Wine, hold the grapes

Between hundred-gallon blue bins full of cranberries stood Dave James, died red from the tips of his fingers to the crease of his elbows. At Pasek Cellars in Mount Vernon wine is made from cranberries, not grapes.

Earlier today, James mechanically crushed the berries and moved them to their blue bins and he added water. He finished this leg of the fermenting process by stirring the mixture with a pizza paddle-like tool. The berries will eventually make their way to a 1,000 gallon fermentation tank where they will stay for the next three months. This grueling effort will eventually lead to a tangy, red cranberry wine.

Tourists guzzle Pasek’s signature cranberry wine in droves. Judy Pascale, Dave’s wife and co-owner of the winery, said sometimes the wine is bottled and shipped out in the very same day. Pasek also makes blackberry, raspberry, loganberry and other fruit wines, but cranberry is the clear favorite Pascale said.

The harvest season for grape vineyards limits traditional wineries to producing only in autumn. Pasek produces its fruit wines year-round. Pasek’s fruits are often frozen, which means the winery doesn’t have to wait for harvest to start making wine. According to Pascale, freezing the fruit doesn’t affect the taste of the wines.

Pasek Cellars offers free samples at its new location on Old Highway 99. Matthan Tracy, a California native stationed in the area, tasted three of the winery’s top sellers, including its cranberry wine. According to Tracy, the fruit wine doesn’t taste anything like traditional wines made from grapes. He said he prefers dry red wines, so he wasn’t expecting to like the sweeter fruit wines. Pasek’s best seller changed his mind.

“It’s like boozy juice,” he said. “What’s not to like?”

The tasting room walls are adorned with colorful posters designed by local artists. Pascale said a panel of judges pick a different Skagit-based artist to create a design for each year’s tulip festival. Mount Vernon is known for its tulips and Skagit Valley holds an annual festival to display them to the public. She held up a bottle with that year’s design on the label, a vintage blue truck parked in a bed of red tulips.

The sales floor is full of wine-themed knickknacks and gadgets like a hammock to hang a wine glass around your neck and a corkscrew shaped like a cockatoo. Due to CDC regulations, Pasek has only just recently been allowing guests to sit and sample wines.

Like Tracy, Pascale prefers traditional red wines. The cellar also offers Syrah, a cabernet blend and a full cab that are made at another winery. All their fruit wines, however, are fermented and bottled on site.

Pasek’s wines are available nationwide at Whole Foods and various liquor stores.

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