One happy family!
Annette, Julie, Steffan, and Amber at Holiday Barrel Tasting 2006
Steffan Jorgensen Winemaker... gettin' his swirl on...
Production area in winery
The Story
In the beginning months of 2001, Annette Bergevin and Amber Lane co-founded and created Bergevin Lane Vineyards with Gary Bergevin (Annette’s father). The goal for Amber and Annette was to “leave the rat race behind” in California and get back to what they each wanted from life. Annette wanted to be close to her family and long-time friends, and Amber wanted to take on new challenges and continue her personal path of growth and education. Gary’s 20 years of experience in the wine industry in both the vineyard and business aspects, was the catalyst to start the winery. Together they brainstormed, worked hard, and brought to fruition Bergevin Lane.
Amber and Annette along with "office princess" Julie Myrick, manage the daily operations including sales and marketing. If you visit the winery, you might see the girls with a broom and dustpan in their hands or wrestling with a case of wine for delivery... of course, you will never see Julie doing either of those menial tasks. She didn't earn the title of "princess" for nothing!
Being owners of a smaller winery includes responsibilities that aren’t as glamorous as what they envisioned in their “dreams” but Amber and Annette will attest that they are doing what they love and love what they are doing….after all, there is lots of great wine to drink at the end of the day!
The winery officially opened its doors in May 2003; the winery is a 20,000 square foot “modern industrial” building located in downtown Walla Walla. Although BLV's production is 11,000 cases, there is a capacity to produce over 22,000 cases of wine at the winery. To help with overhead costs, BLV also has a custom crush operation with two long term tennants.
The Bergevin family’s roots run deep in Walla Walla, having settled in the area in the mid-1800’s. With a respected family history in the community, passion, and a fair amount of risk taking- Bergevin Lane Vineyards was born.
The Wine Making
Walla Walla shares the same latitude (46˚) as Bordeaux, France. The long, hot sunny days and cool night temperatures make for ideal growing conditions that produce ripe, structured wines. Our premium grapes are hand picked and sourced from approximately 8 vineyards within the Walla Walla and Columbia Valleys. Bergevin Lane currently has 30 year leases – totaling 7.5 acres at Les Collines Vineyard and Ash Hollow Vineyard in Walla Walla. We have long term acreage contracts with outstanding vineyards such as Stone Tree Vineyards in the Wahluke Slope, Alder Ridge in Horse Heaven Hills, and Francisca's Vineyard in Walla Walla, and other noted vineyards in the Columbia Valley. Because we believe that to make good wine, you have to have good fruit, we work closely with all of our vineyard growers to ensure the utmost quality of our fruit.
Grapes are hand picked; hand sorted and fermented into five-ton stainless steel tanks that are pumped over at least twice-a-day or put into one and a half ton stainless steel bins that are punched down by hand three-times-a-day. All of Bergevin Lane’s wines are aged in new French, American, and neutral oak. Depending on the wine, our wines are aged between 10 and 24 months.
Winemaker
Winemaker Steffan Jorgensen is originally from Denmark and brings to our team experience in winemaking from France, Chile, and Sonoma, Ca. All of the day to day winemaking operations and production are under Steffan’s supervision. Steffan ensures that our wines are nurtured from vineyard to bottle. With his experience, palate, and pasion, he is a valuable member of our team.
