Founder Charles Lill’s death leaves DeLille Cellars to his son and co-founders
Here’s a great article on one of Washington’s best “cult wines.”
DeLille Cellars sits on a hillside overlooking the Sammamish Valley and Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery. The Lill family first bought the winery’s property in 1981, when it consisted of little more than a small house and rundown barn. At the time, Charles Lill saw it as a hobby farm and vacation property.
Lill came across the Woodinville property after a career in insurance and real estate. The woman who owned the land was on the verge of going bankrupt and needed a $30,000 loan. Lill agreed to give her the money, but said she needed to add his name to the property’s title. Once she paid him back, he’d take his name off.
But she never did pay him back, and the land eventually became the Lills’. Once the former owner moved out, the family began spending money to renovate the house. They wondered if they could put the property to some sort of money-making purpose.
Greg Lill began thinking about the family’s winemaking roots. Charles Lill’s great grandfather had made wine and beer in Czechoslovakia. The family honored its European heritage when Greg was growing up with wine every night at dinner and a wine cellar in the basement.
Greg Lill began to discuss the idea of a winery with wine broker Jay Soloff and winemaker Chris Upchurch. The three sketched out a rough plan on a cocktail napkin, and then Greg Lill wrote up a formal business proposal.
Armed with the proposal, Greg Lill met with his father on a Lill family Thanksgiving holiday in Hawaii. Then 32 years old, Greg Lill was nervous about asking his father to invest several thousand dollars in a new business. He knew his dad was conservative when it came to money.
But Charles Lill liked the idea, and the whole family voted to give it a shot. The Lills located grapes from the Yakima Valley and rented a small warehouse in Woodinville to make the wine. In 1992, DeLille Cellars produced its first vintage. According to Greg Lill, the winery was the fourth to come to Woodinville, and the beginning of a wave of boutique wineries.
Founder Charles Lill’s death leaves DeLille Cellars to his son and co-founders