Underage winemaker

[lsanderson]

A Vineyard Prodigy Too Young to Drink
By TIMOTHY EGAN
PROSSER, Wash.

JUST after sunrise, and Victor Palencia was examining barrel samples inside the cellar, basically a cold-storage shed with the just-born feel of this blue-collar wine country, a place where the Subway sandwich shop sports a sign that says, "Welcome wine enthusiasts." He sniffed, ran the wine over his tongue. Sniffed again, held the juice up to the light.

"I try to trust my nose," he said.

For now, the nose will have to do. The fate of this year's vintage, picked when the clusters of syrah were tight and purpled like a bruise, and the future of an entire winery may hang on the olfactory sensibilities of an underage snout.

For Mr. Palencia, who oversees all aspects of winemaking at Willow Crest Winery, is 20 years old - too young to drink, legally, the wine he makes, too young to try other vintners' products, too young to enjoy a glass with fellow magicians of the grape.

Of course, that doesn't mean he has not tried a lot of wine. Professionally. Almost daily, he is duty-bound to break the law. But for the record: "I spit a lot."