1970 marked the beginning of the third generation
to farm this land, Vern Stephenson (Harold’s son) and
Mike Sauer ( Harold’s son-in-law) both returned from
college and started farming. Vern continued to work on the
general farm while Mike began to experiment with grapes on
some of the acres less suitable for field crops.
The first vineyard planted was in 1971. It was a 30 acre Concord
vineyard along with a 
few
token rows of wine grapes, Chenin Blanc and Semillon. Ironically
these two wine varieties did not survive on the rich soil where the
concords were planted. This was the first of dozens of lessons to
be learned the hard way. 1973 was a significant year for the newly
named Red Willow Vineyards. Prior to that it was known as the grape
division of Latum Creek Ranch. A local county extension agent introduced
Mike to the well respected WSU Viticulturist, Dr. Walt Clore, and
this led to many cooperative efforts with the WSU Prosser Experiment
Station. A weather station was installed to compare temperature data
with other areas around the state, an experimental plot with over
20 varieties of wine grapes was planted at Red Willow and later many
wines were made from this “college plot” and the wines
were compared with other regions around the northwest. 1973 was also
the year that the first block of wine grapes were planted, 3 acres
of Cabernet Sauvignon. Although, this vineyard suffered many afflictions
in early years, weeds, rabbits, grass hoppers, and sporadic irrigation,
the lasting lesson learned early on proved true, “wine grapes
do best on poor soil and vines love the hillsides”. This axiom
would become a lasting principal for Red Willow. Continued
