Bart Fawbush is the owner and winemaker of Bartholomew Winery based in Kennewick, in the Columbia Valley AVA, Washington. He known for producing unique varietals in Washington state. He began his winemaking career after a day trip wine tasting in Woodinville, which inspired him to transition from his previous careers in business, including bill collection and mortgage brokering. Fawbush started making wine in 2007 and opened a tasting room in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood in 2010. In 2017, he moved his winemaking operations to Kennewick, where he established a new facility in the Columbia Gardens Urban Wine and Artisan Village. His winery is noted for offering less common grape varieties like Tannat, Primitivo, and Carménère, alongside more traditional ones. His wines have received positive reviews, with his Carménère being particularly acclaimed. Media Inquiries: bart@bart.wine | https://bart.wine/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
The one idea that defines us lies within our motto, Broaden your Palate. We share a sort of black sheep mentality towards life in general, doing things differently and pushing boundaries is often what’s asked of us when reaching for the truths that we see about the world. Taking that attitude into wine has manifested itself in the kinds of wine we make. A willingness to journey into the unknown and take risks has led us to produce wines in unique ways. We’ve introduced entirely new grapes to the state, blended wines in ways no one else has done before, and continually redefined what it means to make wine in Washington state. Although many scratch their heads when asked what Washington wine is, we see it as the perfect opportunity to push the entire world of wine forward. Try something new, broaden your Palate.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
The goal above all else is to bring people together and give back as much as possible. Wine is a natural conduit for this idea, as so much of what drives our success is determined by the kinds of experiences we can create. Given no constraint, we’d love to have some sort of wine storage service with unique spaces intimately tied to the local community around it, much in the way our tasting rooms already do. The idea would be to take care of our customers in entirety wherever they go and continue to add experience along the way. Accessibility also brings people together. We accomplish this already by offering our wines at a fair value to give people the opportunity to expand their palate without the premium but beyond that we can eventually do our part in education of wine. Knocking down the knowledge barriers of wine helps bring curious wine drinkers together through the content we produce, a class we can put on and through the very important people that work for us. And one day we’d like to give back through supporting and investing in unique wine projects through growers and winemakers that we believe in. There’s much to be done.
What is One Wine of the most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
Carmenere. It has an undeniable spice and pairs well with so many foods. Today it makes up a third of our production and in our latest release we just introduced 2 different takes on the wine, our love for this grape runs deep. It was not always this way, once in history a Bordeaux grape a tremendous Phylloxera disease fell upon all the vines because of the moist climate in this area of France. This grape was thought to be extinct before being re-discovered on the other side of the planet in Chile. For us it was the first out of the ordinary wine that sparked our mission to bring new wines forth. To try Bartholomew is to try Carmenere. Read my review of this stellar wine.
Bonus Question: What are your wholehearted convictions related to the wine business?
Although reports say that the wine industry is contracting, I believe that we are decades behind on how we market to people. An updated approach fueled by authenticity I believe is the simple difference.