Abeja
PEACE AND QUIET AWAIT
WRITTEN BY Marilyn Heasley
Nestled in the hills on the east side of Walla Walla is a place of serenity, beauty, charm and wonderful history. Enter through the gates of Abeja, a winery and inn, and it hits you immediately: You’ll feel time slowing down. I warn you that you have to know where you’re going to find it, but there is no doubt that it is well worth the search.
Abeja Winery 01
I had the pleasure of strolling the grounds one beautiful fall day with Molly Galt, Public Relations Manager and one of the partners at Abeja. The owners are Ken and Ginger Harrison. John Abbott, the winemaker, is the other partner. How they all came together is part of the story of Abeja — Spanish for bee.
Ken and Ginger were residents of Portland. Ken’s great passion for Cabernet Sauvignon brought him to Walla Walla for a visit, the perfect place to learn more about the varietal. He stayed at The Mill Creek Inn, owned by Greg and Vanessa Finch, two of the first investors in the restoration of downtown Walla Walla. In fact, they owned the D’Acres Hotel, where the restaurant 26 Brix is now located. The Finches bought the old Kibler farm in 1986 from descendants of the original owner, Jacob Kibler.
Jacob Kibler left Missouri in 1853 to claim some land in the Oregon Territory. However, along the way, he was robbed by his traveling companions and left destitute. He spent five years looking for them, ending up in Walla Walla with a pack mule, a bedroll and $20. After working in a brickyard, he filed for a homestead in 1863 for 160 acres on Mill Creek. In 1870, he bought 160 additional acres. The Kiblers eventually had thousands of acres of wheat on their farm. Between 1903 and 1907, their son, David, built all the buildings on the current property. Members of the Kibler family had lived on the property for almost 100 years by the time the Finches purchased it.
Only 42 acres of the original 1,000 remained when the Finches bought the property. They began to restore the dilapidated buildings and opened the Mill Creek Inn. When they remodeled the first cottage on the property, the Summer Kitchen, next to the Farm House, they salvaged materials, such as beautiful wooden doors and claw-foot tubs, from the D’Acres Hotel and used them in the first phase of renovations on the property.
While a guest in the Bunk House at the Mill Creek Inn, Ken Harrison learned more about the area, falling in love with the old farm and the Walla Walla community. He convinced his wife, Ginger, they needed to move to Walla Walla and become the new property owners of The Mill Creek Inn. When Ginger saw the property and found out about the history of the farmstead, she too was sold.
So, in 2000, they purchased 35 acres of the farmstead and continued renovating buildings on the property. Their goal was to create the polar opposite of a corporate environment by creating a welcoming, relaxing, family work environment.
According to Ginger, she and Ken feel it is a huge privilege to live on this 100-year-old property. “These buildings, like aged people, have wonderful, historic stories to tell us,” she said. “As caretakers of the property, it is our duty to maintain what is here for following generations. Small farms, in particular, are disappearing rapidly. It is comforting to know that this one will be here for another 100 years.”
That is the philosophy that guides Abeja and carries over into the buildings, a combination of original construction and details, salvaged materials and beautiful craftsmanship, according to Molly.
All the original outbuildings have been restored and are used for the winery, barrel room, tasting room and five guest accommodations (three cottages and two suites). Each unit is beautifully, and individually, decorated with antiques and eclectic furnishings and presents a personality of its own. Each unit has a full kitchen.
The Summer Cottage (743 square feet) sits next to the Harrison’s home. It was the first cottage on the property. On the first floor is the kitchen, sitting and dining areas. The large glass picture windows are the original double-glass beveled windows. That design has also been recreated in windows in the other accommodations. Upstairs, there is a sky-lit bathroom with a claw-foot bathtub, salvaged from the old hotel. The bedroom, with a king bed, also located upstairs, has a private balcony facing the Blue Mountains and overlooking the estate Syrah vineyard.
The Bunk House Cottage (404 square feet) once housed the farm’s hired-hand. The kitchen takes you back to the 1940s with its hand-tiled counters. There is a living area and a four-poster queen-sized bed in the bedroom. A brick patio off of the bedroom looks out onto the vineyard.
My personal favorite was the Chicken House Cottage (546 square feet). It was bright and fun, full of chicken décor. It was, as its name implies, the Chicken Coop on the farm. The ceilings are high and beamed, so it looks very open. The granite-tiled shower is large enough for two. There is a gas fireplace in the corner of the queen-sized bedroom. What more could you ask for?
On either end of the Carriage Barn are two suites. The Locust Suite, named for the fragrant native trees on the land, is on the east end of the barn. At 840 square feet, it is the largest of all the offerings. The living area has all of the original paneling, including notes made by workers who fixed the farm’s machinery. There is a king-sized bed in the bedroom. The slate floors, oriental carpets and mahogany bar add to the feeling of old-fashioned, comfortable grandeur.
The Carriage House Suite (820 square feet) is two stories, with a king-sized bed and a sky-lit bathroom upstairs. The kitchen opens onto a patio overlooking Titus Creek and all the beautiful trees that surround it.
Breakfast is served in the small barn which once housed the dairy. A floor-to-ceiling fireplace lights up the room. Breakfast features local homemade and seasonal fare. Guests can eat inside or on the patio overlooking the creek. A kitchen garden has been put in, which will add to the beauty and fragrance of the area while enhancing the food served.
Reservations are taken for the following season on the first of October. There are five times when reservations are on a lottery basis: Spring Release Weekend, Whitman Commencement, Whitman Family Weekend, Abeja Autumn Celebration and Holiday Barrel Tasting. To be included in those drawings, Abeja must have your name by the prior August 31st. Price ranges for Monday and Thursday accommodations are $215-265 (plus tax) and $235-285 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Check-in is not available Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Inn is closed from mid-December through February.
In 2002, when the Harrisons decided it was time to begin the winery, they joined up with Molly Galt and John Abbott. John had been involved with Pine Ridge and Acacia Winery, both of Napa Valley. He then moved to Walla Walla in 1994 where both he and Molly began Canoe Ridge Vineyard, he as the winemaker and she as the marketing person.
Eighty-five percent of Abeja’s production is involved with Cabernet Sauvignon. The remainder consists of Chardonnay and a small amount of estate-grown Syrah and Viognier.
John’s goal as winemaker, is to produce wine that is a perfect companion for food. The winery’s mission of total quality plays into that goal. Every aspect of the growing cycle is micro-managed to ensure that quality is maintained from the growing cycle through the harvesting cycle, continuing on to the first taste a customer takes. They experiment with and develop proactive and preventative, sustainable agricultural practices. These include the use of integrated pest management, beneficial cover crops, manual weed control, microbial/fungal development through composting and the use of compost tea, an environmentally safe soil additive. Both estate vineyards have been certified LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) and salmon safe.
With a production of 4,000 cases of wine per year, the goal is to keep production limited to continue the assurance of total quality. The winery is not open to the public for tasting. There are two open-house events during the year for mailing list members. Although the mailing list is currently closed, you can apply through the Web site and you will be contacted when a space opens on the list. Inn guests can enjoy Abeja wine upon check-in and can stop into the winery to see what is going on.
Wines range from a $21 red table wine to an $80 bottle of Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Their estate vineyards include 17 acres on Heather Hill and 10 acres on Mill Creek. Their first release was in September of 2003.
So, next time you’re going to be in Walla Walla and need a serene, lovely and romantic place to stay, call Abeja. You will feel at peace as soon as you arrive.
