Submitted by Westport Winery
The Roberts family of Westport Winery in Aberdeen, Washington, has been selected from a large number of distinguished family business enterprises nominated from all over the state as a finalist for the Seattle Business Magazine’s Washington Family Business of the Year for 2012. The award will be presented on Thursday, November 29 at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle.
According to the magazine, “In an age when innovative new startups are launched, sold and resold, the family business provides a valuable study in consistency and reliability. This doesn’t imply predictability, for the successful family business is anything but predictable. Through it all, they have managed to prosper, change and grow while also keeping a practiced eye on tradition and succession.”
Blain and Kim Roberts launched Westport Winery in 2008 with their son Dana as their winemaker and daughter Carrie managing the tasting room. Together the family has grown this business from the first winery on the Washington coast to Wine Press Northwest’s 2011 Washington’s Winery to Watch and King 5 Evening Magazine’s 2012 Best Wine Tour. Blain Roberts said, “We did this to teach our kids about the love of our community, the love of the land, and the love of enterprise. This award is a culmination of that effort.”
“When you bring the family dynamic to a financial venture you can magnify your weaknesses. The good thing for us is that we’ve found our strengths complement each other in a manner that has allowed us a unique level of success,” Kim Roberts said. “For us to bring the spotlight to our wonderful Grays Harbor community and to this state’s wine industry makes us especially proud of our family’s efforts and accomplishments.”
Westport Winery, Restaurant, Bakery and Nursery is open daily at 11a.m. The winery with its extraordinary outdoor sculpture garden and unique grape maze is located on the corner of Highway 105 and South Arbor Road halfway between Westport and Aberdeen. For more information call Westport Winery at 360-648-2224.
