Brad Binko of Eternal Wines and Drink Washington State
After years of working in marketing, promotions and the sommelier side of fine dining, Brad Binko moved to Walla Walla in search of new challenges. He started the community college’s Enology and Viticulture Program in 2014, and before he graduated two years later, he had launched two wine brands—Eternal Wines and Drink Washington State. His tasting room for both brands is now in an incubator building in Walla Walla’s airport area. It’s become a fun destination spot not only for unique and diverse wines, but also for many events. Thursday Night Lights run from April through August when visitors will find wines, beer, cider, hard seltzers, live music and food trucks at the tasting room site. At other times, Brad offers harvest and dancing parties, and also rents out the facility for private parties.
The Eternal Wines brand focuses on single vineyard wines, especially those made with Rhone grape varieties. Drink Washington State wines are typically vineyard blends that highlight a particular Washington AVA, or wine region. They are made in larger production to be exported outside of Washington in order to raise awareness about Washington’s many different wine regions. Brad makes an array of diverse wines, including some not often seen in Washington state. Perhaps the most unique one is his Skin Contact White Wine/Orange wine, made with an unusual blend of white grapes, but in a manner typical of red wines. The result is a shocking inconsistency between the nose and the palate. Brad also makes a Carménère that was so popular it led him to pursue a scholarship-supported sabbatical in Chile, the modern-day home of Carménère. Drink Washington State also boasts pinot noir wines from the Lake Chelan and Wahluke Slope AVAs that really show the distinctions between these two regions. Learn about these interesting wines and more in this interview.
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