A Winery in Wallyhood

The words “wine country” bring to mind certain defining locations along the West Coast:  Napa Valley. Sonoma Valley. Willamette Valley. Yakima. Walla Walla. Wallingford.

Wait, what?

I am an avid—and only occasionally, concerning—wine drinker.  My house wines admittedly lean toward the boxed variety (please don’t judge). But when I heard that Wallyhood had a winery:  well, I had to find out more.

It’s true.  Wallingford (Tangletown, actually) has its own licensed winery:  Sound Goods.  But before you begin searching Google Earth for the rolling field of grape vines somehow hidden in the shadow of Green Lake—this is a winery that spans much of the state, east to west.  It is a small, female-owned wine operation that has its home base in our neighborhood, while its products originate on the east side of the mountains, in the wine country of the Yakima and Columbia Valleys.  The Tangletown-based business arm distributes the selection of 100% Washington-grown wines to a growing network of retail outlets and restaurants, which in our area includes Art of the Table, 56th Street Market, Local Tide, Shelter, and Ken’s Market.  They also sell direct to consumer via their website above.  And—they’ll DELIVER within a 5-mile radius of 98103.

I recently sat with one of the owners of Sound Goods, Jennifer Kline Shernoff, to learn more about her company and her product line.  She and her co-owner, Josh Watson, can boast of bonafide Wallyhood citizenship, with Jenn a Tangletown resident, and Josh living in middle Wallingford.  We met at RidgeWood Bottle & Tap in Phinney, which is one of the local establishments featuring her wines.

Jenn now devotes herself full-time to Sound Goods, but she used to be in the tech world.  Her husband is more of a beer drinker than a wine drinker, and when she traveled for work she found that her open bottles of wine would go bad and thus, to waste.  The desire for good wines in smaller portions planted the seed for what would become, in late 2020, Sound Goods.

The Sound Goods wines are sold in single serving (250 ml.) cans, which is a growth segment of the wine market.  For example, I noticed on a rare trip away from my pandemic bubble that some airlines, like Alaska, have switched from serving wine in bottles to using cans.  Sound Goods is targeting a very Seattle-ish demographic with their canned wines:  wine lovers and likers who are on the go and enjoying activities like camping, hiking, kayaking, outdoor concerts; or enduring the parental rite-of-passage of endless weekend kids’ soccer tournaments (a small, pocket-size can of wine is much less conspicuous than the bomber can of Olde English 800 you might consider for the latter).

Sound Goods embraces a very Pacific Northwest vibe for their product.  Jenn noted that their wines are portable and the cans recyclable (aluminum).  The wines themselves—the most important consideration—are all Washington, small-batch wines.  The current offerings include a Sauvignon Blanc, Rose, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a red blend.  Planned in the near future are a Cab-Syrah blend, and a Pinot Gris.  If and when you do sample one of the Sound Goods wines, have a look at the can before you recycle it.  Not only are there different iconic representations of Washington landscapes (Mount Baker from Camano Island, the Cascades from Chelan, the Olympics from Seattle, Mount Adams), but there are also Mad-Libs-type and word-finding games on each can.

In addition to growing their distribution presence locally, Jenn envisions opening a retail presence in the future—preferably in Wallingford.  Stay tuned for further developments.  Till then, give their wines-to-go a try.  They may be perfect as our weather finally begins to warm and we all (knock on wood) emerge from our long pandemic hibernation.