A Storied Past
In 1924, Royal Newton Riblet purchased the land that is now Arbor Crest Wine Cellars, one year after Walt Disney started his company. Now, 100 years later, you can still feel the magic. As a mechanical innovator, Riblet not only developed a variety of patented devices, including a square-wheel tractor, pattern sprinkler system, and mechanical parking garage, but he was also the chief engineer and designer of his beautiful estate. Riblet made his fortune constructing tramways for mining companies in the Inland Northwest.
1982
The Mielke’s were a family of California farmers who fell in love with making wine. When brothers Harold and David and Harold’s wife, Marcia, heard through the grapevine that Spokane could be a great place to establish a winery, they headed north and started Washington State’s 29th winery, of which there are now over 1,050.
1985
The Mielke’s purchased the Riblet’s now historic 75-acre estate on New Year’s Eve. “They had the vision to see what this could be,” said Kristina van Loben Sels, Arbor Crest’s winemaker and daughter to Harold and Marcia.
While Kristina’s parents and uncle did have a vision that the estate could be a great location, it wasn’t until Kristina and her husband, Jim van Loben Sels, came to take over the winery and saw the true potential for the historic estate.
Cliff House Estate
1999
Both Jim and Kristina van Loben Sels grew up in California, where their parents’ love for wine trickled down. “My uncle was a vineyard manager in Napa in the early 70s, and we had a wine under our van Loben Sels name,” Jim said. “I would go out with him and my dad and ride in their truck through the vineyards, and I remember lighting smudge pots in the spring at the end of every row of grapevines to keep them from freezing.”
A viticulturalist by trade, Jim would go on to receive an Agriculture Economics degree but continued his apprenticeship working with his uncle in the Central Valley of California doing irrigation management.
Kristina received her degree in Fermentation Science at UC Davis. She then spent the next seven years as the associate winemaker at Ferrari-Carano Vineyards in Sonoma County. “It was a great tool for me to learn and get the experience at that winery before coming up here,” Kristina said. “My experience there is what prepared me for taking over the winemaking at Arbor Crest.”
The 2000s
One summer night watching the sunset from the cliff house, Kristina thought this view, combined with our wine should be a shared experience. So, they shifted their hours to stay open later in the summertime and called it ‘Sunday Sunset.’ But, like any good party with a good glass of wine, she noticed something was missing.
“I remember walking around and thinking we need music!” Kristina said. “The next summer, we started our checkerboard concert program, and we had 75 people and two employees at our first concert. We started with Sundays, and we later added Thursdays, and that’s been a tried and true for us for a long time.” Arbor Crest now has anywhere from 500 to 1,500 people spill through their doors twice a week for their summer concert series.
“The property was completely underutilized,” Kristina said. Jim and Kristina then decided to host weddings (availability for 2025 is already booked). “Adding weddings has been fantastic, and since then, we have added more fun signature events like Art and Glass Fest, a car show, and a lot of fundraisers.” Arbor Crest hosted 50 weddings and more than 120 events last year.
“It was exciting to work together for 20-plus years, but now we have two separate career paths,” said Jim, who now serves as the general manager of Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park. “I am still a part of Arbor Crest, but Kristina runs 100% of it. I love being here and helping in any way I can.”
Kristina added, “It will always be our vision and plan to make the best wine we can and to give the best possible customer experience.” Part of that plan was to change from selling most of their wine wholesale and being in up to 32 states to focusing locally on bringing people to the Arbor Crest estate to their tasting room, concerts, and weddings. The Valley Chamber has even begun hosting their last two Business Showcase events at Arbor Crest.
Looking to the Future
2024
“This local approach is a much healthier model for us,” Kristina said. “We’re always looking at what we are doing and evaluating if it’s working and modifying it if it’s not.” Arbor Crest has started to partner with local restaurants to create a private-label blend. Through introductions made by the Valley Chamber, they have already developed partnerships with Market Street Pizza, TT’s Brewery & BBQ, Graze Craze, and Flight 509.
Arbor Crest has continued to grow their business while changing their strategy to focus more on local distribution, private events and creating endless memories for the 42,000+ visitors they have annually. That focus is why the State’s 29th winery is doing better than ever.
“We’ve stayed true to who we are, and we have stayed on that course for 25 years since we took over the business,” Jim said. “We prioritize the quality of service and the quality of the product, and we never compromise to make our wine.”
The next generation of van Loben Sels are still years away from tasting their family’s wine, let alone running the business. In the meantime, Kristina says she still has a lot of plans and ideas for Arbor Crest’s future and is eager to bring them to the table over the coming years. “We’re always trying to better ourselves and make a better product, and 25 years later, we’re still doing it, and it’s still exciting.”
