About Chatter Creek Winery

Chatter Creek Winery was founded in 1996 by Gordon Rawson. His vision, to make world-class wines that showcase the unique and varied terrior of Washington State.

Gordon started making wine as a hobbyist while he was working for a fine wine distributor in the Seattle area. In 1987, he parlayed his enthusiasm for winemaking into a job at Columbia Winery where he had the opportunity to work with Master of Wine, David Lake. David’s style of management was to have his staff involved in all aspects of the winemaking process that allowed Gordon to both observe and participate in the artistic side of winemaking.

After working for Columbia Winery as Cellarmaster for nearly a decade, Gordon opened Chatter Creek to produce top-quality sparkling wines. In 1998, he broadened the focus of Chatter Creek to include still wines. Early in 2000, he departed Columbia Winery to focus solely on Chatter Creek.

Chatter CreekWinery specialized in handcrafted varietal wines that emphasized the diverse terroir of Washington State. Production is styled after class European wines, focused on the Rhone and Bordeaux varietals.

About Chatter Creek Cider:

I began making wine in the early 80’s as a home winemaker. Some of the first wine I made was from fresh apple juice purchased from the local grocery. It was great stuff to practice with, but wanting to be a “serious” winemaker, I moved on to grapes and wine-making as a vocation. Throughout the years as a professional winemaker I’ve been called on to make many types of fruit wines and mead but never made it back to apple. I started Chatter Creek Winery in 1996, making sparkling and still wines. The idea of working with apples again languished on the “that’d be fun to do” list.

A few years or so ago, after a particularly awful day of not doing winemaking at the winery, I grabbed a couple of carboys and some yeast, stopped at the store for apple juice on my way home, and started down the cider road.

Gordon knows cider is essentially a wine made from apples. In 2015 he decided to return to his roots and apply his considerable winemaking experience to making fine ciders using Washington state apples and the finest whole ingredients.

At Chatter Creek, we apply a wine maker’s sensibility to the crafting of contemporary ciders.

Whether the cider is an all apple Heritage cider or a spice infused modern cider, we strive for the complete experience of aroma, structure, length and finish.