FAQs

What is a Cloudlift?

Cloudlift is a design element that occurs in just about all of my furniture designs. Naming the winery Cloudlift was a subtle way to integrate the two things that consume most of my time.

What do winemaking and woodworking have in common?

Aside from the fact that they both begin with w, not a whole lot on the face of things. They are both long, complicated processes that require a long attention span and great attention to detail. If you make a mistake at step 17 and don’t notice, it will certainly come to haunt you at step 128!

Why don't your wines have varietal names like "Merlot" or "Sauvignon Blanc"?

The only pure varietal we have made so far is our Chardonnay. The rest of our wines are Bordeaux-style blends. The laws about wine labeling require a blend to have 75% of a varietal to call it by that name. As a result, the winemaker’s poet wife has come up with all of the monikers to date.

Where did you learn to make wine?

I attended the Northwest Wine Academy at South Seattle Community College and earned a degree in Wine Production.

If I volunteer at the winery what will I be doing?

That depends upon the time of year. Winemaking is a labor-intensive process and different chores happen throughout the year. At bottling we have people operating the filler, corker, capsuler and labeler. There are also people placing capsules over the corks and packing the bottles. At crush in the fall, grapes are sorted and fed into the press or the de-stemmer. Whatever the chore may be, it always includes a lot of cleaning!

Do you make your own barrels?

No! And we don’t stomp with our feet like on “I Love Lucy.”