Dame Marie-Eve Gilla
Dames are trailblazers. Dame Marie-Eve Gilla created her own vision of what Washington wines can be as one of the first woman winemakers and winery owners in our state, where women make up a small percentage of the winemaking ranks.
Born in Burgundy and raised near Paris, Marie-Eve fell in love with the demanding, but rewarding, pastoral lifestyle while working summers on the farm.
Passionate about nature and biology, she earned a double Masters in Enology and Viticulture at the University of Dijon. She gained practical training in the wineries and vineyards of Burgundy.
Marie-Eve arrived in the United States in 1991 with the intention of staying just a few months. She worked at various wineries including Argyle, Covey Run, and Hogue and realized the incredible potential of the Northwest wine industry. After marrying her compatriot Gilles Nicault in 1999, they moved to Walla Walla in 2001, where Marie-Eve became Forgeron Cellars’ founding winemaker and managing partner. Forgeron was only the 23rd bonded winery in the AVA.
In 2018, she joined Valdemar Estates — the first internationally owned winery in Washington (the Martinez Bujanda family has made wine in the Rioja Valley of Spain since 1889). As Director of Winemaking and Viticulture at Valdemar, Marie-Eve gets to return to her European roots, making complex, balanced, and age-worthy wines.
Over the past twenty-five years, Marie-Eve has devoted endless time and energy researching and establishing relationships with the best growers from around Washington State. Believing firmly that ʺgreat wines are made in the vineyard,ʺ she sources grapes from established vineyards in the Red Mountain and Walla Walla A.V.A. to craft her wines. Working in a boutique winery allows her to focus on quality by keeping each vineyard lot separate. This gives each wine the ability to express its full potential.
In 2015, Marie-Eve became a member of our Seattle Chapter. She was honored to receive the grade de Chevalier dans l’ordre du mérite Agricole from the French government in January of 2016 (the Ordre recognizes people who have rendered exceptional services to agriculture, whether in public duties or in the very practice of agriculture.) Since 2019, Marie-Eve has been a member of the Wine Research Advisory Committee (WRAC) which serves as the scientific review arm for the Washington State wine industry. She has also received numerous accolades for her wines including international recognition at blind tastings held in both San Francisco and Miami with her 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and “best white wine of the year” at the 2017 Seattle Wine Awards.
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