(upbeat music) - [Speaker 1] Coming to the Yakima Valley provides a different experience.

- [Speaker 2] I look forward to relaxing.

The views of the valleys are incredible.

We just love it here.

- [Speaker 3] The peacefulness, the relaxation in the wines are fabulous.

- I fell in love with the wines from Washington, moved up here without having a job, and I've been here since then and I just love it.

- [Speaker 4] Agriculture is really how we connect with the Earth, and wine is how we connect with one another.

(bright music) - My name is Marcus Miller.

I'm the president of Airfield Estates Winery here in Prosser, Washington.

(country music) (bright music) This is a great community with great people.

Everyone here is so nice.

It's just got a lot of small-town charm and appeal.

We love living here.

I grew up on our farm in Sunnyside, went away for college for several years, but at the end of my college, my dad asked me to come home and see if I wanted to take over the family farm, and I've been in this community ever since.

(lighthearted music) There's just great wines and there's a lot of knowledge to learn from.

I have one sister, Lori.

She makes sure that everyone of our customers and wine club members is getting that experience that dad so badly would've wanted to give them himself.

(bright music) There's some really cool history.

(suspenseful music) Pearl Harbor had just happened, and all of a sudden there is a concern that there may be a strike on the West Coast somewhere.

There was a small airfield operating out of Olympia, and all of a sudden they couldn't fly their missions very effectively because of all the restrictions on the airspace.

So they came over to Eastern Washington, happened to visit H. Lloyd's real estate business, H. Lloyd Miller, my great-grandfather, and we're looking for a location to possibly put a training base in Eastern Washington.

And next thing we know, they're breaking construction on some runways and troop barracks, mess hall, hangars.

And from 1942 to 1944, 500 pilots learned to fly on our property, and that's why the farm is called Airport Ranches is because we still farm today out of World War II era hangars.

(uplifting music) My grandfather Donald got into wine.

(mellow music) He got his grapes from Yakima Valley.

We still have some chardonnay from 1968 from that original planting.

Today, that's all we do is grow wine grapes and juice grapes.

(mellow music) When you plant a grape vineyard, you're hoping that that's gonna stay in the soil for the next 30 to 40 years.

It's a permanent crop system.

We're at the right location on planet Earth.

You look across the globe at where wine really thrives, and that 46th parallel, it's just the right amount of sun.

You get those long 14-hour days during the heart of the growing season, and so you get that nice balance between wonderful fruit flavors and that ripeness expression, but also wine with good acidity to make it very food-friendly at the same time.

We have fantastic soils.

We do have a lot of different grapes.

Today, we grow 26 different varieties.

We're very fortunate to have land here.

(mellow music) - As a wine taster, it can be a little daunting to have such an extensive list in front of you and trying to narrow down and figure out exactly which bottle of wine you might really enjoy.

Knowing the varietal that you're tasting and kind of some of the attributes of the varietal is certainly going to help.

But if you're new to the whole wine scene, my recommendation is just trust your palate.

And one of the first ways that I recommend starting is aerating the wine, and that helps bring out the aromas in the wine.

And the wine I have in front of me today is our Sauvignon Blanc.

With this particular varietal, you're going to typically get a lot of citrus and tropical aromas coming through on the palate.

The Rose is an interesting wine.

It's actually a red grape varietal, and the one we have that we make our Rose from is a varietal called Sangiovese.

It's just got these beautiful aromas and flavors of these kind of fresh red fruits.

So think of fresh raspberry, some candied cranberry, and an ample amount of strawberry as well.

But I feel like the Merlot is a very versatile Merlot.

It's got plenty of fruit on the palate.

It's got good tannin structure.

For those of you who aren't familiar with what a tannin is, it's kind of like that parching sensation that you get after you taste a wine.

And so if it really kind of dries out (tongue clicks) and leaves you kind of with that parched sensation, those are stronger tannins that are coming through on the palate.

But if it's more smooth and silky, those are kind of more of those velvety, seamless tannins that are coming through.

The more you taste, the more you're going to appreciate the nuances, and you're going to kind of tune into which styles of wine you really gravitate towards.

(mellow music) - For us being a fourth-generation farming family, we would love to pass this to a fifth generation and get the kids engaged.

My dad had this bigger-than-life persona.

He was just a really gregarious teddy bear of a guy that everyone loved.

And so trying to follow that act as the president of the farm has been difficult.

But it was great to work with him for 10 years and learn from him, and he definitely prepared me to do what I do today.

(uplifting music) - [Announcer] "Made There" is made in part with generous support from Yakima Valley Tourism.