joins wineries like Syncline and Savage Grace in stretching our stylistic boundaries in more lively, food-friendly directions. (Lindsay-Thorsen tuned in early to these possibilities through his relationship with Syncline; W.T. Vintners’ first white wine release back in 2012 was a Grüner Veltliner from nearby Underwood Mountain.) 

You can find Gorgiste in certain wine shops, PCC, and at the tasting room Gorgiste shares with W.T. Vintners in Woodinville. The contents of these bottles aren’t the only departure from Washington tradition: Lindsay-Thorsen skipped the usual fancy-pants dullsville wine label designs in favor of bright graphics by Seattle artist Becca Fuhrman.