Educator Lloyd S. Woodburne Spurred Washington Wine Industry

Any supermarket shopper now can wander among shelves stocked with dozens of varieties of internationally respected Washington State wines.

That was impossible 30 years ago; then, there were no well-known Northwest wineries.

Now the man largely responsible for the modern Washington wine industry is dead.

Dr. Lloyd S. Woodburne died June 21 at his Seattle home. He was 85.

Dr. Woodburne was a former dean of the University of Washington's College of Arts and Sciences, but also is remembered for his role in founding the Associated Vintners Winery, now called the Columbia Winery, in 1962. It became the first successful modern winery in the state.

The founding of the winery has become almost a legend in the history of the state's wine industry.

Wines had been produced in Washington in the 1920s, but Prohibition, state tax laws, and a tendency to produce mostly sweet fruit wines kept state wineries from achieving excellence.

"However, almost unnoticed by the general public, a few flickers of hope were beginning to kindle in the darkness," wrote Tom Stockley, Seattle Times wine columnistin a history of the industry.

"One of them was when Angelo Pelligrini, the Northwest's resident guru of fine food and wine, in 1951 introduced his colleague at the University of Washington, Lloyd Woodburne, to winemaking. Woodburne later was to lure friends and other colleagues over to his garage-turned-winery, and they ultimately formed Associated Vintners, Washington's first real premium winery."

Dr. Woodburne recalled in a 1972 interview that the winery faced some difficult times.

"For the first eight years you don't get a nickel back," he said, telling how he called on a wide range of friends to start the business, including a pediatrician, a lawyer, a marine biologist, a chemist, a meteorologist and some engineers.

"We decided that for the price of joining a good country club, we could start a winery," he said.

Other problems persisted, and a cold winter in 1978 and 1979 forced the winery to sell its Yakima Valley vineyards, forcing the winemakers to buy grapes from other sources.

But the winemakers continued, and by 1982 Associated Vintners was producing 30,000 cases of wine a year, compared to 450 cases in 1967.

Now the winery, noted for its ornate Victorian-building at 14030 N.E. 145th St. in Woodinville, has received international awards for the quality of its product.

Dr. Woodburne was born in London, Ontario, on Dec. 20, 1906, and received a doctorate in psychology from the University of Michigan.

He became an assistant dean of the College of Literature, Science and Art at that school and left Ann Arbor in 1950 to become dean of the UW's College of Arts and Sciences.

In 1960, he returned to full-time teaching and research, and taught both introductory psychology and the neural basis of behavior. He was the author of a textbook on the subject with the same name.

In 1976, he retired from the UW to become the first full-time manager and head winemaker for Associated Vintners. He turned over the winemaking duties to the winery's present manager, David Lake, in 1979, but remained as manager until 1982.

He was an early and strong supporter of the Washington Enological Society and was honored in 1983 when he was made a Supreme Knight of the Vine and a member of the Order of the Knights of the Vine. He retired from the winery in 1983.

Dr. Woodburne is survived by a brother, Russell, of Ann Arbor; Betsy, his wife of 50 years; three children, Barbara C. Duncan of Hershey, Pa., John S. Woodburne of Bellevue and Catherine R. Woodburne of Seattle; and five grandchildren.

A memorial service was held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, where he had been an active member for more than 40 years. Remembrances are suggested to a favorite charity or The Stroke Foundation.