“I believe in terroir,” winemaker Chris Figgins of Figgins Family Wine Estates says. “It’s where I spend my time and energy is thinking about vineyards and trying to express the site.”

Figgins comes from one of the first families of Washington wine. In 1974, Chris’ father Gary Figgins was working as a machinist at the Continental Can Company when he decided to plant an acre of Cabernet Sauvignon by the family home in Walla Walla. In 1977, he and his wife, Nancy, founded Leonetti Cellar.

At the time, the Washington wine industry was a mere speck. Walla Walla Valley was non-existent as a wine grape growing region. But that was all about to change, with the Figgins family playing a leading role.