DeLille Cellars

DeLille Cellars was established in the spring of 1992 by Chris Upchurch, Jay Soloff, Greg Lill, and his father Charles Lill, on a 10-acre farm in Woodinville. Upchurch and Soloff had known each other since 1974 and shared a vision of crafting world-class Bordeaux-style wines from Washington State. The winery's name honors the Lill family heritage: Greg Lill's ancestor Julius DeLille was a Huguenot who fled the French city of Lille to escape religious persecution and, in 1574, founded a winery and brewery in what is now the Czech Republic. David Lake, a Master of Wine and head winemaker at Columbia Winery, guided DeLille in its formative years, advising on equipment, winemaking techniques, vineyard sourcing, and introductions to key Red Mountain sites and Red Willow in the Yakima Valley. He also encouraged the winery to acquire the rights to the historic Harrison Hill vineyard and helped craft Washington's first white Bordeaux-style blend, Chaleur Blanc.

• Founded spring 1992 in Woodinville, Washington, by Upchurch, Soloff, and the Lill family; currently the oldest operating winery in Woodinville
• Named for Greg Lill's ancestor Julius DeLille, a Huguenot from Lille, France, who started a winery and brewery in modern-day Czech Republic in 1574
• David Lake, Master of Wine and Columbia Winery head winemaker, served as consulting enologist in the winery's early years, making key vineyard introductions
• In March 2019, DeLille moved all production and operations to the former Redhook Brewery site in Woodinville, opening a three-story tasting room in late 2019

DeLille Cellars occupies a foundational position in Washington wine history as the producer that demonstrated the Pacific Northwest could craft Bordeaux-style wines with world-class quality and significant aging potential. The winery was among the first five in Washington to receive Robert Parker's 5-star excellence rating, and in 2000 won The New York Times Wine Today.com Winery of the Year award. Robert Parker also rated DeLille and its Doyenne label among the top 12 Washington producers, calling DeLille the 'Lafite Rothschild of Washington State.' With five Wine & Spirits Top 100 Wineries of the World accolades and over 900 individual 90+ point scores, the winery consistently elevated Washington's profile on the international stage. In 2013, Bacchus Capital Management made a significant growth investment in DeLille, providing resources to expand production and distribution while preserving the winery's founding quality standards.

• Among the first five Washington wineries to earn Robert Parker's 5-star excellence rating; named Wine Today.com Winery of the Year in 2000
• Robert Parker called DeLille the 'Lafite Rothschild of Washington State'; accumulated over 900 individual 90+ scores from top international critics
• Five Wine & Spirits Top 100 Wineries of the World accolades: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022
• Bacchus Capital Management invested in DeLille in May 2013, supporting growth while maintaining the winery's founding philosophy and quality benchmarks

DeLille Cellars wines are shaped by a founding philosophy that blending transcends the sum of individual parts, combining multiple Bordeaux varietals from carefully selected vineyard sites to create wines greater than any single component. The winery uses 100% French oak barrels, with new oak percentages calibrated to wine tier: the 2022 D2 was aged in 47% new French oak for 20 months, while higher-tier wines may use varying percentages suited to their concentration and structure. The resulting wines show integrated tannins, refined aromatics emphasizing dark currant, tobacco, mineral, and herbal notes, and persistent, elegant finishes. Wines show both immediate approachability and genuine aging potential, with top-tier expressions capable of developing over 15 or more years. The winery also produces Rhone-style wines under the Doyenne label, featuring Syrah from Red Mountain alongside other Rhone varieties, and a portfolio that extends to Roussanne and a Grenache-Mourvedre-Cinsault rosé.

• 100% French oak aging program; new oak percentage calibrated by wine tier, for example 47% new French oak for D2 across 20 months
• Signature profile: integrated structure, dark fruit aromatics with mineral and herbal complexity, elegant and persistent finishes
• Portfolio spans Bordeaux reds and whites, single-vineyard expressions, and Rhone-style wines under the Doyenne label
• Grand Ciel Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% estate fruit from a single block on Red Mountain, using high-density Guyot-trellised French clones on sandy loam and volcanic-ash soils

DeLille's two founding wines, Chaleur Estate and D2, were crafted from the first 1992 vintage and received their commercial debut in 1994. D2 takes its name from the D2 highway, the grand route du vin running through the historic Médoc chateau region of Bordeaux. Always Merlot-dominant, D2 is sourced from over a dozen Columbia Valley vineyards including Red Willow, Harrison Hill, Ciel du Cheval, Klipsun, Boushey, DuBrul, Upchurch, and Grand Ciel. Harrison Hill, a left-bank Bordeaux blend from the Snipes Mountain AVA, draws from vines planted in 1962, the second oldest Cabernet Sauvignon in Washington State. Chaleur Estate is a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant red blend from Red Mountain, while Chaleur Blanc, first made in 1995, is Washington's original white Bordeaux-style blend, a Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon blend that has been served at the White House across three administrations. The Doyenne label covers Rhone-style wines, with the Doyenne red combining Syrah with Cabernet Sauvignon in a Provence-inspired style. Grand Ciel Cabernet Sauvignon and Grand Ciel Syrah come exclusively from the winery's estate vineyard on Red Mountain, first harvested in 2004.

• D2: Merlot-dominant blend named for the D2 Bordeaux highway; 2022 vintage is 56% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, 4% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc; sourced from 12+ Columbia Valley sites
• Harrison Hill: Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blend from Snipes Mountain AVA; vines planted 1962 (second oldest Cabernet in Washington); rights acquired by DeLille in 1994
• Chaleur Blanc (first vintage 1995): Washington's first white Bordeaux-style blend; Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon; served at the White House across three administrations
• Grand Ciel estate wines (Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah): 100% from DeLille's 20-acre Red Mountain estate vineyard; first harvest 2004; Syrah is 100% Clone 383

DeLille operates primarily as a négociant-style producer, sourcing premium fruit from long-term vineyard partnerships rather than relying solely on estate production. Key partners include Klipsun Vineyard (Red Mountain), Ciel du Cheval (Red Mountain), Red Willow (Yakima Valley), Boushey Vineyard (Yakima Valley), Sagemoor Vineyards, DuBrul Vineyard, and the Newhouse family's Harrison Hill Vineyard (Snipes Mountain AVA). This model, championed from the winery's founding by Chris Upchurch with guidance from David Lake, provides the flexibility to blend across multiple vineyard sites and AVAs, adjust compositions vintage to vintage, and access some of Washington's most acclaimed growing sites. In parallel, Grand Ciel estate vineyard on Red Mountain, purchased in 1999 and first harvested in 2004, gives the winery direct control over a single high-quality site. The vineyard uses high-density planting of French clones with Guyot trellising on Red Mountain's distinctive sandy loam and volcanic-ash soils, producing limited quantities of estate-exclusive wines.

• Primary fruit sources: Klipsun, Ciel du Cheval, Red Willow, Boushey, Sagemoor, DuBrul, and Harrison Hill vineyards across Red Mountain, Yakima Valley, Snipes Mountain, and broader Columbia Valley AVAs
• Grand Ciel: 20-acre estate vineyard on Red Mountain purchased in 1999; high-density French clones on Guyot trellising; first harvest 2004; produces Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah exclusively
• David Lake, Master of Wine, was instrumental in establishing the winery's initial vineyard partnerships, including key Red Mountain sites and Red Willow in the Yakima Valley
• Négociant model provides vintage flexibility: blend compositions adjust annually based on vineyard-specific fruit quality and vintage conditions

DeLille Cellars is essential reference material for understanding Pacific Northwest terroir, Washington Bordeaux varietal expression, and how a négociant model competes with estate-based American producers. The winery illustrates how blending across multiple AVAs and vineyard sites, combined with meticulous French oak aging, can yield wines of international caliber. Comparing DeLille's wine tiers sequentially, from multi-vineyard D2 through single-vineyard Harrison Hill to the estate Grand Ciel Cabernet Sauvignon, demonstrates the impact of fruit sourcing, appellation selection, and winemaking precision on quality differentiation. The Chaleur Blanc case study is particularly instructive for professionals: as Washington's first white Bordeaux-style blend, introduced in 1995, it showed that Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon in this continental climate could produce age-worthy, complex whites comparable to serious white Bordeaux. DeLille also illustrates the layered nature of Washington's AVA system, with wines from Red Mountain, Snipes Mountain, Yakima Valley, and the broader Columbia Valley all represented across the portfolio.

• Demonstrates the négociant model's viability in Washington: consistent 90+ scores across multiple tiers without relying solely on a single estate
• Chaleur Blanc (first vintage 1995) = Washington's first white Bordeaux-style blend; Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon; key case study for cool-climate white wine aging potential
• Quality tier differentiation: D2 (multi-vineyard Columbia Valley blend) vs Harrison Hill (single-vineyard Snipes Mountain) vs Grand Ciel (estate Red Mountain) illustrates appellation and sourcing impact
• Washington AVA cross-reference: DeLille sources from Red Mountain, Snipes Mountain (within Yakima Valley), and wider Columbia Valley; illustrates nested AVA hierarchy