Our Family has been on this land since the 1920s when Great Great Gramma and Grampa Swallom moved to the Okanogan valley from Iowa and bought acreage on the fertile flats above Omak.Back then, of course, the main crop
was apples, and for three generations it was apples that our family raised and
sold.Eventually, like so many families
in this area, we got out of the slowing apple business, selling the orchards
off piece by piece, until all that was left was the farming equipment and a few
stacks of bins that we kids played in. They still bore the fading scent of
the sweetness of fall.
All of that changed in the spring of 2005, when Greg and
Di semi-retired from their busy medical practices in Oregon wine country and bought Great Great Uncle Larry's property across the road. The family began planting a new
crop in that rocky soil -- grapes of course! Now the scent of apples has been replaced with the pungent, yeasty odor
of fermenting wine, and our family has a new, exciting business that we hope to see spread across this valley in generations to come.
The brother-sister team of Doug Sheets and Diana Mock are
really the heart and soul of the business.Doug brings 25 years of orcharding and marketing experience to our vineyard and he
personally tends to each and every vine and every gallon of wine.Diana (thinks she) is the unofficial CEO of our small organization, and is in charge
of all the details, from event planning to the layout and design of our
label.Doug and Di are an incredible team, full of energy and vision. They have always been an example to us (their children) how brothers and
sisters can also be best friends.
Diana’s husband, Greg Rahn, brought the love of wine to our
family.He passed his passion on to his
brother-in-law and the pair of them have provided much inadvertent amusement to
the rest of the family as they feverishly discuss the merits of each glass they
consume.The process of making wine has
reawakened Greg’s love of biochemistry, which has lain dormant since his days
in medical school, and he has emerged as the chief lab rat of this enterprise.
lab rat
Doug’s wife, Sandy,
is the most supportive and hospitable person on the face of the earth.Never
one to be in the spotlight, she quietly fills her days with private
piano lessons. However, she still manages to keep this crazy bunch
well cared-for,
and exceedingly well-fed, while they work to carry out this family
dream.
Grandad (Dick Sheets) an apple orchardist for 40 years, has put his numerous handyman skills to good use in this endeaver. His ingenuity has been called upon more than once to work out kinks in the winemaking process.
Our Nana (Virginia Sheets) is undeniably the source of the
entrepreneurial spirit that sparked RockWall Cellars.At a time in life when most people decide to
retire and settle into a quieter life, Nana opened up an antique store and tea
room called Nana’s Nook, which is nestled into a small shop next to our
winery.Her traditional English High
Teas, which she hosts several times a year, are a delight not to be missed.
All four of Doug and Di’s kids are grown with
lives of their own, but each has been involved in the process of building RockWall
Cellars.
Doug’s son, Chad lives on the family "compound" in the original old barn which he converted into an enviable living space. When he isn’t
fighting forest fires, he is working side-by-side with his Dad and the rest of the family, harvesting, crushing and pressing.
Ben and Ang with Sarah, Jake, Luke. Zac and Dash
Doug's youngest, Angie Abshire and her husband Ben, a software engineer, live in Spokane, but they come every year with their four kids to help with the harvest.Her two oldest boys, Jake and Luke, spent a whole weekend this fall helping Aunt Di and their Papa (Doug). We are sure the younger two, Zac and baby Sarah, will soon be following in their footsteps.
Diana’s youngest, Ryan, a baseball broadcaster in Maryland, spent two off-seasons working with Doug to convert the old cold-storage room into a beautiful winery. Older sisterMelissa was the first person in the family to work in the wine business in a tasting room in upstate New York and occasionally her experience comes in handy. Melissa and her husband Rahul Rawat were married in the vineyard in the summer of 2007 and they now live in Virginia where she teaches drama and Rahul does HIV research.
Ryan home for the Wedding
So, you can see, when we call this a family business, we really mean it.And although the Sheets-Mock-Rahn-Abshire-Rawat family is growing and branching, we come together every year to rejoice in the bounty of the earth and the blessings that God has graced us with.We hope you will join our family at RockWall Cellars.
