Wine Peeps is an independent wine blog dedicated to helping you get the most bang for your buck in wine. We do this through blind tastings of wine from around the world and calculations of 
Video Interview with Dave Stephenson of Stephenson Cellars
By Kori ~ June 29th, 2009.
Recently during Vintage Walla Walla weekend, we had the opportunity to sit down for a nice visit with owner/winemaker Dave Stephenson of Stephenson Cellars in Walla Walla, Washington. While Stephenson Cellars, founded in 2001, is located in the Walla Walla airport complex, Dave recently moved his tasting room to downtown Walla Walla.
Mom (LaGayle) and Dad (John) first discovered Stephenson Cellars when they visited Walla Walla on their cross-country road trip in the spring of 2008. Since then, we have had Stephenson Cellars wines on numerous occasions. We continue to be impressed with the overall quality of the wines, and most importantly in today’s economy, their high QPR ratings across the board. While Stephenson Cellars currently produces five wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Red Wine, and Viognier), Syrah is Dave’s specialty.
Dave was kind enough to answer our questions on a variety of topics, from how he got started to why he keeps his vineyard sources under wraps to why he moved his tasting room downtown. As you’ll see from the video, Dave has a laid back personality, but don’t let that fool you, he is a hard-working, talented winemaker. He knows how to identify great fruit and turn it into outstanding wine.
Here are some key clips from our interview:
Filed under: American Wine, Interview, Video, Washington State Wine
I have been enjoying your wine blog for quite some time now. My sister (Terese Machmiller) and you go to the same church in West Seattle and she recommended I take a look at your blog. At some point I would like to meet you.
In this video of Dave Stephenson did you use a flip video cam? If not, what did you use. I was having a little trouble hearing him.
Keep up the good work,
Phil Anderson
Thanks, Phil. I didn’t know that Terese was your sister. Small world. We’d be happy to meet at some point. Let us know when you are going to be in Seattle and hopefully we can work something out.
Yes, we used a Flip video cam. It works really well although sometimes picks up some ambient noise. And, Dave is a bit soft-spoken which probably contributed to the volume being lower on this video than others we’ve done.