Wine Tasting with SBA

Thank you to our Lending Partner on this Project:

Cairdeas (pronounced “Cardis”) is a small winery that was founded in 2009 by Charlie and Lacey Lybecker. The Lybeckers pulled their inspiration from the Rhône valley of southern France, and make wine in that style using Washington fruit. Cairdeas, a nod to their heritage, is Irish Gaelic for friendship, goodwill or alliance.

The winery was originally established in West Seattle, but after discovering the Lake Chelan Valley, they saw the potential of that region, so they relocated there in 2012. Charlie is the winemaker/business manager and Lacey has a marketing background in the nonprofit, hospitality and events industries, which proves useful when it comes to running a winery.

Guests can sample and purchase wine at Cairdeas, and the join the Wine Club for exclusive discounts and wines. Patrons can also sign up to participate in the Winemaker’s Pop-Up Dinners, which feature seven courses. 

Financing a Wine Tasting Room:

Cairdeas Winery’s popularity and sales began to dramatically increase in 2017, so Charles and Lacey started planning for a expansion for their tasting room to accommodate the influx in customers. 

To finance the construction of their larger wine tasting room, Charles and Lacey turned to NWBDA, Washington Trust Bank, and the SBA 504 Loan Program, which would provide the space needed for the continuing increase in traffic and demand created by their existing and growing wine sales.

Additionally, due to the location of the winery, they were able to utilize the SBA 504 Program’s Rural Public Policy Goal, which waives the job requirement of the program.

Charles and Lacey were able to fulfill their dream of building a real tasting room for Cairdeas Winery. They are now happily able to host their  larger wine tastings, Wine Clubs and Pop-Up Dinners.

“We, Lacey & Charlie Lybecker, founded Cairdeas Winery in 2009 with the dream of eventually planting vines and opening a tasting room in wine country.

We moved to the Lake Chelan Valley in 2012, leasing an old packing shed for our winery production space and tasting room, while searching for our forever winery home. Then, we closed on our Winesap Avenue property at the end of 2013. With just a house and one outbuilding at the time, we set to work planting an estate vineyard and leaving the perfect space next to the vines for our barn style tasting room.

When the timing was right, we partnered with Washington Trust Bank and the Northwest Business Development Association to secure [an SBA 504] loan to make our dream tasting room a reality.

During the construction of the tasting room, we quickly realized we were running out of room to make wine. We hoped to expand the production facilities down the road, but the need arose sooner and we were able to expand on our SBA 504 loan to meet the needs of our growing winery even sooner.

Everyone is enjoying our new gathering space, The Cairdeas Barn, and having the extra space and efficiencies of our new production building to continue to make high quality Rhône inspired Washington wines. We were able to fulfill a decade-long dream of building a real tasting room for our winery.”

-Charles and Lacey Lybecker

In loving memory of David Bixby
1951-2022

Dave will be greatly missed by all who knew him. He touched many lives and the memories he left us with will be cherished forever. 

David Bixby was 70 years old when he passed away in February after a courageous but quick battle with cancer. He left behind his wife of almost 49 years, Helen, and his two children, Jeffery and Jill. His family was incredibly important to him and one of the things he valued most.

Dave had a long career in banking, for over 40 years he specialized in real estate lending, building and managing mortgage production teams for a couple of regional banks. In addition to lending, he was an Appraiser and Real Estate Broker for the bank, taught classes at the community college on real estate, and served on the Ethics Board for the Tri-City Association of Realtors. A few years ago, Dave and Helen moved to Spokane to be closer to family and he was hired on at NWBDA as a Risk Rating Analyst, where he was recognized for being one of the best and was an instrumental part of the team. Throughout his career, he was known for his expertise in his field and was often sought out for advice by his colleagues and associates in the lending industry in Eastern WA.

Dave enjoyed his work, but he absolutely loved his family, politics, reading, writing, fishing and following his beloved Oregon Ducks. He was a good friend to many and loved to hold deep conversations. He will be very missed.

Read David’s Full Obituary: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/spokesman/name/david-bixby-obituary