Baer Winery

Winemaker Lance Baer founded Baer Winery in 2000 with a single passion — to bring something unique to Woodinville. After years of working with some of the most prestigious wineries in the area, Lance wanted to take his winemaking skills in his own direction. Lance succeeded in handcrafting blends distinctly his own, and in April 2003 the first vintage of the winery’s signature blend, Ursa, was released. Ursa, a feminine expression of red wine, predominantly Merlot and Cabernet Franc, was soon followed by Arctos, a bolder Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend.

As operations moved from an apartment in Redmond to a converted property on six rural acres in Woodinville, the winery was able to grow its production. Lance’s passion went from just 200 cases in 2003 to over 3,000 cases. In late 2007, Baer Winery moved into the popular warehouse wine complex near downtown Woodinville – a move which allowed them to increase their production to approximately 3,500 cases per year, with the vision of that becoming 5,000 in the near future.

Sadly, founder, son, brother and friend, Lance Baer, ​​passed away in May of 2007. The Baer family, Lisa and Les, are sustaining his legacy with the addition and expertise of Consulting Winemaker/Enologist Erica Orr and Assistant Winemaker Paige Whipp . Baer Winery is continuing to produce the wines that Lance initiated, as well as continuing to evolve by introducing French oak and adding new blends to the winery’s line-up.

Since 2004, all of the Baer grapes have been single vineyard sourced from Stillwater Creek Vineyard, which was planted between 2000 and 2001 in the Royal Slope AVA of Columbia Valley. The vineyard is situated on a fractured basalt, south-facing slope 1,400-1,600 feet in elevation. Ed Kelly, Stillwater Creek vineyard manager since 2011, has nurtured this vineyard under the “Salmon Safe” sustainable farming certification and collaborates closely with the Baer production team on selecting fruit that will end up in our signature blends.

Baer is proud to have received numerous 90+ ratings from mainstream wine reviewers, including being featured twice in Wine Spectator’s Annual Top 100 list, with its 2008 Ursa blend appearing at #6, and #28 in 2012. A wonderful tribute to Lance’s memory and winemaking talent.