Subject: Re: [PSWG-all] FW: Howard Somers
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 13:40:46 EST

Dear All,
Concerning the passing of Howard Somers.

Howard Somers was a gentle, soft-spoken man who was very capable of making 
important decisions for himself and for his family. Howard had incredibly good 
taste and surrounded himself in original artwork, and his homes were always 
tastefully decorated by he and his wife Muriel.

I have interviewed Howard numerous times and his audio-tape resides in the 
Washington Wine Archives at the Washington State Historical Society in Tacoma. 
Please refer to pages 181-185 of The Wine Project. It describes the transition 
of Howard's family's winery and the transition of American Wine Growers to 
Ste. Michelle Vintners. There is my favorite picture of Howard and his taller 
(but now shorter) and older brother Bill in their vinyard on Stretch Island. I 
was fortunate enough to retake that picture about ten years ago with both in the 
exact spot, with an old Island Belle grapevine hugging the earth behind them.

Howard lived a full, wonderful life, surrounded by a family that he loved 
very much. In the wine business he inaugurated St. Michelle's initial varietal 
wines from Vitis vinifera. Later he worked supplying wineries with materials and 
equipment and then eventually worked as a realtor, like his brother Charles 
(Bill) and his father, Charles.

All three worked at the St. Charles Wiinery, the first bonded winery in the 
Pacific Northwest.

The St. Charles Winery was one of Leon Adams' favorite wineries in America 
and I think he always wished he lived on tiny Stretch Island in Puget Sound, 
making wine from the local grapes, Island Belle, and slurping oysters that 
seemingly washed up on the beach.

Howard was the originator of the Chronology in the back of my book that was 
expanded upon by Dr. Walter Clore, then later myself.

I considered Howard a friend and I will miss his gentle sense of humor and 
his sharp sense of history, and I thank him for all that he gave to us in the 
wine industry.

Ron Irvine
Vashon Winery