Family man, ex-dentist and premier winemaker at Maison Bleue Family Winery.
Jon Martinez is an accountant. He’s also a father, husband, janitor, business owner, grape grower and, most recently, the praiseworthy winemaker of Maison Bleue Family Winery.
On the phone with us on a sun-drenched day in Prosser, Martinez seemed relieved to be momentarily saved from the financial paperwork that comprises much of his daily routine.
“I’ve had great success in a small amount of time,” he said of his recent recognition in regional, national and international press. “I just work real hard, I mean, we have a 16-month-old baby! It’s challenging but it’s working, this all is my full time job.”
Martinez left his past life as a dentist in the suburbs of Kansas City, Mo., and sought out Washington state’s wine region as a refuge from his frequently trite medical field. After taking enology and viticulture courses through University of California, Davis, University of Missouri and Washington State University, he was poised, pressed and ready to produce.
“Coming out here [three years ago], I knew what varieties to do, I knew what vineyards I wanted to use and I knew the style,” Martinez said. “I think when you have that much focus and when you work hard, good things happen and they really have for me.”
The last couple years have been good to Maison Bleue, as far as positive coverage is concerned. The establishment was listed as Best Emerging Winery of 2011 by Seattle Magazine, and has been touted in years past by such publications as Seattle Times, Northwest Palate Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Martinez said his biggest problem these days is simply not having enough wine.
“The demands surpass the supply, which is kind of where I want to be — but I don’t want to be six months out of the year with nothing to sell,” he said.
With a modest 2200 cases in his current vintage, Martinez plans to double his production size over the next few years, allowing his winery to grow but still keep his direct hand in everything.
Since his dentistry practice was sold in 2007, the Martinez family has been able to exclusively support the Maison Bleue Winery without the assistance of investors or employees.
“We kind of want to keep it that way because you can lose some control when other interests get involved,” he said. “These are my wines, these are an expression of what I believe is the best terroir from a particular site and this is a pure expression of this varietal. When you get more people involved, they want you to do other things and you lose your focus.”
In the beginning, Martinez was inspired by Southern French style wines — specifically, those of the Rhone Valley. His desire to emulate these celebrated wines played a major role in his decision to settle in Washington.
“I came to Washington to make great Syrah and my 2008 Liberté Boushey Vineyard Syrah defines why I came here as a red wine,” he explained.
The prominent and respected evaluators of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate gave his Liberté a glowing review, calling it “alluring,” “succulent” and “elegant,” and awarding it a generous 93 points out of 100.
As popular as his reds have ultimately been, Martinez’s white wines are what initially put him on the radar. National publications took notice as he produced lesser known varieties of the Rhone Valley, such as his Marsanne, Roussanne and Burgundy-influenced Estate Chardonnay.
“I had a lot of skeptics in the beginning who didn’t think I’d be able to sell this amount of white wine and I proved them wrong,” he said. “ Afterwards, people believed in me because of that. I think that’s a great compliment that these international critics are seeing what I can do with white wines.”
Martinez gives credit to his distributor, the sommeliers that sell his wine and each customer who enjoys it with their family. He is also quick to point out the overall team effort behind his wines becoming such a sensation. A humble but certain man, he has yet to find success in the way he has with Maison Bleue.
“This is my life and I put my heart and soul into it,” Martinez said. “It’s very personal, which is the way I think wine should be.”
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