Chris Upchurch, winemaker, talks wine
If I told you that one of the most esteemed wineries in Washington state, rather the United States, was an idea hatched on a cocktail napkin many years ago, wouldn’t that make you love it all the more? Many accolades have been bestowed upon DeLille’s wines, and while I’ve certainly been known to wax verbose about a big red or two in my day, for the purposes of this entry I’m going to leave that to Robert Parker and the rest of the big boys. Instead, I’m going to give you a little insight into the history of this award-winning wine Chateau situated on a humble hill in the heart of Woodinville wine country.
DeLille Estate
The great success story that is DeLille winery mirrors that of the life of Charles Lill, the beloved granddaddy co-founder of DeLille who passed away in 2008. By all accounts, Charles Lill was a real gentleman and a hard worker throughout his topsy turvy life. A descendant of Huguenots who fled persecution in France during the 17th Century, Lill ended up in a then-German controlled region of what is now called the Czech Republic. During World War II, Lill became a Luftwaffe pilot, and ended up in the hands of the Soviets, confined to a Russian prison camp.
He was treated with slightly more deference than his compatriots since he wore the Luftwaffe uniform, thus he enjoyed the special privilege of cooking for the Russian officers. This position gave him the freedom to recognize an opportunity to flee the camp when he boarded a passing Swiss train one day while harvesting potatoes for the officers’ meals. He escaped to Switzerland, and post-war, found himself in Munich where we worked as a statistician for the US government. He was able to save just enough money to secure passage to Vancouver BC and eventually Seattle, albeit with only $20 in his pocket.
He began rebuilding the great legacy bestowed upon him as a descendant of the DeLille family the second his feet hit the Seattle pavement as an insurance salesman. Over the centuries, his DeLille family ancestors were hit with a series of life-shattering hardships, including losing land that was once a winery in a territorial dispute. They are obviously of hearty stock; Charles Lill proved yet again that a DeLille phoenix can rise from the ashes of war and strife, and in this case make some damn fine wine. Lill’s hard work for decades allowed him to retire from business in the early 1990’s, however his son and a couple of friends had grand plans for Lill’s golden years.
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