Four generations after their grandfather planted Schmidt Orchards, Patrick and Matt Rawn are growing and crafting award-winning, estate-grown wines on the same lands. From their youngest days as the farm \u201chelp\u201d they\u2019ve been imbued with an inherent love of the land. \u201cThis place becomes a part of who we are,\u201d they say. That bond and love of the land is evident in their commitment to stewardship and sustainability, earning the first Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing certification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matt Rawn and Patrick Rawn – Two Mountain Winery<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We view our role as just that. Stewards, not owners. We are just the family\u2019s current iteration of\nstewarding this place. It is our job to\ncare for this place so it can continue to provide for future generations in the\nfuture. A big part of this stewardship\nis taking a long-term view and making every decision in the context of its\nimpact on future generations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our journey toward becoming sustainably certified, under\nboth Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing and now Sustainable WA, has been\nsimultaneously a long process and the most natural thing we have done for our\nbusiness. It took us some time to get\nour heads around the concept of having our farming practices certified by a\nthird party. Once the stubbornness\ntoward a third party wore off it was a very natural fit. Once we began formal certification, we\nrealized we were already operating in compliance with the standard by and large. Now we can leverage the best practices\ndefined in both certification programs as benchmarks toward continuous\noperation improvement. It creates a\nvirtuous cycle within the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An increasing amount of the valley\u2019s acreage will most\ncertainly become certified over the next couple of years. My guess is we will see at least half of the\nvineyard acreage become certified within five years. Most growers do a great job and really care\ndeeply about their farms and the valley at large. Taking the step to become certified gives a\ngrower the opportunity to tell the story of good things they are doing. It gives one a seat at the table. Additionally, Sustainable WA is built on the\nbest science and practices that exist. \nInvesting in meeting the standard provides a roadmap towards continually\ngetting better as a grower. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Consumers care where their food and beverage come from. How it was grown and that that was done in a\nway that is additive to the community in which it was grown matters. Becoming certified shows one\u2019s customers just\nthat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There should not be a binary choice between a great wine and\none that supports the community it was grown in. Certification helps consumers not have to\nmake compromises in that rubric.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four generations after their grandfather planted Schmidt Orchards, Patrick and Matt Rawn are growing and crafting award-winning, estate-grown wines on the same lands. From their youngest days as the farm \u201chelp\u201d they\u2019ve been imbued with an inherent love of the land. \u201cThis place becomes a part of who we are,\u201d they say. That bond and… View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meet-the-maker-yakima-valley-stories","category-wine-country"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2626"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5220,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2626\/revisions\/5220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visityakima.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nWhat does it mean to you to be stewards of the same lands your family has worked for generations? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How did your commitment to sustainable growing and winemaking develop? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ve taken sustainability to a higher level with involvement in the creation of the new Sustainable WA certification, as well as earning certification for your vineyards. Do you see those practices growing in the Yakima Valley moving forward? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What should wine consumers know about sustainable practices in winegrowing and winemaking? Do you see consumers considering this when choosing wines?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n