Betz Family Winery and the Arc of Père de Famille
Betz Family Winery and the Arc of Père de Famille
By Jeremy Young
Before there was a winery, there was a year in Europe. In 1974, Bob and Cathy Betz did what very few young Americans had the drive or the means to do: they spent twelve months working their way through the cellars and vineyards of France, Italy, and Germany, absorbing the rhythms of Old World winemaking from the inside. No tourist visits, no organized tours. Just two people with serious curiosity and a shared belief that understanding wine meant getting as close to its source as possible.
That year shaped everything that came after it. Bob returned to Washington State and joined Chateau Ste. Michelle in 1975, at a time when Washington wine was still finding its identity. He would spend the next 28 years there, eventually rising to Vice President of Winemaking Research in 1984. It was a position that put him at the center of some of the most important scientific work happening in Pacific Northwest viticulture, and it gave him a level of knowledge about Washington’s soils, climates, and varietals that very few people in the state could match.
In 1998, Bob earned his Master of Wine certification, one of only 278 people in the world to hold that distinction at the time. His academic work was recognized with the Robert Mondavi Award for theory and the Villa Maria Award for viticulture, two of the most prestigious honors within the MW program. By any measure, he was one of the most credentialed winemakers in the United States. What made that unusual was that he had been quietly making wine under his own label for a year already.
Betz Family Winery started in 1997 in the most unglamorous way imaginable: borrowed space at DeLille Cellars in the Woodinville warehouse district, 150 cases, and a group of friends helping with crush. Bob had spent more than two decades working at one of Washington’s largest wine operations, but the first Betz Family vintage was about as small-scale as wine production gets. That contrast says something important about what he was trying to build. This was never going to be a volume operation. The goal was precision, and the scale reflected it.
The winery grew steadily through the early 2000s, earning critical recognition that put it on a different level from most of its Washington peers. Bob was named Sunset Magazine’s Winemaker of the Year in 2007. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon was named Washington’s number one wine of the year by the Seattle Times in 2008. In 2012, Seattle Magazine named the 2009 Père de Famille the Washington Red Wine of the Year. And in 2014, Wine Enthusiast ranked the 2010 Père de Famille sixth in the world among all wines reviewed that year. That is a remarkable milestone for any winery, but for a small, independently operated Washington State producer, it was the kind of recognition that placed Betz in a different conversation entirely.
In 2005, Bob and Cathy built their own winery in Woodinville, a proper home for what had become one of the state’s benchmark programs. But by 2011, they were ready to move on. They sold the winery to Steve and Bridgit Griessel, who continued the program for over a decade, including the 2017 purchase of Sevein Vineyard, located at the southern tip of Walla Walla Valley in Oregon, and Ancient Stones Vineyard in the Rocks District of Milton Freewater, one of the most distinctive and celebrated terroirs in the Pacific Northwest.
The Père de Famille has always been the centerpiece of the Betz portfolio, and its structure tells you exactly what Bob was after. Built in the style of a Left Bank Bordeaux, it leads with Cabernet Sauvignon from Red Mountain, the smallest and most intense AVA in Washington State, where south-facing slopes, volcanic soils, and the highest average temperatures in the state push fruit to extraordinary ripeness and concentration. Those Red Mountain Cabernets have historically come from sites like Heart of the Hill and Kiona, two of the most respected addresses on the mountain.
Supporting the blend are Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, much of it sourced from Olsen Vineyard in Benton City in the Yakima Valley, a site that has been one of the most consistent contributors in the Betz program for years. Two Blondes Vineyard in Yakima Valley provides Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and a bright, juicy Cabernet Sauvignon that counterbalances the structural weight of Red Mountain fruit. Portteus adds Merlot to the equation. Together, these sites have produced a wine that I have returned to, and love, year after year.
Louis Skinner took over as winemaker in 2015 and guided the Betz program through a decade defined by some of Washington’s most challenging and rewarding growing seasons: the brutal heat of 2015, the complex 2021 heat dome, the near-impossible 2022 vintage that turned into one of the most celebrated in recent memory, and the complete loss of 2020 to wildfire smoke. Through all of it, the Père de Famille continued to represent what Red Mountain and the Yakima Valley can do when the fruit is treated with restraint and intelligence.
In 2024, Seattle-based Ackley Brands acquired Betz Family Winery. Brandon Ackley, who already operates a portfolio that includes Charles Smith Wines, Hogue, Columbia, and Montinore in Oregon, moved production to the former Hogue Cellars facility in Prosser. The Sevein and Ancient Stones vineyards did not transfer with the acquisition, but the core of what made Betz’s vineyard program distinctive, its relationships with Red Mountain and Yakima Valley growers, remained intact.
The 2025 vintage marks the first with Brandon Moss at the helm as winemaker. Moss is direct about what he wants to do: bring freshness and drinkability to the wines without losing what Betz has always stood for. The same vineyard sources, the same BDX-style architecture, but with a focus on making wines that meet the current moment rather than simply continuing a template. He is also introducing a new Cabernet Franc, and by all early accounts, it is a standout: floral, bright, and expressive of everything that makes Yakima Valley Cabernet Franc worth paying attention to.
It is worth pausing on that ambition for a moment. Betz Family Winery is now 28 years old. It was founded by one of the most credentialed winemakers in American wine history, earned its reputation in borrowed warehouse space, grew into a benchmark for Washington Cabernet, survived two ownership changes, and is now entering its next chapter with a new team and a clear point of view. The Père de Famille vertical from 2010 to 2023 represents the full weight of that history. Every bottle in that lineup is a Washington wine from a different era, made by a different hand, in a different climate, from the same core of great Red Mountain and Yakima Valley fruit.
That is what a vertical tasting makes visible. Not just the wine, but the thread running through all of it.
Vintage Reports: Red Mountain and Yakima Valley, Washington State
2010
A cool, wet spring led to the latest harvest on record for many Washington vineyards. The upside: naturally low yields and an extended stretch of warm, dry weather from late September through October that allowed full phenolic ripeness with extraordinary natural acidity. The resulting wines were elegant and structured rather than powerful, with lower alcohol and a balance that rewarded patience. The 2010 Père de Famille later ranked 6th in the world by Wine Enthusiast, as strong a validation as any Washington wine has received.
2011
The coolest vintage Washington had seen since 1999. A late, cool season followed by rain during harvest pushed winemakers to make difficult calls about when to pick. The reds that came from 2011 are leaner and more austere than surrounding vintages, with lower alcohol and a firm, angular structure that requires time to open. For those willing to wait, there is genuine complexity here, but 2011 demands patience more than most years in this lineup.
2012
A return to form after two challenging years. Warm, sunny, consistent weather through the growing season allowed fruit to ripen on schedule with no weather events to disrupt the rhythm. Washington’s biggest harvest to date by volume, up nearly 20 percent from the previous record. Strong diurnal shifts preserved natural acidity alongside plush, ripe fruit.
2013
A warm, early vintage across eastern Washington, with bud break and bloom running ahead of schedule. The heat built steadily through summer and harvest came in concentrated and ripe. Red Mountain thrived, producing Cabernets with deep color, full tannins, and the kind of density that gives the best wines from this AVA their reputation. 2013 is considered one of the strongest back-to-back pairs alongside 2012 in Washington’s recent history.
2014
Another strong year for Red Mountain. Growing conditions were warm and consistent, with the diurnal temperature swings that define eastern Washington allowing full flavor development while retaining acidity. Yields were healthy, fruit quality was high, and the resulting Cabernets show both the power of Red Mountain and the balance that good hang time can deliver. A reliable, well-structured vintage without the drama of the years around it.
2015
Historically hot. The 2015 growing season in Washington broke temperature records across eastern Washington, producing some of the most concentrated, extracted wines the state has ever seen. Small berries and intense heat pushed ripeness well beyond typical levels. Red Mountain Cabernets from 2015 are powerful and age-worthy, with deep color, formidable tannins, and a richness that will outlast most of the wines in this lineup. Not the most elegant year, but arguably the most imposing.
2016
Bud break arrived two weeks ahead of the historical average, and the season ran warm and early throughout. Red Mountain excelled, producing full, fruit-forward Cabernets with the bold structure the appellation is known for, but slightly more generosity than the dense 2015s. I adored 2016’s consistency across price points, and the Red Mountain wines in particular showed that the appellation could deliver power and polish together.
2017
A cool, wet winter with above-average snowfall pushed bud break behind schedule, setting up a growing season that looked uncertain early. What saved it was September: temperatures cooled at exactly the right moment, giving the fruit luxurious hang time without accumulating excessive sugar. The result was harvest at perfect sugar levels with developed flavors and genuine freshness. I rated 2017 on par with 2016 in overall quality, a surprising outcome given the difficult start.
2018
Warm spring and summer conditions without the extreme heat events of 2015 made 2018 a steadier, more comfortable growing season. September and October brought moderate temperatures that extended hang time naturally, allowing for additional flavor development at the pace winemakers prefer. The wines are approachable and well-balanced, with ripe fruit and good structure, a year that gave Betz clean, expressive raw material to work with across all varieties in the blend.
2019
A more complicated vintage for eastern Washington than the years immediately before it. Growing conditions were variable enough that results split noticeably by producer and site. Red Mountain’s warmth offered some insurance, but the vintage overall required careful decision-making in the vineyard and the cellar. The wines are good but benefit from selective picking and skilled winemaking. The Père de Famille’s vineyard program, drawing from established, well-farmed sites, was well-positioned to navigate a season that rewarded experience.
2020
No Père de Famille was produced. Wildfires spread across the Pacific Northwest in late summer and early fall, blanketing the Columbia Valley in smoke and imparting taint in fruit that had not yet been harvested. Betz made the decision not to release a wine from this vintage. It was the right call, and one that reflects the seriousness with which the program takes its reputation.
2021
A heat dome in late June sent temperatures to record levels across eastern Washington, and the heat persisted through much of the growing season. Freshness and natural acidity were harder to preserve than in most years, and the wines from 2021 reflect that, showing the concentration and density that extreme heat delivers but requiring careful work in the cellar to maintain balance. Red Mountain, given its already warm baseline, handled the conditions as well as any site in Washington. Producers who picked intelligently made wines with real depth.
2022
The season that looked impossible and turned into one of the best. A cold, wet spring with late bloom, snowfall between bud break and bloom, and frost events gave way to consistently warm conditions from late July onward, with some heat spikes but no extremes. The result was lower sugar levels at harvest, meeting brilliant phenolic maturity, a combination that almost never happens simultaneously. The vintage is fresh, refined, and will age for decades, and the Red Mountain wines in particular drew high marks for combining structure and freshness in a way the region rarely achieves.
2023
A small harvest by volume, but the quality is among the highest in recent memory. The growing season provided concentration and ripeness without sacrificing acidity, exactly the balance winemakers chase year after year. Tyler Williams at Kiona on Red Mountain described it as a vintage “where you don’t have to choose between concentration and acidity.” For the Père de Famille, which relies on Red Mountain fruit as its backbone, 2023 delivered material that is expressive, structured, and built to develop well in bottle.