James and Poppy Mantone created Syncline Wine Cellars in 2001 after meeting in Oregon's Willamette Valley four years prior. Their passion for wine led them to the Columbia Gorge where their joint venture began.

Currently, Syncline Wine Cellars is located along the Columbia River in southern Washington State. Their location, in the eastern Columbia River Gorge gives them a unique place for growing wine grapes - in particular French varietals. The estate vineyard, Steep Creek Ranch, is located on a southern slope on the very eastern edge of the new Columbia Gorge AVA. Directly west of the vineyard and winery is a series of 300-foot cliffs rising up into the surrounding mountains straight out of the Columbia River. Locally known as the Coyote Wall Syncline and to geologists as the Bingen Syncline, this dramatic feature gives the winery its name. It is at this point that the rainy western Columbia Gorge transitions to the semi-arid eastern Gorge.