Stories

Sometimes the best way to discover (or rediscover) Portland is to venture just beyond it. Oregon wine country is close enough to make the trip easy.

Dear Friends, Twenty-two years ago today, my brother Jimi passed away suddenly from an aortic dissection. It has been quite the journey continuing the winery in honor of his legacy. Today, I have written my reflections in a letter to him.  Dear Jimi, Everyone says to me, “Jimi would be so proud.” I reflect upon…

“I’m reminded when I wake up in the morning, even if the dawn chorus is nothing but the Caw! Caw! of the neighborhood crows, that I must renew my delight and effort in the tangled banquet.” -Lyanda Lynn Haupt, Crow Planet Late summer has arrived, and with it, the hum of the crickets. I always wonder…

The fascinating thing about winemaking is that the process is not just about fermentation. Every decision can influence the final wine.

“Nothing is complete, nothing is perfect and nothing is ever finished. I have developed tender feelings toward the unrelenting drive toward entropy that I take with me. It is everywhere and in everything.” -Marc Hamer, How to Catch a Mole The heat of August finds me retreating into shade by afternoon. There is a dusty…

The more comfortable you become reading wine labels, the easier it becomes to predict what is in the glass and more confidently choose wines that match your personal taste.

“I need to pause for a while. A garden should evolve, it’s a continuing conversation, like a painting, rather than engineering a machine to the precision of a plan. Living things are wobbly, and one thing in the garden changes everything around.” -Marc Hamer, Spring Rain: A Life Lived in Gardens These long summer evenings,…

Great wine doesn’t have to cost a fortune…truly!

“Nature is a strange factory, relentless in its productivity. We like to think life and death are opposite states, but it’s all tangled up together, the cherry blossoms and the cancer: a never-ending production of more, a monstrous fecundity.” -Olivia Laing, Funny Weather When I look around my gardens, I feel that they resemble my…

“Gardening was a subtle process of give and take with the landscape, a search for some middle ground between culture and nature.” -Michael Pollan, Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education There is a distinct shift in the garden in spring. A smell emits from the soil—geosmin, a volatile chemical produced by soil-dwelling bacteria and fungi. This…

Focus on structure, balance, and proper storage to avoid common wine aging mistakes while building a varied collection.

“A garden is like the self. It has so many layers and winding paths, real or imagined, that it can never be known, completely, even by the most inanimate of friends.” -Anne Raver, Deep in the Green There is a lightness to springtime. Despite the busyness of tending to honeybees, weeds, and vegetable starts, I…

A series of hands-on activities to learn how to describe wine without memorizing a script.

“ A seed is the dormant dream of a new life. A hope, a prayer, the smallest version of an entire life.” -Jennifer Jewell, What We Sow Despite a decade of farming, sowing seeds still fills me with a profound sense of hope. Whether in the quiet of a greenhouse or directly into the earth,…

While science explains why food and wine pairings work, we join them for pleasure and connection. Taste, learn, and enjoy!

“We need to return to learning about the land by being on the land, or better, by being in the thick of it.” -Gary Paul Nabham We have long been storytellers; there is something innately human to drawing around a fire and sharing pieces of ourselves. This draw to storytelling still shows up in our…

Gather a great group of women for a wine-filled dinner with generous pours, loud laughter, and plenty of toasts to friendships worth celebrating.

“In winter, wild places feel like being in a hushed house with a sleeper in the next room. A living stillness. It isn’t quite loneliness. More a pronounced absence.” -Jarod K. Anderson, Something in the Woods Loves You The quiet of winter has an immersive feeling; long gone are the expansive vistas of the garden.…

Decanting is part chemistry and part ritual. It gives your wine both the oxygen it needs and the presentation that elevates the experience.

“There can be no purpose more inspiring than to begin the age of restoration, reweaving the wondrous diversity of life that still surrounds us.” -E.O. Wilson As I write this from my home office, I can see above in the treeline the silhouette of an oak tree branch. I come from a land where oak…

“Sitting in your garden is a feat to be worked at with unflagging determination and singlemindedness…True gardeners, with their peerless taste, dexterity and inspired planting, never stop…To sit is almost an offense, a sign of depravity and an outrage towards every felicitous refinement that has gone into making a garden…I am deeply committed to sitting…

While pairing wine and cheese can be intimidating, it doesn’t need to be. Apply these core principles to find combinations that feel fun and refined.

These simple do’s and don’ts are rooted in respect, curiosity, and elegance to elevate your tasting experience and make you the most gracious wine lover in the room.

“I am in love with a plant [garlic] that yearns for friendship with each gardener through a succession of three seasons in the field, a plant shaped by personality and flavor.” -Scott Chaskey, This Common Ground Autumn is a quiet time of year in a garden, a time for deep reflection. The spider webs hang…

Knowing how to recognize common wine faults can transform your wine tasting experience and allow you to use terms that put you ahead of the curve.

“When the natural world is understood as a gift instead of private property, there are ethical constraints on the accumulation of abundance that is not yours to own.” -Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry Some may know that I tend two gardens, one at my home and the community garden at Brooks. Summer days often find…

“There is a time for hope, and there is a time for realism. But what is needed now is beyond hope and realism. This is a time when we ought to dedicate ourselves to bringing about the greatest shift in human consciousness and in the way we live.” – Ben Okri, Tiger Work There is…

“We live in such a time now, when our collective actions over the next several years will decide whether earthly life will continue its descent into ecological ruin and death or flourish in beauty and diversity.” -Lyanda Lynn Haupt, Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness It’s not often that I walk the garden…

Fire up the grill! Oregon’s diverse wine scene offers something for every grill master and every guest at your next BBQ bash.

“The shape of time and space is different in wilderness. Time is something encountered through the sense not imposed upon the mind. We walk, we sit, we eat, we sleep, we look, we smell, we touch, we hear, we taste our own feral nature. What we know in a wild place is largely translated through…