Bill Collins founded Conn Creek Winery back in the early 1970’s, making him one of the first folks to come out of the tech industry and plow some of that money into a high end winery.

Of course, he made what I can affectionately call an “exit” in the 80’s when the winery was sold to the folks behind Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (the venable Washington name of inexpensive wines).

Over the years, there’s been a consistently at Conn Creek that’s quite honestly not apparent at other brands of this size (25,000 cases per year) when the winery is owned by a large corporation.  They’ve been consisten with winemakers which has helped, but also Conn Creek Winery sources exclusively from their own estate vineyard, as well as a select few vineyards where they hold long term contracts. One such vineyard is Stagecoach on Atlas Peak, which I am sure allows the winery to reach the level of complexity and depth that has led to the great critical scores that have come more years than not.

For us at Uncorked Ventures, we can’t include Conn Creek wines in our wine clubs because they’re pretty darn well known, but if we ever had a history of Napa gift basket as an example, they’d be a nice fit sure.  At the end of the day, their wine is good and the prices in the $50’s and $60’s are fair for what you’re getting.