age/ 29
hometown/ Walla Walla, Washington
crop/ grapes
role/ assistant winemaker and viticulturist
business/ Saviah Cellars, Walla Walla
family background/ Jared pursued viticulture and enology at California Polytechnic State University and obtained his degree at Washington State University. He works in the family business with his sister, Kennady, and his parents, Anita and Rich Funk. 

How did you get your start?

When my parents started, they were interested more in brewing at the time, but my dad caught the bug for winemaking and decided to give it a shot. Now we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary. That beginning, they found their way learning from a couple of mentors and learning by doing things the hard way. They started with just a couple hundred cases. You get one shot every year in the wine industry, and so they were able to put the pieces together over the first few years, not taking a penny out of the business until seven years in. Now, 25 years later, we’re operating at 25,000 cases, and my goal isn’t necessarily to grow in terms of volume but to expand our estate ground and shift our fruit portfolio from contracted fruit to more estate fruit. That’s my goal going forward, to continue to hone in on our grapes from vine to bottle and have full control of our product all the way through.

What is involved in that plan?

We’ll definitely be planting on rootstock. I am very intrigued by white varietals and how they’ll do in the Walla Walla Valley. One thing that excites me is there are so many corners of the valley that are untapped as far as potential for certain varietals, or that a varietal that we already work with might do better in sites that haven’t been discovered yet. I’m constantly thinking about different sites or varietals that might be that next gold mine. I think that white wines in the Rocks District, which is where our estate vineyards are mostly set, are going to be something we’ll see more and more of in the future. I’m constantly thinking about ways that we can continue to push the boundaries and try new things and see what sticks.

What are some of your priorities?

As an estate winery, you have all three stages of the business under your control. It’s one thing to grow grapes and to make wine, but you can only do that for so long, unless you’re selling the wine. I spend a lot of time sharing our family story in the market and what we’re doing out here. I think one thing that really helps to paint the picture for people is to get into the vineyards themselves. 

One thing I’m looking forward to for the future is figuring out how to add longevity to our blocks and to our pieces of ground. We’re a relatively small farm, at around 30 acres, but if we can get 100 years out of those vines in the ground, that’s my goal. By using cover crops and paying attention to the ground with good soil science, then we add health back into that piece of land and bring longevity into those vines. 

What projects are you working on?

We’re doing a trial in one of our blocks comparing rows with cover crop or no cover crop. We’re testing the phenolics, ripeness levels, fruit quality and how those vines act throughout the growing season. Ultimately, everything that we do in viticulture is for winemaking; it’s through a different lens than most agricultural crops in the world. We’re trying to find quality through the production of wine, not necessarily in yield or just quality of the fruit itself.

Throughout the growing season, we’re not trying to set the largest crop possible — we’re trying to actually find the crop load that makes the most sense for the vine to be balanced to reach optimal ripeness. That could mean dropping half of the fruit that the vine gives you — which would be crazy in most farmers’ heads — but in wine growing, that calculation is essential to making the best wine. We’re constantly thinking about how we can make this grape the most suitable for a high-quality wine, and that could mean stripping leaves at the right time, deficit irrigation, or crop thinning. There are so many details that go into ensuring the work we put in the field ends up in the grapes that make it a wine.

What advice do you have for other young growers?

The most valuable time in my career was traveling while getting experience in the industry in different parts of the world. With that being said, it would’ve been great to apply what I was learning in viticulture classes in the field, but you really have nothing to apply them to until you get out doing internships or harvests. If I was going to give any piece of advice to a young grower or a young winemaker that’s still in school, it would be to travel and to find a mentor. I had a mentor in viticulture that changed the course of my career and how I see the industry, and I think it is critical to getting the most out of your first career steps as a grower.