From: Prestonwines76@aol.com
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 19:43:33 EDT
Subject: Bill Preston memorial

July 16, 2001                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                CONTACT:  Lori Lancaster
(509) 545-1990, Ext. 16


S.W. "BILL" PRESTON, WASHINGTON WINE PIONEER, DEAD AT 69

    PASCO, Wash. - S.W. "Bill" Preston, a pioneer of the Washington wine
industry and a life-long Pasco resident, has died. He was 69.
    Preston, a former tractor salesman, was one of the first to recognize
the 
potential of the Columbia Valley as a wine producing region, planting his
first 40-acre vineyard in 1972 on his farm five miles north of Pasco, Wash.
The first crush was in 1976 and he opened Preston Wine Cellars, the
Tri-Cities first winery, the same year. A tasting room debuted in 1977. At
the time, there were only three operating wineries in Washington State.
Today, there are more than 160. Prestonšs success as a tractor dealer led
him 
to the wine business. He made many trips to Northern California related to
his farm equipment business and developed a fondness for the wines produced
in its famed Napa Valley. He decided his property north of Pasco was perfect
for producing wine, and recruited a young winemaker from California. That
winemaker was Rob Griffin, now of Barnard-Griffin Winery of Richland, one of
the most well-known winemakers in the region.
    "Bill showed others what could happen in the Pacific Northwest wine
industry," Griffin told the Tri-City Herald. "He knocked on doors and
pushed the idea that we can make great wines.   "Today, others are standing
on his shoulders getting $50 a bottle for their wines thanks in part to Bill
Preston."
    Now known as Preston Premium Wines, the winery that Bill Preston founded
is celebrating its 25th year. Operation of the winery and now 180-acre
vineyard was handed down to the second generation of Prestons in 1991. Son
Brent manages the business and vineyard and daughter Cathy Preston-Mouncer
handles marketing and public relations. Back in 1977 with the state wine
industry in its infancy, the marketing fell to Bill Preston. "I loaded up
the 
old green Mercury station wagon with cases of wine. I sort of looked like a
bootlegger as I went searching for stores to take on my wines," he recently
told a local newspaper. The following year, he said: "Everybody in the wine
industry thought Washington was going to be a novelty. Now our wines are
popping up - and winning - in competitions with California wines, with world
wines."
    Preston was awarded the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers
first-ever lifetime achievement award in February of this year. Bill Preston
enjoyed many things in addition to wine, including golf, fishing, hunting,
woodworking, gardening and auctions. Most of all, he liked to spend time
with 
his family and friends.
    He was born Dec, 12, 1931, in Kennewick, Wash. He graduated from Pasco
High School in 1949 and served four years in the U.S. Air Force. While
stationed in Texas, Preston met the love of his life, Eunice (JoAnn) Porter.
Bill and Joann Preston were married for 48 years.
    Preston died Saturday after a year-long battle with cancer. Preston is
survived by his wife, Joann; son Brent, and daughter-in-law, Michele, of
Pasco; daughter Cathy Preston-Mouncer and son-in-law Al Mouncer, of
Richland; 
step-sister Lynda Knott and her husband Alan, of Espanola; sister-in-law
Gerry Preston, of Othello; grand-children Chenyn and Brooke Preston, of
Pasco, and Michael Mouncer, Richland; nephews Rick Knott, Espanola, and
George Preston, and nieces Vicki Anderson, Othello, and Candi Luchi, West
Richland.
    A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 18, at the
winery, 502 E. Vineyard Drive, Pasco. The winery is located 5 miles north of
Pasco, off Highway 395.
    In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memorium to the Tri-Cities
Cancer Center, 7350 W. Deschutes Ave., Kennewick, WA 99336; the Tri-Cities
Chaplaincy, 2108 W. Entiat Ave., Kennewick 99336, or Columbia Basin College,
2600 N. 20th, Pasco, WA, 99301.