Behind the vine

Ashley Trout - Brook & Bull - Walla Walla, Washington, USA

When do you think you fell in love with wine, enough to make a career of it?

When I was 18, I took a part time job working in wine and I fell in love with the job immediately. At that point, I wasn't in love with wine, but I was in love with the job. I've always been very physical and athletic, and with wine it was this mix of physical ability, seasonal extremes, creative planning - it’s very visceral, you're really in there, getting dirty, discovering textures and smells, and really training your senses to their utmost ability. I loved the incredible mix of skills involved.

Even though I loved the job, I never took it seriously as my path. Not many people can put a roof over their heads as a winemaker. It wasn’t until I had a bad climbing accident and I ended up missing harvest that I had my ‘a-ha’ moment. I was missing harvest, but I knew that’s where my friends were, and that felt almost inappropriate to me. That’s when I realised, this is what I’m meant to be doing.

What story does your wine tell?

I enjoy dispelling the idea that all expensive wines need to be trounced with oak. Instead, what I focus on is what a low-oak profile for a really high-end wine can be for atypical varietals like Cab Franc, Petit Verdot, or Malbec. I explore what happens when you harvest a bit early in the lifespan, and don’t cover it with oak, but rather take really good care of it. That way, you aren’t masking what that wine could have been, you're showing exactly what that wine is, in its truest form. That's what I like sharing with others.

What misconceptions about wine do you think people should forget?

My answer has less to do with wine, and more to do with people. Women buy 70% of the wine in the US and yet when they walk into the luxury market, or when they are in public in a restaurant, they pass on choosing the wine. It's important that women recognise they're already in the wine world, and that they, arguably, have more wine-buying skills than men. That should be galvanizing to women - to know that they are the population buying the vast majority of wines.

My HoldtheMenu initiative is meant to drive confidence in women making their wine choices in public. I believe raising awareness of the fact that women are buying the majority of wine in the US, it will help the become confident enough to make these choices in public. I want to tell women to keep going with wine, don’t stop just because somebody’s looking.

What great things about wine do you think people should remember?

It's this art-form in a bottle that is the slow evolution of the seasons and the grapes. It is a fascinating mix of art, science, thoughtfulness and beauty.

I also love that it’s something you pair to the most important thing you do all day long, which is eat. I think there's something to be said about our natural tendency to slow down when we're consuming something that took that long to make. People intrinsically understand that wine is worth slowing down for, and by doing that, you are honoring the process and respecting the craft of that bottle/winemaker.

I also appreciate the honest challenge that nature presents in wine. The risk of missing the correct pick date or nailing the right barrel choice, or making sure fermentation was either slow or fast, or whatever the choice and aim was. Wine is about the end result and nature won't lie to you, it'll give you what you deserve, and I appreciate that very honest challenge.

What is a piece of advice you would give to a woman interested in breaking into the wine world?

Just go for it - it's really great.

Where can women find your wine?

We are only available in the US. We’re about 2000 cases a year, and offer a robust wine club that you can join on our website.