Cairdeas Winery

About

Our focus is to create small lots of fantastic wines made from Washington’s best fruit while practicing sustainable wine making and supporting our local businesses. Cairdeas is an ancient Gaelic word meaning friendship, goodwill or alliance. We believe in all three. Good wine should be shared with friends, goodwill spread at every opportunity, and alliances created with those who share our passion.

Location Description

Located on the beautiful north shore of Lake Chelan.

Features

  • Alliances created with those who share our passion.

Additional Information

  • Meeting / Conference Facilities:
  • Caves:
  • Wedding Facilities:
  • Picnic Facilities:
  • Dog Friendly:
  • Winery Tours:
  • Wine Tasting:
  • Art or Architecture:
  • Organic / Biodynamic:
  • Awards:
  • Wine Club:
  • Lodging / Bed & Breakfast:

Winemaker

Charlie’s passion for wine emerged when Lacey and Charlie first started dating. What’s more romantic than a date of wine tasting or uncorking a new discovery with dinner? His curiosity for what makes the wines turn out the way that they do (vineyards, barrels, yeast, wine making techniques) ignites his passion to discover how truly great wines are made. He has always been fascinated with wines from the Rhône Valley of France which is reflected in our vineyard choices and in the wines that we make.

History

Cairdeas (we say ‘Cardis’) is an ancient Gaelic word meaning friendship, goodwill or alliance. We believe in all three. Good wine should be shared with friends, goodwill spread at every opportunity, and alliances created with those who share our passion.

The word Cairdeas holds a special meaning to us based on Charlie’s Irish heritage, Lacey’s goodwill (that is how we met), the alliance we have made with each other and those in our industry, and the friendships we have made along the way.

We are a very small artisan winery started in 2009 by Charlie & Lacey Lybecker. Our winery was founded in West Seattle, but our hearts were calling us to the Chelan Valley.

The Team

Lacey - Marketing Head:

Lacey has a marketing background in the nonprofit, hospitality, and events industries… which comes in handy when it comes to running a winery. She discovered the Lake Chelan Valley when she came here to assist with the opening of The Lake House (a condo resort) in downtown Chelan. They’ve dreamed of Chelan ever since and made that dream come true in the summer of 2012. Along with helping in the cellar at harvest, bottling, working the tasting bar, sweeping the floors, and washing the glassware, Lacey is the guru behind all of the marketing and promotions that it takes to keep Cairdeas Winery going.

Practices & Techniques

We choose our vineyards based on location, climate, and the soil types that are best suited for each of the grape varietals that we work with. Each of our vineyard rows are farmed to our specifications so that we can control the quality which results in delicious wines that we hope you will love.
Every growing region has its own unique characteristics, all of which contribute to the flavors that we get in our wines. This is why we source fruit from all over the state. It allows us to have many different flavor profiles to work with and lets us really tailor the wines to become what we envision for them.

Estate Vineyards / AVA

Antoine Creek Vineyard - Lake Chelan:

Anoine Creek Vineyard is located near the town of Pateros which is about 19 miles North of Lake Chelan along the Columbia River. This vineyard is quickly becoming known as a great Washington State Viognier vineyard. The Viognier we get from this site has amazing aromatics. It adds great complexity to our Nellie Mae white Rhône blend and Sparkling Viognier.

Boushey Vineyard - Yakima Valley:

Boushey Vineyard is located in Grandview, Washington in the Yakima Valley and is one of the states most prized vineyards. Owner Dick Boushey not only runs this site to the highest standards but he also manages many of the states most highly sought after vineyard sites and is recognized as one of Washington’s premier wine grape growers. Boushey also loves the Rhône valley and grows some of the more unique Rhône varietals. We get Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Picpoul Blanc from Boushey’s lower vineyard site. These are the primary wines in our Southern White blend.

Cairdeas Vineyards 'Grandpas Vineyard' - Lake Chelan:

Named after the man that Charlie most looked up to growing up, who is now looking down on us as we plant our first estate vineyard on the winery property (Spring 2015). A wonderful Southwestern facing slope with rocky soils. We are growing two varietals on this site, Clairette Blanche and Syrah. Clairette Blanche is the most planted white grape in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation and we will be only the second vineyard in Washington State to grow this varietal. Syrah is our favorite grape that is grown in Lake Chelan. We feel that the rocky soils on our property with the slope facing the lake make this an excellent site for Syrah.

Inland Desert - Yakima Valley:

Inland Desert is a family owned and operated vineyard nursery, and supplies the cleanest and healthiest grapevines available to growers across North America. Almost every vineyard in the state has been planted from cuttings from Inland Desert. Not only did we get our grape vines for planting Cairdeas Vineyard from Inland Desert, but we also source our Petite Sirah from their mother block. We are also experimenting with a varietal called Alicante Bouschet. They are located in Benton City, Washington.

Lawrence Vineyard - Royal Slope:

Located on the Frenchman Hills of the Royal Slope. The Lawrence family has been farming the Royal Slope, near Royal City, Wash., in Washington for over 45 years. This is a cool site allowing longer hand times and exceptional flavor development. This site is the primary source for our Nellie Mae white Rhône blend.

Meek Vineyard - Yakima Valley:

Meek Vineyard is located in Benton City, Washington just outside of the Red Mountain AVA. We source five red varietals from this vineyard and are especially excited about the Grenache Noir and Mourvedre from this site. This is the primary site for our Southern Rhône red blend that is yet to be released. Our Cinsault Rosé is also from this site.

Awards

2011 Debuts and Discoveries - Best New Washington Winery

2012 Seattle Wine Awards - 2011 Nellie Mae - 60% Viognier / 40% Roussanne - DOUBLE GOLD

2012 Seattle Wine Awards - 2011 Roussanne - DOUBLE GOLD

2012 Seattle Wine Awards - 2011 Dolcetto Rosé - Silver

2012 Seattle Wine Awards - 2011 Sparkling Viognier - Silver

2012 Tri Cities Wine Festical - 2011 Gewurztraminer - DOUBLE GOLD

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Hours

Sunday 12pm - 5pm Monday 12pm - 5pm Tuesday CLOSED Wednesday CLOSED Thursday 12PM - 5PM Friday 12PM - 5PM Saturday 12PM - 5PM

Address

3395 Highway 150
Manson, Washington 98816
United States

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