Canon de Sol Winery
Canon de Sol WineryCanon de Sol Winery is a joint operation of Charlie Hoppes and Victor Cruz. They became friends while both were working at Westinghouse as engineers. While Victor Cruz grew up in Wapato, Washington, the son of first generation Mexican-American farm laborers, he never worked in agriculture. Instead he earned an engineering degree from Western Washington University and began climbing the corporate ladder. After retiring from Westinghouse, he founded Canon de Sol, in 1999, with Charlie.
As one of a very few Hispanic winemakers in the US, Victor Cruz and Canon de Sol have come to the attention of the Hispanic community, and the wines are especially popular with that community. “In my wildest dreams I never thought using my ethnic background would be a plus for me. But it has been,” Cruz says. “It’s brought me a lot of marketing opportunities with magazines and newspapers. Still, my advice to any Hispanic entrepreneur would be to get an education. Education opened many doors for me and gave me the opportunity to take a risk in the wine industry.” Charlie Hoppes has something that can't be taught in the wine industry: a gut instinct that nudges him when grapes are ready to pick, alerts him when he reaches the "ah-ha" point of blending wines and intuitively informs him what a wine will taste like a year or two down the road in the bottle. That instinct is distinguishing the Benton City, WA winemaker among his peers, and garnering accolades for his latest releases, his fourth vintage of Fidelitas wines.
As well as making wine for his own Fidelitas, Charlie is one of Washington’s most active consulting winemakers. Today, wine lovers can taste Hoppes’ winemaking prowess behind a number of labels, including Cañon de Sol, Goose Ridge, Ryan Patrick Vineyards, Zefina Winery, Alder Ridge, Six Prong, Saint Laurent and his own label, Fidelitas. 2003 was one of the warmest growing seasons and harvests in Washington in the last 20 years. This resulted in smaller berry size and lighter cluster weights, which produced lower yields. The unusually hot growing season resulted in early ripening in the warmer areas and a quick start to harvest with flavorful ripe fruit in the early part of the vintage. Modest precipitation in August and September helped cool down the vineyards, slowed down ripening and allowed many of the vineyards in the cooler regions to benefit from the extra hang time which improved fruit flavors and intensity. Charlie buys grapes from a range of vineyards: “I work with about a dozen vineyards,” Hoppes said. “My fruit comes from a really diverse cross-section of the Columbia Valley, from Walla Walla to Frenchman Hills. I get grapes from Champoux Vineyards. I get grapes off Red Mountain. I get a big chunk from the Wahluke Slope. My business model is to do this on purpose. It gives you a lot more options to make the best wine you can.”
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