Wednesday, March 30, 2011

3/31 Andrew Talks with Chris Lake from the Southern Oregon Wine Institute!

About Chris Lake:

Born and educated in California, Chris Lake’s career began in 1990 when he was hired as a cellar worker for the Santa Barbara Winery. Chris worked in Santa Barbara for three years, learning to make award-winning wines from some of California’s best cool climate vineyards.

In 1993, Chris and his wife Gretchen left Santa Barbara to attend California State University, Fresno. Chris received his Bachelors in Plant Science and then took a position at the university as a viticulture research assistant. His career in viticulture research took Chris from Fresno to Arkansas when, in 2000, he took a position as a research assistant with Dr. R. Keith Striegler at the University of Arkansas.

In 2004, Chris left his university position to become the viticulturist and assistant winemaker for Wiederkehr Wine Cellars in Altus, Arkansas. At Wiederkehr, Chris farmed 200 acres of European, American and French-American hybrid grapes in addition to assisting in the production of 40,000 cases per year for the family run winery. Chris left Wiederkehr in 2006 to become the viticulturist and winemaker for Stone Bluff Cellars in Haskell, Oklahoma where he took the production from 1200 to 3000 cases in two years.

Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon hired Chris to become the first director of the College’s Southern Oregon Wine Institute in July of 2008. The Institute is a division of the college that delivers an instructional program in Viticulture and Enology to serve students from a seven county area in southern Oregon.

“Chris Lake not only has the entrepreneurial experience of a commercial wine maker,” said UCC President Blaine Nisson announcing Lake’s appointment, “but he also has published extensively and worked in viticulture and enology programs in academic settings. That’s a combination we expect will be vital to our new program here in southern Oregon.”

Since Chris took the Director’s position, the Institute has enrolled 60-75 students per year in its two year Viticulture and Enology degree. Chris continues to lead the Institute as it completes the construction of a 24,000 sq. ft. teaching winery and event center on the college’s campus. In 2011, Oregon Winepress named the Southern Oregon Wine Institute as it’s Organization of the Year saying that “In a few years, the college’s Southern Oregon Wine Institute has grown … to providing the industry with vital lab services, access to cutting-edge research and invitations to confab at Wine Cluster Conferences. But perhaps most important, SOWI is set up to produce ready-to-work employees.”

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

3/24 Andrew Apodaca Talks With Dyson De Mara from Hillcrest Wines!


HillCrest, Bonded Winery 44, is Oregon's oldest estate winery and home to many of the states first, including it's first Pinot Noir. Today they honor our rich legacy of innovation with their patented concrete red wine fermentors and Umpqua Valleys most sustainable vineyard practices. Their historic family estate is the fruit of many generations experience including working in vineyards and wineries in Europe, South America as well as teaching on wine in over 17 countries. It is their passion to produce wines that express classic elegance, structure, ageability and a reflection of the place in which they are grown. Using the states oldest naturally farmed vineyards, they handcraft all of their wines without any employees. From planting their own vineyards, to bottling and the tasting room, only their family’s hands touch these wines... or as they like to say "family made not family managed." "Great wines without ego."

HillCrest, Bonded Winery 44, was founded by wine pioneer Richard Sommers in 1961 with the help of Adolph Doerner, who's family first planted wine grapes in the Umpqua Valley in 1888. After selecting the estate site, Richard went about planting over 35 varieties, many of which had never been planted or produced before in Oregon. Soon thereafter many other wine pioneers appeared at the doors of HillCrest prior to getting their start in the state. These would include David Lett, Chuck Coury and Myron Redford.

In 2003 Dyson De Mara, his wife Susan and their 3 children Hanna, Parker and Tucker continued Richards pioneering legacy by continuing to produce wines that reflect a sense of place or what the French call "terroir." They continue Richards pioneering legacy, but with and eye to the best of the past, like creating state of the art patented concrete fermentors and founding "Oregon Artisan Family Wineries" for truly unique family crafted wines in the European sense.

For more info on this winery, go to www.hillcrestvineyard.com!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

3/17 Andrew's Guest is Dick Calafato from Pyrenees Winey

Andrew Apodaca delivers the latest news and reports from Oregon - the fastest growing wine region in the country!

Today's topics include:

Recent severe weather and how it affects grapes.



Upcoming events in Oregon wine region and at Pyrenees Winery.



Oregon wines are embraced by New York wine lovers!


These HOT TOPICS and MORE, only on the Oregon Wine Report with Andrew Apodaca!


Thursday, March 10, 2011

3/10 Andrew Talks with Charlie Becker of Becker Vineyards!

Charlie Becker, Owner and Winemaker of Becker Vineyards, Will Tell Us About This years 2011 Greatest of the Grape Event March 5th!

Charlie is a self taught winemaker and opened his tasting room in 2008 with wines from his 2007 vintage. He is the current president of the Umpqua Valley Winegrowers Assoc.

Becker Vineyard won "Best Red" for their 2007 Pinot Noir at the Oregon Greatest of the Grape Event held in Canyonville Oregon at Seven Feathers Casino Resort and Spa last year.

Becker Vineyard is a small family owned and operated winery located seven miles north of Roseburg, Oregon. Currently only 650 cases of wine are made, making this a true "boutique" winery!

Located on a small bench above the Umpqua River, the vineyard occupies an ideal site for growing premium wine grapes. While Pinot Noir is grown; the varital lineup includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Grenache, Müller Thurgau, and Pinot Gris. With a minimum of enological intervention, the wines truly 'capture the fruit'.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

3/3 Andrew & Jen Talk With Luke Pedotti & Eric Deitz

About Luke Pedotti: A native of Sonoma County, CA, Luke received his B.S. degree in Agricultural Systems Management and Minor in Agricultural Business from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1998. While attending Cal Poly he was an active member of the Ag Business Management Club and the Vines to Wines Club. It was in 1997 when he first became actively involved in the wine grape industry when granted a summer internship working for Clos du Bois in their estate vineyards in the Alexander Valley. There he conducted irrigation analysis, crop projecting and was involved in many aspects of vineyard canopy and floor management.

Upon graduating Luke was employed by Dutton Ranch in Sebastopol, CA as Vineyard Supervisor where he participated in the development and farming of many vineyards in the Russian River Valley over the course of three years. In 2001 Luke and his wife, Nikki, moved to McMinnville, OR after receiving a job offer to manage 180 acres of vineyards for Evergreen Agricultural Enterprises.

It was in 2004 that he became a member of the Results Partners LLC management team based in McMinnville, OR, where he was the company's General Manager. While there, he developed and managed a number of vineyards throughout Yamhill County for more than twenty clients until 2009.

Luke accepted the position of Director of Vineyard Operations for Winemakers Investment Properties LLC in December of 2009 where he currently oversees 700 acres of vineyards in the Northern Willamette Valley. He is currently a member of the LIVE (Low Impact Viticulture and Enology) Technical committee and Willamette Valley Vineyard Technical Committee. He has also recently started my own small consultation business (Pedotti Vineyard Solutions) where he offers vineyard management oversight and direction and reviews new properties for vineyard potential for those interested in entering the Oregon wine industry.

Luke and Nikki make their home in Carlton, OR.

Also joining the show is Eric Dietz, Pyrenees Vineyard and Winery manager and property caretaker.

Eric Dietz is the Vineyard Manager at Pyrenees Vineyard in Myrtle Creek, Oregon.

Eric grew up in Laguna Beach, Ca. and worked landscape construction for a dozen years after school. In 1992 he moved to Mendocino County in Northern California, built a house for his mother, and started a family. He worked in forestry and alternative energy systems.

Eric moved his family to San Clemente in 2001 and he worked at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station as a cement mason building defensive structures. When that was finished he worked as a troubleshooter for a door company, fixing things all over Southern California.

The family moved to Southern Oregon in 2009 and Eric has been working in grapes since then.

Eric enjoys surfing, scuba, and time in the wild.