Pend d’Oreille Winery [June 2021]

Due to my love for wine and wine tastings, every time we take a road trip [wether it’s a day trip, a long weekend, or changing our home base location… it doesn’t matter] I always do a little research to see if there is a winery that is on our route. Or at least one not too far out of the way. LOL!! I especially love when I can find a place that we have not been to before!! Sometimes I get lucky and hit the mother lode of three or more wineries in the area. There is usually, at a minimum one winery or vineyard but occasionally I strike out. No biggie, I’m just happy for an adventure!!   

A day road trip is the scenario for finding Pend d’Oreille Winery. I had heard some people at work talking about Sandpoint, Idaho so we made the 1.5-hour jaunt. The drive itself was worth the trip; it was so pretty and scenic. What kind of tourist would I be if I didn't look into the area a little bit!? I found a few things I wanted to see such as: the Cedar Market Bridge, Art Alley, and the City Beach!! The fact that there was a winery in town was just icing on the cake. I mean I don’t know how you could miss Pend d'Oreille with these giant wine barrels hanging above the front door!! Haha!!

Pend d’Oreille was opened in 1995 by Steve and Julie Meyer. Way back when Steve was a struggling college graduate, he took a backpacking trip to Europe instead of joining the ho-hum 9-5 workforce. [not sure how this is struggling.. haha!!] While in Burgundy, France he completely ran out of funds and started looking for something to help refill his coffers, so to speak. Well, it just so happened to be harvest time, and he found a winemaking family to work with, falling in love with the craft. After returning to the States, he headed to CA to put what he learned over the summer into practice.

Steve kept in close contact with the French winemaking family he learned so much from, bringing the "Old Country" traditions to Pend d’Oreille Winery. Interesting name right? It’s French and translates to “hangs from the ear” ummm, what!? It is like the jewelry worn by natives who lived near Pend d’Oreille Lake. The lake is also said to have the shape of a giant ear. It is definitely a one-of-a-kind name; I’ll give him that. LOL!! They say you do not need to know how to speak French to enjoy the French style wine, but it adds a little je ne sais quoi [a certain something] to the experience.

Then you have the phrase [which I love!!] Réve ta vie. Vis tes Réves, meaning “Dream your life. Live your dreams” on every cork of every bottle!! What makes Pend d’Oreille Winery stand out and their wine so unique is it’s la méthodologie. [methodology… but sounds better in French, don’t you think!?] The application of secret and closely guarded French winemaking techniques that Steve learned during his summer abroad. Steve started to mentor Jim Bopp in in 2007, who ironically worked the harvest in 1988 as a recent college graduate, kind of like Steve did when he got stared in the business.

Then in 2014, Jim became co-owner of the winery and was soon joined by Kylie Presta. Jim and his wife Lori, with their two children are Sandpoint natives. With is dedication and knowledge, Jim in now the head winemaker. Kylie was a firefighter before attending University and worked as a carbohydrate chemist. She then came to the winery to work in the lab, helping to analyze and bottle the wine. As co-owners, they are both so honored to keep the Pend d’Oreille traditions alive and to add a little of their own flare.

When Jim first joined the Pend d’Oreille during that year of harvest, they were producing between 500 and 1,000 cases of wine per year. Today they proudly produce over 6,000 cases of wine per year and plan to keep growing!!

Next week Wine with Wixy will be heading to downtown Spokane to find Barrister Winery… [or try to find.. LOL] which turned out to be a beautiful little alley winery!!

Cheers to you my wine loving friends, and TTFN!!