Greg Frichette is Co-owner and Winemaker at Frichette Winery, a limited production winery and tasting room in the Red Mountain AVA in Washington State. With a background that bridges technology and tradition, Greg brings a unique perspective to the art of winemaking.
His first harvest in 2011 sparked the career shift, soon followed by an Enology Certificate from WSU. With his wife Shae, Greg built Frichette Winery as a place where persistence, passion, and community converge—welcoming guests daily with both handcrafted wines and warm hospitality.
Together with his wife, Shae, Greg built Frichette Winery as a place where persistence, passion, and community converge. Their tasting room is open daily, blending warm hospitality with a casual vibe that guests and club members enjoy. Media Inquiries: Shae Frichette shae@frichettewinery.com | https://www.frichettewinery.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
Our story started with a flip of a coin and knocking on doors. We wanted to leave CA and move closer to family (Shae’s family in S.C. and Greg’s in Washington State) and since both families were great options, we left it to fate and flipped a coin to decide. Since the coin landed on heads, we moved to Washington State with a dream of doing work that would give us goosebumps. That lead us to wine and Red Mountain. Since no land was for sale in this small AVA, we started knocking on dozens of doors until someone finally agreed to sell us their land. We turned their pole barn into our casual and warm tasting room. That persistence of knocking on doors became part of our DNA and our story (and a name for our Estate Blend).
What makes us memorable is that guests taste our wines and they experience our story. We bet everything on a dream that still gives us goosebumps. We raise our son in the vineyard, and we’ve built a place where our club members and guests tell us they feel like they belong. Most of our very first members are still a part of our wine club. They’ve watched our son and our Estate grow and we are grateful to them for being cheerleaders for us and for choosing to be a part of our journey. Our members share with us that our mix of persistence, hospitality, and our “vibe” in bringing people together around wine is what truly sets us apart.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
If nothing were off the table, I’d expand our Estate to truly give guests an unbelievable full scope experience. This would include walkable retreat like escapes with seating nooks, 5 RV hookups, 5 casual but luxury guest suites, a kitchen garden and 5 unique gathering spaces. We’d host regular food and wine experiences, leadership and empowerment workshops and small music experiences. I’d have a winemaking lab for future winemakers to learn and experienced winemakers to mentor and share knowledge. All of this would contribute to epic and unique guest and hospitality experiences as well as support the next generation of winemakers.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
If you try just one wine from Frichette, it should be Persistent. When we share our story of flipping a coin and knocking on doors with our guests and club members, they respond, “you guys are Persistent”. So, we thought we’d use that to name our Estate Blend.
Persistent is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, which is grown right off the patio of our tasting room. It’s bold and structured, which is what you’d expect from a Red Mountain wine, and it also shows elegance and balance, especially with tannin and the oak influence, which is from our winemaking style. Read my review of the Persistent Red Blend.
Bonus Question: What are your wholehearted convictions related to the wine business?
I believe wine can bring people together more than it separates them. Wine has always been about community, conversation, and connection. Our conviction is that access to wine and wine experiences should be approachable, inclusive, and human, not something that intimidates or excludes. If someone walks away from our winery (and any winery) feeling welcomed, appreciated, and part of something bigger, then we’ve done our job as an industry.