GARDEN CITY, Idaho — Those who track Northwest wine judgings will know that 2023 was a very good year for Veer Wine Project and owner/winemaker Will Wetmore.
In the case of the 2023 Cascadia International Wine Competition, a panel featuring some of the Pacific Northwest’s top winemakers selected the Veer Wine Project 2021 Garnacha as the No. 1 wine of the judging.
In addition to that, Wetmore’s approach to wine as practical, precise and eclectic led to the selection of Veer Wine Project as the 2024 Idaho Winery of the Year.
“I have to say that I think he is making some of the best wines in Idaho!” notes Damon LaLonde, who manages acclaimed Force Majeure Vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley and is viewed as one of the Northwest’s leading viticulturists. “It was refreshing to taste such wines with energy and aromatics that had not been over blown by oak.”
Wetmore’s results from the University of Idaho Agribusiness incubator in downtown Caldwell for Veer, Hat Ranch Winery and its sister label Vale Wine Co., and Kerry Hill Winery repeatedly received praise during the Cascadia.
“With the work that I do for Hat Ranch and Kerry Hill, I’m getting to make something like 35 wines a year,” Wetmore says. “I want my wines to be different, so I constantly ask myself, ‘How can I make it my own and how can I learn and be creative?’
“You can be experimental — as long as you pay attention to the chemistry,” he adds.
Results from the 2023 Cascadia International and the 2023 Idaho Wine & Cider Competition support LaLonde’s case because regardless of the brand, Wetmore showed a Midas touch.
At the 2023 Cascadia …
- The Veer Wine Project 2021 Carménère ($34) earned a double gold and best of class before it was beat out for Best Red.
- Veer’s off-dry 2022 Rêverie Riesling ($22) received a gold
- Wetmore’s 2022 Soigné Rosé of Grenache ($24) also received a gold
- The Hat Ranch 2020 Tempranillo topped its group
- The Hat Ranch 2020 Cabernet Franc won a double gold medal.
- There was also a double gold for the Vale 2020 Malbec.
As for the 2023 Idaho Wine & Cider Competition:
- The Hat Ranch 2022 Unoaked Chardonnay won a double gold, then Best Chardonnay and reached the sweepstakes as the Best White Wine at the Gem State judging.
- The award for Best Cab went to Hat Ranch’s sister brand — Vale Wine Co. — for the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon that also won a double gold.
- The Hat Ranch 2020 Malbec was best of category after winning a double gold
- The Kerry Hill 2019 Vixen Cabernet Franc went double gold and best of class.
- And the Veer 2021 Mataro, the Spanish name for Mourvèdre, picked up a double gold medal.
It’s amazing to think that if Wetmore had not ripped up his shoulder playing varsity baseball at the University of San Francisco, it’s unlikely he would be an Idaho winemaker. He wouldn’t have met his future wife — Dr. Jaclyn Cooperrider — in an organic chemistry class at University of Redlands, where Wetmore transferred for the rest of his college career.
“We were study partners, but for a while I thought he was just copying my notes,” she says with a chuckle.
She played varsity soccer for the Southern California school, and she’s living out her dream by returning home to the Boise area to practice sports medicine, raise a family and have a husband who makes some of the West Coast’s best wines for her wine-loving parents.
Beermaker veers into Idaho wine after New Zealand
It was 2014 when Wetmore began working at Hat Ranch for owner/winemaker Tim Harless while also bartending and helping in the cellar at Cloud 9 Brewery in Boise’s North End.
“Tim has always supported my efforts to grow Veer in addition to my work with Hat Ranch,” Wetmore says. “His trust in my abilities as a winemaker has given me independence and space to be creative in my winemaking.”
With that encouragement, Veer began in 2016 with a rosé of Sangiovese with Idaho fruit and a Mourvèdre from Red Mountain.
“When we got back from New Zealand in 2019, that’s when we decided to make this a serious go because I had become more confident in what I could do,” Wetmore says. “We were more stable because she was finished with her residency and had a kid on the way.”
Those early wines merited attention and led to Veer as the 2021 Idaho Winery to Watch.
“His star is rising, but I know for Will there’s the pressure to maintain,” Cooperridder says. “It will present some fun challenges that are doable.”
As a couple, it’s kind of a case of opposites attracting. The physician is a stickler for grammar and smartly dressed. The winemaker’s wardrobe seems out of the untucked Jimmy Buffett collection, and that look fits behind the bar of Veer’s new tasting space in the Boise suburb of Garden City.
“Oh man, it’s going to be a lot busier for me,” he says. “I will be in front of customers more often, which is great, especially on the weekends.”
Among those who have helped make the move happen is Mark Nail, a longtime Boise-area CPA accountant who has gone from one of Wetmore’s first customers to a Veer investor and part-owner. He might go down as the No. 1 “Veerdo.”
“He’s been a huge partner and very, very important in the success of this place,” Wetmore says. “When we started the wine club, what would have taken me a month to do, well, it took him about five minutes.”
There are plenty of entry points for visitors to Veer in Garden City. They include a Sangiovese, a standalone Riesling, Grenache rosé and the 2020 Vineyard Ferment. That’s the half-ton of Malbec he crushed, left between the rows of Famici Estate Vineyard and nursed along a 40-day ferment that pushed into Thanksgiving. He finished the juice in barrel with Chardonnay lees.
2020 Malbec Vineyard Ferment from Will Wetmore on Vimeo.
The wine that he named after their son Ren is another Riesling that underwent six months of skin contact before Wetmore introduced some rosé of Carménère and Mourvèdre to boost the fruitiness.
His 2021 Venture is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. The 2022 Scavenger is similar — Syrah, Grenache then Mourvèdre. Under The Scavenger tier will be a rosé and a white blend.
“That is going to be our everyday brand, and it gives us flexibility. For example, the rosé is basically a saignée from every lot I made — but it tastes really good,” he adds with a grin.
Veer will ramp up to 1,600 cases from the 2023 vintage. Future offerings include Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay, a barrel-aged Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Cinsaut and a Syrah made with carbonic maceration, whole clusters and a wild ferment.
“Now my father-in-law is pushing for some Cab from Red Mountain again,” he says with a smile. “As long as someone goes and picks up the grapes for me, I’ll make wine from anything. Oregon Pinot Noir made in Idaho? We’ll see.”
Starting this spring, the alley known as Osage Street beyond the backdoor of Veer Wine Project and between the parking lot of acclaimed Cinder Wines will often be abuzz.
“I think it will be very helpful, and there will be block parties, for sure,” he says.
By the end of the decade, when Veer’s five-year lease expires in Garden City, expect to see Veer in its own facility.
“Somewhere,” Wetmore says. “I’ve got good contracts with Sawtooth Vineyard for Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and now Sauvignon Blanc. I always wanted Sauvignon Blanc after coming back from New Zealand.”
There are few bottles of the 2021 Garnacha available, and he’s nudged up the price since its Best of Show acclaim. That’s about as close as Wetmore gets to being boastful. Most of the time, he’s entertainingly self-deprecating, which adds to his charm and explains why 20 friends helped him paint the walls on the former Par Terre tasting room.
“I’m good at making wine, and that’s about it,” Wetmore says. “I’m deficient in a lot of areas, and people kind of pick up on that, but I’m willing to ask for help. I don’t want to control everything. I just want to have a good time, make wine and have people be happy.”
- Veer Wine Project, 4338 W. Chinden Blvd., Garden City, ID, 83714, VeerWineProject.com, (208) 254-0524.
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