WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Martin Fujishin, one of the Snake River Valley’s top winemakers and a sustainably minded grapegrower, has been hired as the director of enology and viticulture at Walla Walla Community College.
Fujishin, 45, will be the ninth executive director in the program’s 24-year history. He starts June 3 on the Tausick Way campus and home to College Cellars of Walla Walla.
“One of my main goals is to provide long-term stability for the program,” Fujishin told Great Northwest Wine. “And I hope to build it to the level that it deserves to be. I think about my experiences there and how formative it was for me to take classes there.”
The move to Walla Walla marks Fujishin’s return to the world of academics. A decade ago, the approachable and well-spoken vintner served as the enology and viticulture instructor at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore., for four years.
“I think this is going to be a big surprise for a lot of people in the wine industry,” Fujishin says. “And in the Idaho wine industry, where it’s small and tight-knit, it’s often a shock when there’s a change such as this.”
Chad Hickox, President of Walla Walla Community College, stated in the May 1 news release, “Martin Fujishin’s experience at a community college, coupled with his years as a winemaker, winery owner and industry consultant, make him the ideal fit for Walla Walla Community College and the Walla Walla Valley wine community.”
Fujishin to replace interim director McClellan
Famed winemaker/grower Casey McClellan has served as the interim director at The Institute of Enology and Viticulture for more than a year. The founder and former owner of Seven Hills Winery took over for Stylianos Logothetis, a Greek educator whose stint in Walla Walla lasted less than a year and ended abruptly.
“Casey was part of the selection committee, and I really appreciated talking with him,” Fujishin said. “He should be applauded for the work he’s done on keeping the program on the straight and narrow. He’s done an awesome job.”
In a statement released May 30 by the college, McClellan wrote, “It has been my privilege to guide this program during a challenging period, and to see students and staff overcome adversity to emerge into an improved program.”
Fujishin’s predecessors include program founder Myles Anderson (former co-owner of Walla Walla Vintners), the late Stan Clarke (a beloved Yakima Valley viticulturist/winemaker/educator/writer), Valerie Fayette (marketing specialist from Ste. Michelle Wine Estates), Alan Busacca (Washington State University geology professor), Tim Donahue (winemaker) and Sabrina Lueck. Fujishin took continuing education classes from Clarke and got to know Donahue via Donahue’s recent consulting work for the Idaho Wine Commission.
According to WWCC, more than 400 students have graduated from The Institute of Enology and Viticulture. Although the students come from across the U.S., many of the program’s products find jobs in the Walla Walla Valley wine industry and throughout the Pacific Northwest. The school reported that more than half of the top-rated Washington wines recently reviewed by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate have been made by graduates of College Cellars. In 2019, alumni and College Cellars of Walla Walla combined to earn more than 20 gold medals at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
“I am very happy to hand over direction of the program to Martin, and to have brought the program to where it is today,” McClellan wrote. “I would especially like to thank the staff and adjunct faculty of the Enology and Viticulture Program for their welcoming me, and for their tireless dedication to attaining the best experience possible for our students and College Cellars over the last 14 months. They have truly made a difference in our students’ lives.”
Fujishin Family Cellars named Top 10 Hot Brands
Wine Business Monthly magazine in 2017 selected Fujishin Family Cellars as one of its Top 10 Hot Brands. The following year, Fujishin Family Cellars was selected as Idaho Winery of the Year by Wine Press Northwest magazine and an old-vine Riesling that he produced was voted best of show at the 2018 Idaho Wine Competition. Judges that year included California journalist Mike Dunne, Lane Hoss of Anthony’s Restaurants; Sheri Sauter Morano, a Master of Wine from Durham, N.C., and journalist Bill Ward, who won a James Beard Award for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
During his career with Koenig Vineyards, Fujishin was hands-on with more than 20,000 cases of wine production during some vintages and worked with as many as seven brands. Along the way, he received grapes from a handful of prominent vineyards in Washington state.
Combined production for Fujishin Family Cellars and sister brand Free Dog Wines is about 6,000 cases. His flagship red wine is the Rhône-inspired Amatino, and awards have also been hung on his Albariño, Graciano and Tempranillo. He and his partner, Teresa Moye, have been innovators and visionaries for the Idaho wine industry in terms of production, branding and guest experiences.
His appointment to Walla Walla Community College means those on his team in the Snake River Valley will step up into expanded roles with the two wine brands as well as Windseeker Vineyard, Fujishin’s young estate planting at 2,600 feet elevation near Wilder, Idaho.
“From my standpoint, it’s a really nice transition,” Fujishin says. “We spent the last 15 years building a really good team, and now we will be able to promote some people, turn the company over to them and get out of their way. And production will continue to be handled in conjunction with the folks at Koenig Vineyards.”
Fujishin is a third-generation farmer and native of Adrian, Ore. — a small town along the banks of the Snake River. His father, Barry, has been the longtime major gifts officer at The College of Idaho in Caldwell. Martin received a degree in business management from The College of Idaho in 2000, served as a counselor at Idaho Youth Ranch and is an ordained minister who has officiated a number of weddings.
For those who wonder if a winemaker from Idaho is ready to take over the leadership of the Northwest’s most-decorated winemaking school, Fujishin chuckled, adding, “It’s always fun to be the underdog.”
“When I look at how Idaho is thought of in the greater world of wine, I think of how small Washington is compared to the California wine industry,” Fujishin says. “And then Washington shows time and again that folks from that region excel.”
He also is aware of the uncertainty surrounding the industry.
“The challenges are a really rapidly changing wine environment in the Northwest, changes in consumption and Ste. Michelle’s reorganization means there are more grapes to be available to be purchased,” Fujishin says. “From an educational standpoint, ours needs to be a work-force educational program that teaches folks how to hook up hoses and run forklifts and do the heavy lifting of working at a winery.”
Fujishin wants to build upon the marketing, tasting room hospitality and the wine business side of WWCC’s program.
“Another goal will be to reach out to the migrant worker community in hopes of building a really good workforce for the eastern Washington wine industry,” he says. “And for someone from Idaho flying the flag in Washington, this will help expand the knowledge of what Idaho wine is all about.”
Fujishin and Moye, who will remain as VP of operations for their Idaho brands, have no plans to sell their house in Sunnyslope Wine District, a former home of an Idaho governor – the late Phil Batt, that offers sweeping vistas of the Snake River Valley. They have grandchildren and family throughout the Pacific Northwest in Seattle, Western Oregon and the Boise area.
“I’m only 45,” Fujishin says. “Even if I put in a good number of years with the community college that still gives me time to be a hermit on the hill if I want to,” he says with a chuckle. “You never know where things are going to go, but Teresa and I really look forward to being in a great little town that’s just a cool place to live.”
This is fantastic news! Congratulations, Martin and welcome to the Valley!
Congratulations Martin, well deserved..Bitner Vineyards will miss you. Thanks for all your help. The three amigos were a great team. Fujishin, Koenig and Bitner..