Ashley Trout, a passion for winemaking and thriving in a male dominated industry!

Profiles in Leadership

Winemaker Ashley Trout has been an integral part of the Walla Walla wine industry since 1999. She has since worked eight harvests in Argentina, started three wineries in Washington and racked up both personal and professional accolades for her social justice work within the wine industry as well as for her wines, landing her as one of Wine Enthusiast magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” and Wine Industry Advisor’s “Wine’s Most Inspiring People.”

Trout started in the Walla Walla wine industry at age eighteen. Her part time cellar job become much more than that. She worked at Reinginer Winery for eight years, followed by Tamarack Cellars, Waters Winery and TERO Estates. In 2004, she began working the harvest regularly in Mendoza Argentina, at Alta Vista and Tamari with additional internships at Tapiz and Mendel. She launched Flying Trout Wines in 2006, focusing on Malbec and later sold the brand in 2010, staying on as the winemaker for five more years.

In 2016, a decade after creating her first winery, she released inaugural wines for her two new brands, Vital Wines and Brook & Bull Cellars.

Vital is a non-profit winery that donates 100% of its profits toward improving access to healthcare for vineyard and cellar workers in our local community.

Ashley’s husband, Brian Rudin is also a winemaker. Rudin is Duckhorn Wine Company’s winemaker for their Washington state winery, Canvasback. Their two children are too young to yet be winemakers.