Boutique winery announces plans for Vancouver tasting room

“We’ll just start out with wine tastings,” Woodley said.

Building SuLei Cellars

The winery was founded in 2007 by Woodley and Elaine Jomwe. Woodley grew up in Vancouver, and she and Jomwe both lived in Portland until 2005, when they moved to Walla Walla with the goal of opening their own winery. Woodley spent two years earning a degree in enology and viticulture, and Jomwe drew on her career experience in accounting to become the winery’s operations manager.

SuLei Cellars wines are produced using fruit sourced from Walla Walla and Yakima-area vineyards, and are sold at more than a dozen locations in Washington and two in Oregon, according to the company’s website. The company produces a second brand called Roller Girl Wines, named for the founders’ shared enthusiasm for roller derby.

The Roller Girl brand is intended to be more approachable and emphasizes affordable prices, according to the website, although Woodley stresses that both brands are intended to offer “reasonably priced” wines. The company’s online store lists offerings ranging from $18-40 per bottle, with the majority priced at or below $30.

The winery’s first tasting room is in downtown Walla Walla, but Woodley said she and Jomwe wanted to expand the brand’s presence with a second location in Western Washington. Woodley’s hometown became the leading candidate due to the increasing number of SuLei Cellars wine club members in the Portland area.

“We’ve been looking at the Vancouver area for about a year — maybe two years actually,” Woodley said, and added that they began looking for a location in earnest about six months ago. “The wine market is ready over there for a few more wineries.”

Main Street in transition

The Main Street block near the Turtle Place transit center has seen a number of businesses close or move away in the past few years, including Boomer’s Sports Bar, Cameo Main Street Loan and Pawn and the Bus Stop Market, which closed in February.

The SuLei tasting room space was previously vacant, and the building’s other Main Street storefront has also been empty following the closure of the market. The building’s owner, local real estate broker Marci Caputo, told The Columbian in February that she hoped to bring in a new set of tenants to revitalize both the building and the surrounding portion of downtown.

Downtown is seeing a surge in new restaurants and bars, and SuLei is one of several drinking or dining establishments that have shown a renewed interest in the southern Main Street area.

Two food carts — Mack Shack and Anchor End — have begun operating around the corner on Seventh Street in a courtyard that once served as a C-Tran waiting area, and the former ticket booth is in the midst of a renovation project that will add a taproom and commercial kitchen, with the goal of turning the area into a dedicated outdoor food park.

A few doors down from the SuLei site, the windows on one of the storefronts have been papered over, with posted signs advertising a future beer-related business called WhichCraft, set to open in the spring.