Enjoy a short film on the Andrew Will Winery
As you can see from the photo above, the first winery location in 1989 was as simple as a building can be and still call it a building. At one time it had been the walkway between two adjoining structures that had a roof put on. Winemaker Chris Camada called it home for five vintages and were able to make 2000 cases in an area 10 feet by 60 feet. The winery was named for nephew Andrew and Camada’s son Will, pictured above.
When Camada and his family moved to Vashon in 1994, “it was as if the circus came to town. All of the barrels of wine I had made and all the equipment and all the case goods were loaded on two trucks and the 20 minute drive from Lower Queen Anne to West Seattle got underway. The winery landed on Vashon about an hour later and we unloaded all and got ready for the 1994 harvest.”
Since then they have added another building for case storage and expanded the winery to allow for tanks and the rest of the machinery we use each fall.
They get their fruit from Ciel du Cheval, Champoux, and May’s Discovery, and Two Blondes vineyards.
Andrew Will makes about 4500 cases of wine a year give or take so many hundred cases. In addition to the blends we make from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, they make Sangiovese from fruit grown at Ciel du Cheval. The history of the Sangiovese is as full as the other wines we have made but for now it lies in the shadow of the other varieties. Since 2003, they have vowed to make as fine a wine as we could through blending the most important varieties we grow in Washington.