Place a bottle of wine and some glasses in front of strangers and conversation and friendship will commence right then and there, says the owner and winemaker of 14 Acres Vineyard and Winery, David Regan.
Regan, co-owner along with his wife, Charlotte, is the 14 Acres craftsman and, simply put, the wine scientist. He said wine is a culture. It also packs benefits such as serotonin.
“If you take a six-pack, OK, or a 12-pack, you put it in the middle of four strangers, well, you might eventually get some chatter,” he said. “But you take a bottle of wine and you put it in the middle of the table with four different strangers, and you’re going to have people who just created this lifelong bond there. … Wine just brings out the truth, you know. It just brings stuff up, out of people. For some reason, wine creates an atmosphere of vulnerability.”
For Regan, the connection to wine is far greater than even that of a connoisseur of the beverage as he goes from grape, barrel or other storage, to the bottle and in a glass to consume and analyze.
“There’s like this genuine, true connectivity that you again, you just don’t get with a bottle of suds,” Regan said. “It’s just totally different worlds.”
Regan painted a picture of dozens of people in a winery. They are all chatting, and then, all of a sudden, the people who have never met before are sitting together at tables or as a group hanging out.
“You don’t get that at a bar,” he said. “You don’t get that with people drinking seltzers. They’re like, ‘Oh, who are you?’ There are no clicks in wine, in the winery, in this place. There are no clicks. You put a bottle of wine in front of people, and it’s just that, you know. For some reason, wine just has that magic, and that’s what’s exciting about it.”
Seattle Wine Awards
At this year's Seattle Wine Awards, Regan’s creations landed him an abundance of gold awards, even a double gold with 95 points for his 2024 Cielo, Bubbly. The judges also looked at the consistent rise of Regan’s work in the winemaking realm and this year’s awards, which landed 14 Acres in the prestigious 2025 Fabulous Four Washington Wineries of The Year.
The Fabulous Four Award recognizes the consistent accolades, current and continuous elevation of quality, texture and expression as well as making wines of excellence throughout the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle Wine Awards stated. The awards organization also stated that choosing just one out of the 1,500-or-so active wineries in Oregon and Washington would be a disservice to the wine scene of the region, thus celebrating four was the best choice.
Regan is also taking home some hardware from the Los Angeles International Wine Competition, including a Best in Class for 14 Acres’ Oak Chardonnay, “Which is really impressive,” Regan said, explaining that many Napa Valley Chardonnays are oaked and Chardonnay is the second most popular grape grown in the wine country of California.
In the Seattle Wine Awards, 14 Acres was among some big names in the state of Washington.
“We’re like in the same award bracket as Brian Carter, who is a phenomenal winemaker. Brian Carter, their reds and their whites are just out of this world,” Regan said. “So, to be in the same category as Brian Carter is really an honor for us. I mean, I was super humbled. … But it definitely was a massive honor and a humbling experience to be one of the wineries of the year.”
The specialty: Marquette
“A lot of people ask, ‘Well, what’s your guys’ specialty? What do you do well? What are you known for?’” Regan said. “Our Marquette is something that we’re known for. That’s why I’d say the previous owner just had some amazing insight and he had some great vision when he planted Marquette.”
Marquette, similar to a Marcel Fauche, is a red grape that ripens earlier and does phenomenally in the Ridgefield micro climate. Regan also added that they’re the only vineyard in a 200-plus-mile radius that grows Marqutte and sells it.
“And I’m telling you it sells very well,” Regan said, examining a row of Marquette, of which there are 1,500 plants on the property. “The difference is just so stark. The plant doesn’t need that much heat to ripen, but when these things ripen, they’re robust. They’re a good heavy, medium-bodied wine. They have a good tannin and good structure. But the fruit is so unique.”
Regan said his wine club members say it is by far the most unique red wine.
“It’s not our best and biggest. It’s just different,” Regan said.
The Marquette isn’t just a unique specialty for 14 Acres, but a tie to Regan’s place of worship, Kingdom Movement.
“All my sales from my Marquette I tied to our local church, because it’s our first fruit that comes into season,” he said. “So, 100% of our sales of this goes to my church.”
The grape ripens in late summer or early fall, with this year probably landing in the beginning to middle of September, Regan anticipates.
Pieces to the Process of creating the art that is wine
The 14 Acres property includes 8 acres of vineyard, which can yield 1,000 to 1,500 cases per year. But Regan also sources grapes elsewhere for the variety of wines he creates.
First, Regan says from the winemaker's perspective, not overcropping is key.
Once the grapes are harvested, moving to the creation now in storage, whether it be in a barrel or other methods. Regan said a crucial step — actually the most important part of winemaking and wine management — is oxygen. Learning from his mentor in Oregon, Regan was taught early on to top the wine off in barrels.
“Once you get oxygen in here, then the wine starts going bad. It starts aging,” Regan said, adding that sulfur protects wine and is a crucial step to the process of protecting the fluid in storage.
The process is tedious, with a major emphasis on attention to detail.
“Anybody can make wine in the back of their garage, right, and they could maybe even make decent wine,” he said. “But then there’s a few tricks and a few tweaks.”
Regan compared it to making eggs.
“Anybody can cook eggs, but everybody can overcook eggs. It’s the ones who don’t overcook the eggs,” he said.
Regan explained that a lot of the work is time consuming, especially the lab tests to check for levels of bacteria that could make or break a barrel’s’ lifespan. With a lot of science involved leading to storing the wine, even more science is needed to keep it prime for bottling.
With some barrels from a previous owner testing for the yeast Brettanomyces, shortened to “Brett,” Regan has started with a new slate of barrels and has several new ones that will be giving a variety of wines, “some nice oaky kisses.”
“I’ve got Cab Franc, Merlot. I got Serod here,” Regan pointed out, adding that some of the same varieties will be different blends of oak to meet everyone’s desired oak levels in wine. “Some people like Pinot noirs a certain way. Let’s switch gears to white wine. A majority of most people don’t like Napa Valley-style Chardonnay. Which Chardonnay is the No. 1 most popular white wine in America. They like the stainless steel Chardonnay. There are some people who like an oak Chardonnay, and so we do both.”
To learn more about 14 Acres Vineyard and Winery, visit 14acres.com. The winery also hosts a summer concert series, event space opportunities and more. They’re also offering their wine club, which can be found at 14acres.com/wine-club.
