Visit Italy at Chelan Washington’s
Tsillan Cellars
By Cole Swanson
August 2, 2024
CHELAN, WA – Tsillan (Sh-laan) Cellars, pronounced like the town in which the tasting room resides, sits on foothills that bleed into the mountains, which were carved by alpine glaciers over millions of years. A gravel road is lined with estate vines and leads to a terracotta building whose color blends in with the surrounding barren hills. As I approached the grand doors, before even entering for a tasting, I saw the aqua lake behind me, and I was in Italy.
Perhaps it was the Tuscany-inspired design of Tsillan Cellars that captured my heart. I’d say anything with a terracotta edifice and magnificent clock tower will do that. It was five years ago when I was able to spend 10 days in Italy, and I’ve thought about it every day since. I was immediately ethralled with Tsillan.
The tasting room mimics a great hall of a Tuscan castle, with its family-style tables and fireplace. The tasting room bar could fit 30 standing, and I imagine the eagerness of farmers so many centuries ago waiting for their cups to be refilled.
I sat on a chair at the end of the long bar made of Italian marble and admired the view of the hand-carved woodwork and timber beams that gripped tightly to the chandeliers dangling from them. Through the side doors, Tsillan’s Sorrento’s Ristorante, where one can enjoy Italian-influenced cuisine on a patio surrounded by three waterfalls and which overlooks the glacial lake and setting sun.
My own cup – a proper wine glass – was filled with my first tasting of the afternoon. Tsillan Cellars provides two flights, each for $20.00, and waived with a purchase of two or more bottles. It was 100 degrees that day, so maybe I should have stuck to the White Wine Tasting, but I’d never kick a red wine out of bed, so the Featured Flight it was.
All of the wines – the whites, the rosé, and reds – caught my attention. Overall, they presented minerality and prickly sensations that added great texture and complexity – largely due to vineyard soil composition and proximity to the lake. Their estate white wines stood out the most. Their dry Riesling and Gewurztraminer blew me away with their distinct florality and acidity, and I could have easily enjoyed a bottle of each.
100% Gewürztraminer
Region: Lake Chelan AVA
Double Gold, Best of Class – Cascadia Wine Competition
96pts, Double Gold – 2023 PNW Wine Awards2022 Estate Gewürztraminer - $28/Bottle
A white wine coined by Austria, a place, like Germany, which seems to enjoy using the entire alphabet – so I just call it ‘Gooey’.
Their 2022 Estate Gewurztraminer was beautiful and bright with crisp acidity and prickly sensation, almost like it was attempting to be effervescent. This prickliness added a really nice texture that greatly balanced the acid. What was fantastic about this wine, too, was that it was a little fuller bodied because of the winemaking technique of aging it on less (yeast that is no longer actively fermenting) as well as the the flavors of mango, guava and slight salinity.
2022 Estate Riesling - $28/Bottle
100% Riesling
Region: Lake Chelan AVA
Gold – 2024 San Francisco Chronicle 
Riesling gets a bad rep for being considered overly sweet and fruity. But you just haven’t tried the right ones yet. Keep drinking, my friends.
This dry riesling was aged entirely in stainless steel, helping to preserve the crisp, bright acidity and floral nature ubiquitous of Reisling. Like the 2022 Estate Gewurztraminer, it was aged on lees, this one being for six months, which noticeably added weight to the palate, and was fuller than the Gooey, though it was still soft and round, and showcased apricot, concentrated green apples, pear, and lime, and fantastic minerality.
2023 Bocciolo di Rosa - $28/Bottle
100% Syrah — Rosè
Region: Rattlesnake Hills AVA
Gold, 94pts – Seattle Washington Wine Awards
Like the 2022 Estate Gewurztraminer this wine was prickly on my tongue. It was an unexpected sensation that I’m growing fond of. It again added texture and a complexity that I desire. The cherries, strawberries, and raspberries were bright but concentrated, not overly so, just enough to give it the right amount of fruitiness. Tart cranberry helped to balance the concentrated fruits and the full body.
45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Cabernet Franc, 16% Malbec, 14% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot
Region: Columbia Valley AVA
Platinum (Cab Blend) – Sip Magazine’s 12th Annual Best of the Northwest
Double Gold – San Francisco International Wine Competition2021 Sinistra - $44/Bottle
A classic Right Bank Bordeaux Blend, dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon. As is usual with Cabernet Sauvignon blends, this wine boasted cassis, blackberry, and a smokey quality like roasting meat over a campfire; it isn’t overbearing, but rather just enough to make the wine interesting. Aging this wine for 18 months in 65% New Oak 55% New French and 10% New American added flavors of cinnamon and caramel. This may sound as though it provides undesired sweetness, but it’s very subtle and adds savoriness. This wine can most definitely age for another 5-10 years, but is brilliant right now.
2021 Petite Sirah - $50/Bottle
100% Petite Sirah
Region: Red Mountain AVA
Gold - 2024 San Francisco Chronicle
Gold, 90pts – Seattle Washington Wine Awards
Gold, Best in Show, 98pts – 2024 PNW Wine Awards
This one was an immediate favorite, and though not every tasting menu can ensure the best for last, this one stood triumphantly in my mind. Before knowing it was from the Red Mountain AVA, I immediately tasted an enormous amount of complexities, which is one of the best ways to know if a wine can age well or not. It had spicy fruits such as red cherry and cranberry that were tingly, balanced by black maraschino cherries. The palate was full and silky with a long finish. I most definitely could age this for at least another seven years, but I think it could develop for even longer.
Designed and owned by Dr. Robert Jankelson, Tsillan Cellars began operations in 2000, before opening their Chelan tasting room in May 2004 and their Woodinville tasting room in February 2023. Dr. Jankelson’s goal was to provide a venue where guests could enjoy an Italian lifestyle through wine.
In regard to their Chelan-based tasting room, their 135 acres of land marks them as the owner of the largest estate vineyard in Chelan. Overall they produce about 9,000 cases per year, the most of any tasting room in Chelan. A wide variety of grapes are planted on their estate – Sangiovese, Syrah, Merlot, Malbec, Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Riesling and Gewürztraminer.
In addition to their dozens of accolades over the years, Tsillan Cellars was named Washington Winery of the Year in 2020 by Wine Press Northwest.
Their name derives from a 19th C. explorer who voyaged to the new world and named this North-central Washington state area Tsillan or “deep water,” after the lake that is 1,486ft deep and the third deepest in the country.