Kate Derby is the great-great-granddaughter of Spring Valley Vineyard founder Uriah Corkrum and now leads winemaking operations at the acclaimed estate in Walla Walla, Washington. The winery is part of the Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Group. Named after Corkrum’s wife, Katherine, Kate spent her childhood summers at the Spring Valley ranch, learning the craft from her grandfather, Uncle Devin, and Aunt Mary.
After earning a Psychology degree from Bethel University, she returned to the vineyard full-time, first managing tours and tastings before joining the winemaking team in 2011. In 2023, she became head winemaker, continuing the family legacy with a hands-on, ingredient-driven approach inspired by longtime mentor Serge Laville.
“You start with amazing ingredients and let them shine with limited but thoughtful manipulation,” says Kate. “Every vintage is different, and that’s the beauty of winemaking.”
Kate lives on the ranch with her two sons, Uriah and Malachi. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring wines, running, reading, and photography. Media Inquiries: Kaylee DaLuz: kdaluz@colangelopr.com | https://www.springvalleyvineyard.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
Our family heritage is the one thing that makes our winery unique, authentic, and memorable. Se have this brand and are making 100% estate wines because of my family, who began farming wheat on the property in the mid-1800s. My family members are represented and honored on our wine labels, so we tell their story and the story of the land before we planted vines.
I love that we don’t have to make any of it up; we are a real working farm, which I would say is an important attribute. On any day, we could have a vineyard tractor in the parking lot, seed wheat being delivered for our dry land operation, and we’re bottling wines at the same time. We take pride in our winery, especially because it is a working farm. Visiting the Spring Valley Vineyard ranch, you won’t find brand new décor, top of the line design or equipment, but what we do have is incredible people with amazing stories who love to welcome our guests and show them around.
Everything we do is to keep the land in the family for many more generations. It’s the reason grapes were added to the property. All in all, everything comes back to family: the strength, values, grit, perseverance, and love come together to create something beautiful that we get to share with others.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
If I had no constraints, I would have as many crew members as possible during harvest. We would hand pick the grapes that go into small bins, and those bins would be brought to the winery directly to process instead of being dumped into a larger bin first. The crew would also help at the sorting table, picking out by hand all of the unripe berries and leaves. This level of detail would also go into the fermentation, the punch downs, and the slow hand punch downs on the small 1.5-ton fermenters. This would be a whole other crew, fresh with energy and patience to make sure nothing is rushed.
Finally, I would find coopers and do trials per variety to see what works best with my wine, and then zone in on specific blocks to make the best quality wines that stay fresh and age beautifully.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
Our Uriah Red Wine is the label that put us on the map. Uriah was my great-great-grandfather who homesteaded where we have the vineyard. The wine is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, which were the two varieties we had the most of in 1999, the first vintage of Uriah. We thought it only made sense to put him on the label, symbolizing the foundation of what we wanted to build.
The second year we made Uriah (2000), it was ranked #17 on the Top 100 Wines of 2002 by Wine Spectator. The next vintage, the 2001, was ranked #13 on the Top 100 Wines of 2003. That really put us on the map, and with that success we added more wines to the lineup (with other family members represented on the labels) using 100% estate fruit. We have consistently scored 90+ points from a variety of publications throughout our history of winemaking.
My uncle Devin, who was winemaker at the time, said “what are we going to do when they figure out we don’t know what we are doing?” That quote says so much about why we do what we do. We are farmers. We grow the grapes with as much love and attention that you would give to a child, nurturing it and helping it through difficult vintages. Quality in the bottle starts in the vineyard and I, in the winery, don’t want to screw that up.
Click here to read the Uriah Red wine review.
Bonus Question: What’s the one thing people would be surprised to learn about you?
I have a degree in Psychology! Even though I grew up around the winery and vineyard, I never thought I would spend my career making wine. I was going to open a family counseling center in Walla Walla. But during a leadership class I took in college, we had an assignment to plan and organize an event, which I held at the winery. I left that event knowing that working in wine is what I was supposed to be doing. I loved being present out on the farm and sharing my family’s story with others who are enjoying our wines and spending time in the vineyard during the growing season. Everything from picking decisions, blending and finally putting it in the bottle – I love it all. Winemaking and farming go hand in hand are so interesting to me and fulfilling. Psychology and winemaking are like peanut butter and jelly… but that’s for another time!