The couple behind Succession Wines finds increased motivation, and success, after a devastating wildfire

WHEN YOUR DREAMS go up in flames, you’re left with choices: Give up and head back to the rat race, or boldly push on. Usually, those with the strength to push through adversity are rewarded.

Brock and Erica Lindsay persevered. The former Seattle couple gathered the ashes after a devastating wildfire slowed their dreams of building a Washington winery, and found success.

Brock is a self-taught winemaker. As for many in Washington, it was a hobby that came out of an unexpected experience — in his case, studying in Italy during college and becoming immersed in that wine culture.

His background as a structural engineer — he helped design the new Highway 520 bridge and the Manette Bridge in Bremerton — gave him just enough science knowledge to apply to winemaking.

He and Erica met in a Seattle bar, and the engineer and the high-tech executive decided to build a life together, moving to the Lake Chelan area in 2010. Brock worked in cellars, built relationships with mentors, applied to the Washington State University Viticulture and Enology program (where he eventually studied) and made his own wine. The couple dreamed of starting a winery.

But in 2014, the Carlton Complex wildfire consumed a quarter-million acres and 300 homes, including the Lindsays’.

Discouraged but not defeated, they rebuilt and moved forward in 2015, calling their new winery Succession Wines, seeing the move as the natural succession of their lives.

In 2016, they released their first wines, reds from the 2013 vintage, followed by whites from the 2015 vintage. The 2014 vintage had been interrupted by the wildfire.

Wine lovers quickly recognized the quality of Brock’s wines, buying every last drop of his initial 600 cases, primarily through Succession’s wine club.

They had landed in the burgeoning Chelan region in the first place because Erica’s family had a cabin there, and she had spent many happy summers along its shores. Thanks to the area’s growing wine scene and built-in summer tourism, the move made sense. They were close to a growing base of wine lovers, much closer to the vineyards of Eastern Washington — and well away from traffic.

While Brock handles the winemaking and manages some vineyards in the region, Erica takes care of the business side while balancing home life as the mother of two daughters. She also has taken an expanding role in the region’s wine industry as executive director of the Chelan Wine Association.

Now they have planted syrah on 5 acres around their winery building on the north shore of the lake. With the wildfire behind them, they now focus on the growing future of Succession Wines.