E.B. Foote Winery in Burien is celebrating 30 years in business with new releases and old favorites at its anniversary celebration, March 27-30.

Boeing engineer Gene Foote started the winery in South Seattle in 1978, at a time when Washington State had only six other wineries.

Foote carved out a reputation for interesting and careful wines, but decided to retire from the business and sold it to Sherrill Miller and Rich Higginbotham in 1991.

Washington still only had 35 wineries at this time.

"It was a big deal when Washington had 50 wineries, and it was not thought that we would have many more than 100 wineries. What a difference 30 years makes," Miller said.

The couple mortgaged their house and came up with the money to buy the winery, which was then in a warehouse in South Park. Neither had ever made wine before.

Foote worked with them the first year, and after that, they were on their own. Having been serious wine drinkers, they knew how they wanted the wine to taste but had to learn what to do--things like contracting with top-quality grape growers, what flavors oak barrels impart to a wine, and sales and marketing.

While learning the ins and outs of winemaking and the wine business, they began to develop the distinctive character of their product that has since earned many awards and high ratings from wine festivals and publications around the country.

Miller and Higginbotham moved the winery to Burien in 1999.

"We needed a bigger location and one that was a little easier to find," Miller says of the Burien site.

Tucked away in a warehouse underneath a strip mall, for some years, as news of the winery leaked out, people were often heard to remark "There's a winery in Burien?"

Increasingly, however, people know about E.B. Foote's offerings, from its distinctive Sweet Sherrill dessert wine to its full line of reds. The reds continue to bring home awards and honors from wine festivals across the country. It is featured at a number of local restaurants and wine shops.

The walls of the winery are covered with awards, including a Platinum Award for their 2000 Syrah from Wine Press Northwest magazine's Best of the Best judging; 91 points from Wine Spectator for their 1998 Cabernet Reserve; and Gold Medal and Best Washington Wine award for their 2004 Perfect