Drink Washington State & Eternal Wine: The Best of Two Worlds
My whole life led me to the wine industry
Brad Binko, owner and winemaker at sister brands Eternal Wine and Drink Washington State sat down with The Grapevine to tell us how a New York native followed his dreams across the country to open a tasting room at the Walla Walla Airport Winery Incubator.
The Malbec that Sparked a Dream
My whole life led me to the wine industry, I suppose. My dad got me into wine pretty early on, so I kind of got an appreciation from that. I started bartending at the airport when I was 18 so that kind of got me into learning how to talk about wine and sell wine. Then when I moved down South to Charleston, South Carolina that’s really when I started getting more interest in learning more about wine and learning more about wine regions.
Growing up learning about his dad’s extensive wine cellar, wine was a part of Brad’s life early on. He can pinpoint the moment, or at least the wine, that made it clear to him he needed to be part of the wine industry.
There was a wine – there was definitely a wine. It was a Vina Cobos Malbec from Mendoza. I remember tasting it. I was at a group tasting, I think Southern Wine Spirits was putting it on. I remember tasting it thinking wow, this is wine, this is a Malbec, I’ve never tasted anything like this before in my life. So that was really the aha moment where I’m like okay, I need to learn more about this so I can find wines that are this style.
Taking the Leap
Moving across the country, East Coast to West Coast, is no small move. After completing his level two sommelier certification, Brad was between two options – go for the level three certification, or further his industry education through an enology and viticulture program. Deciding on the latter, he interviewed around and eventually landed on the Walla Walla Community College.
I fell in love with the area here, the people here. Tim Donohue was the director at the time. He was a really charismatic guy, I wanted to learn from him. It took me a year to get in, I moved across country from Charleston up [to Walla Walla] and I’ve been in Walla Walla since 2014.
Back to School
Going through school and making wine was a benefit for me. You have to learn it really quickly. Sometimes at school you learn something and the next year you forget it. I would learn something and then literally have to go to the winery and do whatever we just did. Like I just learned how to inoculate something, oh well today we’re doing an inoculation, that’s cool. So instantly you use what you learn and kind of cement it into your brain a little bit. I think that was definitely helpful.
Brad went into the viticulture and enology program with plenty of wine experience under his belt. Being a sommelier and having worked in the industry he wasn’t short on industry knowledge, but still ran into some surprises.
It’s funny, when I was living in Charleston and I’m a sommelier I was running a French program and a restaurant and everything was great. I thought I knew a lot about wine. It’s like well you knew how to talk about wine, sell wine, taste wine. I didn’t know how to make wine. It’s so much different when you’re actually doing it than just talking about it. I remember my first day at school I went out there and people were doing stuff saying can you add this, do this. I’m like this is winemaking? I don’t know what I’m doing, what Im adding. I don’t know anything. It was quite eyeopening. Never think you know it all I guess.
Eternal Vs Drink Washington State – Getting Started
I wasn’t planning on starting a winery right away, which I ended up doing. I was a winemaker for a different winery and circumstances just arose where they allowed me to make some wine on the side and start my own label while I was helping them as well and I just took it and never looked back.
Speaking to the owner of two brands I had to ask, why two?
Eternal wines is all single vineyard wines. Very small production. Most of my lots are just a barrel or two. That’s the sommelier, wine geek side of me. That’s definitely where we start playing with things. In 2018 we started making our orange wine. Drink Washington is more the every-day wine drinking side of me. I’m not trying to rock the boat too much on that side. You kind of have to have both, in my opinion. The Drink Washington State is probably 70-75% of what we produce. Eternal is definitely more the one that gets the score recognitions. Its good to have a good little balance between them I feel.
The Wine Community
Prior to the wine industry, Brad was no stranger to starting a business. Having a number of previous ventures from marketing to clothing to printing, Brad was not short on experience. But the wine industry was different from any he had experienced before.
[Something surprising] about having a winery I guess is how open the community is. My first year making and selling wines, the other places were really helpful and offering advice. It was really really nice. You don’t really see that in other industries, or I haven’t really.
We Like to Drink Good Wine and Party
Check out the Eternal Wine and Drink Washington State tasting room in Walla Walla, Washington at the Airport Winery Incubator. Open seven days a week, join Brad and the winery pups for fun, music and some education. Every Friday is concert and food truck night, and check back here regularly for other events, or to buy online!
Editor
Traci is co-founder of The Grapevine Magazine, helping make the world of wine accessible and fun for everyone. Thanks for reading!
