Martinez & Martinez - Drew Martinez

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Hello, friends and listeners of Wine Soundtrack. This is Alson Levine and I'm joined today by Drew Martinez of Martinez and Martinez in the Yakima Valley in Washington State. Drew, Welcome to Wine Soundtrack and tell us a little bit about Martinez and Martinez.

So my name is Drew Martinez. We're located in Prosper, Washington. It's Martinez and Martinez Winery owned by myself, my wife Monica, my dad Sergio, and my mom Christy. And we started making wine in two thousand and five and we've.

Been in the same location now the whole time, in this building.

And so you started making wine in two thousand and five, but you have a longer history in this area.

Right right.

So we initially started out as a grape grower. My parents, Sergio and Christi, planted a small three acre vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills in nineteen eighty one, now forty two year old vineyard. It's the oldest in the top oldest three in the Horse Heaven Hills, and so that was the initial entry into the wine industry, learning about grapes my whole life. I grew up in the vineyard just a year or two younger than me and did all aspects of growing.

Helping out. But my dad is the soul tender to the vineyard and.

He manages other vineyards around the valley.

He also helps in vineyard production at alder Ridge Vineyard, and he's been with them since they started planting the grapes in nineteen ninety six. And it was from nineteen ninety six until today they planted about fifteen hundred acres, starting out with about eight hundred I think, but then increasing over the last I mean, I can't I don't know how many years it was.

So so you convinced him to start making wine, and what what what was sort of the impetus to start making wine.

So where my parents planted their vineyard, we're actually on the same small micro climate within the Horse seven Hills where the first or the top five point Cabernet sauvignons have come from. And so this area is known in the industry. You know, it's just known to have great grapes. My parents they saw foresight. I guess in the eighties nobody else was planting grapes. It was all cherries and apples.

It wasn't a mainstream thing, but he had that knowledge.

So I think that's how they kind of came together. And he asked my dad, hey, you want to make some wine. And for that same reason, my dad having the background in viticulture as a young kid, that's how he ended up with the job at the adulta ridge with helping plant and raise the grapes there.

So you said you have three acres planted, that's a state fruit, and then you're purchasing fruit from other places. Is that correct?

Yeah, that's correct.

So we purchased from we have the three acres, it's cabernet savignon only, that's the nineteen eighty one planting. Then we source Carmenier Petite Verdeaux, some more cab zinfandel and pretty much those from all the ridge, and then we get whites from the Akama Valley from Tudor Hill's vineyard, which is actually my wife's family, and she.

Was raised in grapes as well.

Her grandpa was one of the first wine makers and actually maybe the first winemaker, Im Prosser, one of them anyways, but he passed away unfortunately at a young age, and their legacy didn't continue on. They wanted to tree fruit and stuff, but later on came back to grapes and they're growing grapes again. So we purchased Aubregno Roussin, Bonnier, Pino Gres white wines from there in Chartnight.

Since I started with that, I taste a little of that. And what's your total case production?

We're no more than two thousand cases a.

Year, and are you fully direct to consumer or do you have any distribution In the US.

We're probably ninety five to ninety eight percent direct to consumer and with just small local distribution.

Fantastic.

Okay, So about you, Drew. I know that you said that you grew up here, your dad has been a grape grower your entire life. What is your first memory relevant to wine and how old were you at what point do you just kind of remember or was it just always part of your life and you don't really remember its standing out to you it as wine is a thing.

I think grapes were like the first, you know, and and just working doing weeding and helping with the things where I couldn't reach the chord on with doing that kind of stuff, and then slowly growing and doing suckering, and then moving up into the court on as later in life, those those types of things.

How old were you when they put you in the vineyard there?

I was. I was young.

The weeds were my first memory. Later on, later on the grapes came, and then and then correlating it to wine, it was it was pretty young because we tasted wine as youngsters and so and then tasting grapes. I mean really, that's that's where I see the vision of the wine, just in the taste of the grape.

Wow.

So, when you started actually drinking wine tasting wine, is there a particular wine that stands out as sort of an AHA wine for you? And not only what was that wine, but what was it about it that was so aha?

I think.

The AHA wine. I mean I just was with somebody who was telling me his AHA wine, and I was like, Wow, you got it from that? For me?

I didn't, I didn't. I guess I almost didn't have an AHA wine.

But I think my AHA was like Wow, this is something that we've been doing for thirty years already, and or twenty five at the time when they started getting these hundred point wines out of out of my neighbor's vineyards and stuff, and and so I was like, Aha, this is what all the hard work has been for to try to do something like that.

Right.

So you're working with a lot of you know, classic red varieties, Bordeaux varieties, and some Rowan varieties. If we came to your home, what would we find in there? What do you what do you and Monica like to drink? What do you sort of have in there. Is it all wines you've made? Is it from particular producers or any other regions or grapes that you like to explore and that you have at home.

I enjoy the Horse Heaven Hills. It's near and dear to my heart.

There is a you know, distinct flavored profile that I guess I must have house palette with.

But so those types.

A lot of different wines from there, and then all across Washington State you'll see very few of our own wines, mostly other peoples. And whenever we go, we you know, taste wine, purchase and have it around the house, not only so that we have it to drink, but to share when people come, because we like to promote other people's stuff.

One of the you know, so when we were younger.

Monica and I have been together since our senior year in high school, and so through the years, she started drinking wine before myself.

And I think one of her possible AHAs was actually.

My neighbor here at Thurston Wolf Winery, and I think it was like it was a red red wine and it was kind of like, you know, she really enjoyed it. I can't remember if it was like a mile Becker something, but it was it was a red briding and it.

Kind of pushed her. So is there anything you opened up recently that drank really well?

Of our owner of what did you.

Drink recently that drank really well? Was it your own or someone else's?

For the older older stuff, we.

Did a Petite for Dove vertical with from twenty ten to twenty twenty one, and there was some fantastic vintages all the way through, but some really stellars like twenty sixteen, twenty twenty twelve, and you know, there was a couple others that were just like from your own, from your own, from our own actually.

Yeah, so something you can look back and see what you've done.

Yes, And we hadn't done it until this last year, like a full vertical before of our own wine. We've done verticals with other like cabs, but one was ours, one was somebody else's so on, but never like our whole vertical.

So you work with a number of different grapes. Do you think there's a such thing as a perfect variety?

Uh?

I'd say, you know that cab is pretty pretty perfect in ways, especially from Horse Hills. Yeah, Horse Heaven Hills.

Of course, now you were talking about these one hundred point wines that come out of course Heaven Hills.

What is it?

What is you know? It opened up your eyes. You said, that was kind of an aha moment for you to see that all the hard work gets paid off in these scores. So to you, what is your opinion on wine critics and scores? What is what is the value the challenge or the benefit to you and of getting a score or looking at what a wine critic offers.

It's it's tough, especially being a small micro winery.

Uh, there's always room for the for bigger, larger wineries to have the array of grapes and and all that stuff, and it seems like they get the they get the most benefit out of it.

For us, you know, really, we're only we're here to make wine that our family likes.

And uh and then if if we like it, we we have some following that enjoys it as well. And so critics, you know, I'm I'm kind of over them. But it's always nice to get a great right.

Now, of course, of course, I mean, I mean, who wouldn't want it? So I'm curious for you as a wine drinker, red, white or rose.

Bread. I'd say red still are.

Sparkling still, see, I like I have to pause and think just a little bit about that. So maybe you're just like it all.

Yeah, pretty much.

You know, we just enjoyed some of your wines while we were eating lunch before we sat down to talk here, and obviously just had fun kind of tasting wine and eating. But on a on a more you know, planned out dinner or meal, how do you approach food and wine pairing? Do you follow rules? Do you think that it's red wine and steak, you know, meat, and you know it's white wine and fish, or are there other guidelines that you look for that's going to help you decide what

Yeah, yeah, I think it probably is the food, and then the wine comes kind of with it. And and yeah, I think we do kind of stick to the the lighter wines with the lighter kind of dishes, and then the heavier with the heavy.

Stuff, and so it's more on texture and weight than it is specifically white or red.

Yeah, yeah, kind of kind of that.

And then we're also uh in a little difference where I'm looking at like white wines with with white wines with the camaron is that I would camarona is in Awa, Chile and stuff like that, really light dishes where the fishes cooked in the acidity, stuff like that.

And then for our reds, I'm.

Looking at carmoner with like the cot or or aas or cottnitas and stuff like that.

You're making me hungry. Make me hungry. So for somebody who hasn't had the pleasure to taste Martinez and Martinez wines yet, what do you think they're missing out on?

H there, I think they're probably missing out on a on a small view of of what wines should be.

And our.

Starting out, we started with like fifty cases and people just really.

Took to us and enjoyed the wines.

So I feel like there is benefit to try and smaller wines and hopefully we don't displease anybody.

And also we should note that you were saying that you were the first Hispanic second Hispanic owned winery in Washington State.

Yeah, I think about there.

I don't want to say it too like that's set in stone, but at the time we came in in two thousand and five. There was one other Latuna wine maker and we came in, and we had been the only ones for quite a while. But now we're seeing a little bit more. And I'm very ecstatic because I feel like the Mexican I don't say just Mexican, because now it's pseudomatic cardinals.

Everything there's there's a little so.

I generalized with Latino and UH and basically we're our communities are the ones doing the actual work in the field, and so to get to that next level where you're making your own wine any of those things is awesome.

So absolutely so, if space aliens were to land here at your property, at your tasting room, you know, park their spaceship in the first spot out here, and knock on the door, which of your wines would you want to say, Welcome to Martinez and Martinez.

I'd have to say our Rose. Yeah.

Interestingly enough, the Rose just came about Uh in Uh in the time crunch. In the crunch where we needed a light colored wine. We had no no white grapes at the time, and we decided to take this Cabernet sauvignon that everybody told us. We were nuts for making it into rose, and we made that rose and it's been one of our top selling wines.

People love it.

Clean, crisp, light, acidic, a little hint the sweetness, and it's great for all summer long.

Well perfect and you know it's really pretty to look at too. So you know, welcome to Martinez and Martinez. So you grew up in the vines, and you know, I know that you're not managing the vines. That's your dad's job. And the Martinez and Martinez you have your job to make the wine. He has his job to grow the grapes. But I know you spend time out there and have spent time out there and growing up in an area like this. Every vintage tells a different

It's a decent amount of variation, more than we'd think, even though we go through the years and it seems like, oh, yeah, it's hot this summer. You don't you take that into consideration. But the spring may have been cooler, it may have been warmer, it may have been and just wet, it may have been dry. So there's all these factors. Each year is just seems to be totally different to me. But that's that's the way I feel.

And are there sort of any signs or predictors that you look for when you're out in the vineyard that are going to tell you what you're going to get for the year, what kind of a harvest it's going to be, or what kind of a vintage.

Uh, just how fruit's ripening when rasion happens, both in whites or reds. I've looked towards reds and more when very when that is happening. How how how the cluster settings look after in the spring, you know, when when things start to develop and in those types.

So when you're walking out in the vineyard, because I'm sure you spend time out there, and you have spent lots of time visiting your old friends the weeds. When you're out there, do you talk to the vines? Have you talked to the vines? I mean, if they were your first friends, I'm sure you did. But do you still talk to the vines?

Yeah? Tell them, tell him what callouses they've got me? And yeah, we Uh, my dad is he's very romantified in the vineyard.

He's very in tune with with that and uh and for.

Me growing up, it was it was a lot of work with but it's not.

A little more cursing at the vines.

There's a little more of that, but at the same time, I definitely am seeing more of what he sees and and it's uh, it's a super rigorously tough job in the vineyard.

Wineery.

You know it can be also, but vineyard is definitely next level stuff for that. So uh just uh yeah, keeping keeping thanks in there to continue producing and and uh and we'll try not to give us too hard up a time.

Yeah, so you keep them at bay. So once they come in here and you make the wine, do you have a little more tendency to talk to it?

Then?

Do you have to encourage it or ever reprimand it? Do you play music to your wine or do you not believe in any of that stuff?

Definitely serenade it with wine with music, with music you personally sing, no, but I'll dance for it like crazy.

Yeah, you give performances, I see, Okay, that's right. So having grown up in this, is this something you always knew you wanted to do or when you were a little boy, what did you want to be when you grew up.

I did not see myself in there, did not want to be doing that. You know, That's basically what shows you that you need to get out and do something different is when you're doing farm labor. You know, anytime, it doesn't matter if you're a little kid or you're an adult, that's usually the time when you're like, oh, it's either this or I'm gonna do something different.

I gotta go and grind to do that.

And so that's basically what I felt like as a youngster.

I was ready to get out. I Uh I did uh. I did scuba. I was a scuba instructor for a bit.

I did some land development stuff, scooba instructor, school instructor, all these all these things helped me because with uh, with the math that is in wine making, I'm not formally trained. So these uh, these jobs that I have that uh utilized equations and stuff like that helped me to really get my math better, UH the science revolving around it. After that, I did go to school, got

But the nursing didn't happen, So I was going to wait a year.

I was just gonna do full on chemistry BAUH with with micro as.

A kind of a background.

But then I got accepted to the dental hygiene program. Did that, and that's basically what helped us get started with the winery because I could work about two to three days a week at the dental office, and then I can the rest of the seven days a week, I can work wine and vineyard.

So on your weekends you're a dental hygienist and then your day job is a winemaker.

Actually opposite.

I'm Monday through Wednesday half day at the dental office and then seven days a week here.

So when you have free time, how do you like to spend your free time? Do you still go scuba diving?

No?

No, scuba diving, it's too cold up here. Monica was going to WSU and that's basically what brought me back from scuba, started the science stuff and started dental hygiene. The reason why we started the winery is the building that we're sitting in here. It's called the Winemaker's Loft Improsser and the initial owner he created this as an

So we came in.

We started with fifty cases. And that's probably the only reason why we're in the wine business right now because he gave us, but with his business plan, gave us the opportunity to do this without overhead because we were.

You know, we're we're coming from no money.

Yeah, we ever had his what will get you every time. But so when you're not working, what do you like to do?

Right now?

Kids, my kids doing all their sports and you know, doing stuff with them, and if we can get away, you know.

Going to to dinner and.

Relaxing and hanging with our friends, you know, back backyard barbecues, hanging with friends and family, you know, just doing a doing a you know, that's.

Not when you're planning a romantic evening for you and Monica that has the kids going to bed early, or maybe they're over at Grandma at Grandpa Martinez. What kind of wines do you open that say this is a romantic evening and just not an average night. Hmm.

I guess probably some bubbly.

What does Monica like?

She likes it all bubbly, white red.

So is there a piece of advice somebody gave you along the way that you do you find that you guide your life with. Maybe it was your dad, maybe it was a teacher, a colleague, a friend. Is there something someone told you along the way that you know you you really feels how you live or work by.

Yeah.

So my dad, since we were little kids, he has this little saying when he leaves, and he tells my kids nowadays it's it's h be good, be nice.

And work hard.

That's a mantra of life.

That's a montreal life.

So you're good, you work hard, and I'm nice.

Yeah, try to be nice.

You see pretty nice. So when you look back at your career, what would you say, is one of your proudest achievements to date?

I think just taking that step to try to make wine in the first place. Uh, we didn't know how to make wine. You know, we just had the background of the grapes. Uh, slowly learned and and just you know, took the chance. And and that's kind of back to my original thing about you know, you you learned that doing farm work from a young age that you're gonna have to do something different. You got to take these risks and and do stuff to to try to elevate out of that.

So great, so complete this sentence. For me, A table without wine is like.

Mmmm, it's like, uh, like a full dinner table with wine and food without anybody to share it with.

Oh.

I thought you were gonna say, like a scuba tank without air.

That's pretty good.

You got that.

I was just gonna I don't know, care to mind down underwater. So we're sitting at a big table here, and we've got your bottles of wine on the table, and there's a couple empty seats. If there was anyone from any walk of life, living or deceased, famous, infamous, whatever, who do you wish you could share a bottle of Martinez and Martinez Wine's with.

H one.

Two, I'd say, uh, Charlie, No Sanchez and Bob Marley. Okay, and then if without any famous people, just my family.

Yeah, but you already share one family, that's true. Yeah, we're not talking about the people you do drink with. I'm talking about the people you wish you could drink with.

They're both passed and there's no possible way we could do it now, so yeah, they would be the ones.

So it's aspirational. Absolutely. So Now I have another question for you about drinking wine. If you were being sent off to a deserted island and could only take three wines with you, what three wines would you take with you? And if they're specific wines, great, But if you're just gonna give me a variety, just tell me what region it's going to come from, you know, as specific wine.

Go for it.

I'd say cab from the Horse seven Hills.

Three bottles.

Uh No, so they're the.

Cab uh And yeah, the cab Horse seven Hills, three different producers.

You do like your Cabernet, Well, Drew, it's time now to play our little game at the end as a way to learn a little bit more about your specific wines and pair them with music. It's all about emotion. Wine makes us feel a certain way, as does music. So let's talk about a couple of your wines, and you tell me a song a musician that you think represents it or you'd want to be listening to while you drink this wine. So you started me today with your chardonnay, So let's start with your chardonay.

Are we going to do all of them?

No?

I won't make you do all okay? Uh, We're going to do three, three of them?

Yeah, all right.

So I would say white wine chardonnay. I would say Michael Salgado, palomito blanco.

Okay. And the chardonay is a nice you know, it's like a crisper style chardonnay.

It's not naked, Yeah, it's naked naked Chardonnay stainless steel.

Yeah, like crisp.

Okay. Let's do your rose of Cabernet savignon.

So what's uh? What's the uh? Oh? Put me on the spot with these.

Hopefully you can edit out my my lengthy.

Uh.

I can't remember the song, but it's uh, it's basically about rose. It's uh it's popping bottles, Uh, something like that. Nicki Minaj and uh Trey songs.

Okay, okay, and your horse heaven Hill's Cabernet.

So uh hm hmmmm.

I mean, just you know, kind of talk me through. What does the wine taste like?

Is it big?

Is it smooth? Is it tannicky?

Is it?

What is it?

It's it's a it's a bigger wine without the over abrasive.

Tannin.

Uh there's more silky uh dusty kind of tanning with that, and but volumptuous fruit, great, great balance and you know, nice acidity and all those things. For the I'd say Latona from Lost Kindness the do you wanna?

Okay, when you kind of describe the wine, it kind of comes out that way. So that's perfect. You survived three wines, three songs. You did it.

You did it.

There you go, Well, Drew, it's been wonderful chatting with you. And I have one more question with the two parter, and the first is what wine region in the world, anywhere in the world, is at the top of your bucket list that you wish you or you hope to go to in the near future.

I'd say Spain, Okay, now Mexico, Now, Mexico, Mexico.

Yeah, they got some good one going there, right.

Yeah.

Watch how the food's really good there.

Right, I'll be I'll be immune to those. Yeah, in tune intune with them.

I'm good.

And the other part of that question, and just to complete it is people want to come here and visit you. Where can they find Martinez? And Martinez you've talked a little bit about him where you are. But when they get here, what can they experience? What will they find here at at your tasting room?

The tasting room, Uh, we we're here to treat everybody like family, introduce our wines and hope that people can enjoy.

The facility has decor like Dia.

Delosrtos and other Latino heritage items on the walls, and the ambiance and the music and and so you can get away even you know you're in the heart of the Lower Valley in Yakimo or Yakima Valley in Washington State, you can it'll seem like you're somewhere else in.

The in the world.

That's wonderful.

And so you can do a flight or you can do a glass when you're here.

Yep, flight glass.

We we actually about fifteen years ago we started not under the recommendation of everybody else. They thought it was nuts. Again, we started making slushies with our rose and with our Albergo and and so you can get a mango and YadA with tahina chamoy and you know.

That kind of thing.

Or you can do the Rose rita classic style margarita but made with rose and enjoy that.

And that's another thing that I'm not like.

To too worried about what people think the norms of the wine society is, because basically, the way I see it is wine drinking is dropping, and we've all seen it seventeen percent in the last however many years. So we got to stop being that that uh you know whatever people think. Yeah, that particular way that people assume wine.

We got to get out of that or we're all going.

To go down.

Well, you know, it's something for everyone. You got rose white red slushies exactly. Hey, when it's ninety eight degrees outside, I think a slushy sounds great.

It is fabulous.

Well, dude, thank you so much for joining us on Wine Soundtrack, and I will raise a glass to you and say cheers.

Salu, Salu, thanks for listening to a new episode of Wine Soundtrack USA. For details and updates, visit our website. Windsoundtrack dot com