Fate is persistent. If you miss it on the first pass, it will ensure you don’t do so again.
This reassurance struck me as Brad Fowler recalled how he first came upon, then passed by, what would become the new variety for Hood River Cherry Company and a unique offering for the category as a whole. The blushing blend of deep red and warm gold was a beautiful oddity at first, until it returned with more gravitas the following year.
Lovingly named Timberline, this all-new, naturally occurring blush cherry goes above and beyond any sundae-topping.
“Somewhere among our orchards, among 70,000-plus trees, a naturally occurring genetic variant emerged—a new cherry had been born,” the company’s Co-Owner recollected, and his tone carried the wonder of how unlikely the odds were. “The challenge lay in locating its source within the 300 acres, akin to finding a needle in a haystack.”
The search was on, and the treasure at the center of the orchard’s labyrinth was sweeter than gold. Seeing in it a gift from Mother Nature, the family-run company looked to its heart and guiding values and decided to take an unconventional approach to bringing Timberline to market.
“The most common way a new variety of treefruit is marketed is that the patent holder releases it for other growers. Those growers then pay royalties back to the patent holder to produce the varietal. Historically and monetarily, that is the typical way to go. However, we have decided not to do that, and instead to keep this cherry close to home. It will be held exclusively by our company so we can maintain its excellent quality. We want Timberline to become the standard for a premium cherry,” Brad explained.
To ensure this task went even deeper, the team pursued its own PLU number specifically for Timberline—one a handful of grocery banners have already implemented in anticipation of the variety’s popularity.
“The faith of a few local retailers was instrumental in helping us get a specific PLU number,” Kathryn Klein, Co-Owner, shared with me. “They put them out as Timberline cherries and advocated for us to be able to take this important step. It reinforced what we felt—that this beautiful cherry with an unusual marbling could make a difference in the category.”
This drives further the important point Brad made initially of keeping Timberline’s brand closely intertwined with Hood River Cherry Company’s own—one company, one growing area and packing house.
“Timberline itself is a very different cherry, but how it came to us and how we plan to build out its future goes hand-in-hand with every other cherry we grow,” Jared Gidley, Chief Executive Officer, reflected. “Quality and eating experiences are what really matters, and that guidance is what led to how we will continue to grow it. We could go the route of royalties, but that does not get to the heart of our goal. Our goal is and always has been to provide a piece of fruit that's super unique, benefits from our high elevation, and delivers the best quality fruit.”
Timberline is, in fact, from Hood River’s highest elevation orchard. Many, I’m sure, are familiar with Timberline Lodge up on Mount Hood, one which has a fondness all its own for Kathryn.
“I've always loved that lodge, and it struck me when the time came to name this new addition. The cherry came from a small, inch-long branch very high up in our closest orchard to Mount Hood. The line where the timber ends,” she said meaningfully.
With its own logo, a special bag with its specific PLU number, and flexible pack options for its logo from Hood River Cherry Company, Timberline is set to go from being Mother Nature’s gift just for the family-run company to one that can be shared and enjoyed by consumers.
“This isn’t just another new high-end cherry. It is later than the other cherries we have—and I say that even though we already have late cherries,” Jared said. “It's cared for in the same nurturing way we care for our other cherries, with the added benefit of having nurtured this variety for so long. Over the better part of 16 years, this has been like a child we have brought up until it was ready to debut to the market. I think that it's really exciting to have another very high-end boutique specialty product on the market coming from a group like ours, which is renowned for superior fruit.”
A late-season cherry which, in addition to its quality and unique appearance, stores really well, Timberline seems bent on shaking up the cherry paradigm single-handedly.
“A longer shelf-life, a later harvest date—all are big advantages in the marketplace as far as local cherries and trying to get the most out of this popular season,” Kathryn concluded.
A variant created in the wilds around Mount Hood—no genetic engineering, no DNA manipulation—is nature's own creation, as Brad puts it. Timberline’s only setback has been the time needed to allow it to come into its own. Thankfully, that time is passing, and Hood River Cherry Company is the one entrusted to cultivate this variety to its full potential.
Using nature as its thread, this is a story only fate itself could have woven. 
