Dream River Wines
Crafting fine wines
in the Pacific Northwest
Walla Walla Winemaking
Dream River Wines is a winemaking venture whose origins go back some 35 years.
In fact, the true story is even older than that and far more nuanced. Myriad events, characters, and circumstances brought me to this place today, including several exceptional winemaking stints in France, California, and South Africa, the raising of three amazing children, other careers along the way, and of course the unflagging encouragement and conviction of my father.... But we can chat about all of these things the next time we open a bottle together.
The majority of my fruit comes out of the Andrews Family Vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills, a prestigious American Viticultural Area made up of dry, high, and windy ranges of hills that cinch up Washington’s southern border with the state of Oregon and overlook the Columbia River between Wallula Gap and the eastern slopes of the Cascade foothills. The terroir is heavily influenced by well-drained, silty loam and ash. Mike Andrews says of the role the geology plays in wines made with fruit he grows: “I like to think of the Horse Heaven Hills wines as having a velvet touch on the tongue... a silky lingering mouthfeel that adds more dimension to the wine. Red wines here are balanced with great aromatics.... I think the velvet mouthfeel comes from the uniqueness of the soil."
Finally, I am thrilled to have secured a fantastic wine making facility in the beautiful town of Walla Walla*, Washington. My 2025 wines will include Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay. More details will be revealed as this website is expanded and updated, so stay tuned!
Cheers,
Alix Shepard Schulte
Owner, Winemaker
Dream River Wines
*Walla Walla is Nez Perce for "Place of Many Waters", because the original settlement was at the junction of the Snake and Columbia rivers. For more about Walla Walla's importance as a winemaking center, please see here.
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Dream River was created with the goal of being a collaborative effort between winemaker and wine-enjoyer. Dream River Wines' releases are announced and made available to a private directory. Please fill out our contact sheet in order to learn first about profiles of developing wines, futures and purchasing, private events, for press inquiries, and more.
The river of life is taking me on a new winemaking journey, and it's a dream come true.
About Alix
Long ago and far away, I felt a calling to turn an interest in wine into a career. So I got an apprenticeship in France, quit my job at U.C. Berkeley, put my car on a boat, and followed by plane with a suitcase to the picturesque Alsacian village of Dambach-la-Ville.
The period I spent as stagiaire at Willy Gisselbrecht was fast-paced and exciting. Soon I was working in all parts of the winery, sometimes as many as 15 hours a day in a physically and intellectually demanding job. I was a natural, they said, as I was warmly welcomed into the then all-male French winemaking scene. Kicking ass in the cellar, being in charge of the laboratory, representing the winery as judge in wine competitions, meeting with clients from all over western Europe who desired proprietary blends, giving press interviews in French and German—it was heady stuff. The mayor was eventually pressed to pull strings in order for me to obtain the proper visa for my promotion to Maîtresse de Chai.
The decision to move back to the States was a difficult one, but ultimately I had even more rewarding experiences in California (beginning in Healdsburg at Piper Sonoma) before being head-hunted to join the exceptional team at Rosenblum Cellars. I had a lot of free reign there as Cellarmaster. It was a period of enormous professional growth as I dove into making the biggest of the "big reds." It was at this time that Jeremy Borg began an apprenticeship at Rosenblum; he would become a life-long friend; he also came to play a critical role in my career many years later.
Back in Europe again — this time in Basel, Switzerland — I was mother to an 8 month old (the first of three children) and trying hard to rejoin the Gisselbrecht team just over the border. However, it quickly became apparent that it (the hours, the commute, the time away from family...) was not going to work. So I hung up the career and became a full-time mother.
Jeremy remained a close friend to my family, even as he moved back to South Africa, settling in the Western Cape and becoming owner and winemaker of Painted Wolf Wines. Over the years, he and I spoke often about our desire to make wine together, some day, somewhere. So when he called me in the fall of 2022, I knew that it was finally time to do it. Beginning in January of '23, for two successive harvests I worked alongside Jeremy at Painted Wolf, lived on a farm, traveled/biked/hiked the countryside, and got that thrilling feeling: "You are back!"
At home, in the Inland Northwest, the river of life was suddenly taking me in myriad wonderful directions, so I decided in 2025 not to return to winemaking in South Africa. Instead, I felt ready to—finally—make my own wines, 100% on my own terms. And so this new (ad)venture has begun. It is truly a dream come true, and I am pleased beyond words that you have chosen to follow and support my journey.
Postscript: The image I have chosen to represent the winery and its wines is a painting I did after the death of my father, titled "My Father's Dream River". It was first published in Glacial Hills Review: Summer 2022, and then in The Best of Choeofpleirn Press Winter 2022, as winner of the Mary Cassatt Art Contest.