In its short history Central Oregon’s viticulture industry has proved several critical points and answered the skeptics.
Now it’s taking another step on the way to becoming an integrated, vertical vineyard-to-bottle market.
That was the scenario laid out at the Terrebone Grange in a recent gathering of the Wine Growers Association of Central Oregon.
The meeting brought together WACO members as well as land use attorneys specializing in vineyards and wineries; Deschutes County planning officials and regional and state members of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission which enforces rules relating to wineries.
Setting up the discussion, WACO moderator and vice president Kerry Damon, noted that early on some members joked that the group’s acronym was appropriate.
Rhyming with “whacko” was an apt description, some observers thought, to describe any attempt to grow wine grapes in Central Oregon.
But Damon, a local pioneer as manager at the Monkey Face Vineyard at Ranch at the Canyons, said the doubts have been addressed.
Local growers have answered the important questions, including whether vines will survive in Central Oregon, whether they will bear fruit and whether the fruit will ripen into quality wine grapes.
The answers, Damon emphasized, are “Yes, yes and yes.”
When the winegrowers association was formed in 2009 it focused mostly on the process of growing wine grapes, Damon explained. Now added to the agenda is a focus on making wine along with the legal, regulatory and economic considerations.
In Jefferson County Doug Maragas has already established a reputation for his winemaking skills – including using grapes from local vineyards and experimenting with other varietals at his Culver vineyard.
Just a few weeks ago Cindy and Roger Grossmann gained approval to establish a winery in association with their Faith Hope & Charity vineyard in the Lower Bridge area of Terrebonne, setting a precedent as the first permitted winery operation on agricultural land in Deschutes County.
Scott Ratliff of Volcano Winery in Bend has been making wine from grapes sourced outside Central Oregon for several years.
A number of other vineyards have been planted in northern Deschutes and Jefferson counties.
A featured speaker at the June meetings was Chris Hermann, who directs the vineyard law group of Stoel Rives law firm in Portland.
Hermann outlined some of the issues a fledgling winery must address, including options for business formation and methods register their brand, or label.
Hermann said that since 2003 and 2004 Oregon has traditionally been the “promised land” for winery startup operations. However new state rules may tighten some aspects of running a winery, he said.
Oregon wineries can now shop directly out-of-state without going through a wholesaler. But wineries with “custom crush” contracts can only sell wines made specifically for that winery and not from other vinters.
Some vinters may have multiple locations in “club type” facilities open to members.
“People are doing every imaginable thing,” Hermann observed, which in turn has brought the industry under more legislative scrutiny.
“I don’t think legislation is the way to go,” Hermann said. But he acknowledged that, “were going to see more and more people object to wineries in terms of the impact on rural areas.”
Doug Maragas recounted his experience in getting his winery permit in Jefferson County just north of the Deschutes County line. Unlike the Grossmann’s winery in Lower Bridge which was permitted as an “outright use” through state law, ORS 215.452, Maragas followed the path of obtaining a conditional use permit for commercial activity on his exclusive farm use, EFU, acreage.
Maragas, now in his fourth year of production at the Culver facility, has experimented with different grapes including viniferas such as Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, but also making wines from French-American hybrids sourced from nearby Monkey Face Vineyard at Ranch at the Canyons.
One of Maragas’ wines, the “Beat Red,” from Central Oregon grapes won a Silver Medal at the San Francisco Chronicle’s prestigious wine competition.
Approaching vineyards and wineries from the county regulatory perspective, Deschutes County planning director Nick Lelack said the majority of land use applications are approved at the staff level – rather than through the “complicated and expensive” public hearing process.
A notable exception was the Grossmann’s application, which became a matter of interpreting state law as to what qualifies as a vineyard eligible to have an associated onsite winery on EFU land.
The eventual decision, favorable to the Grossmann’s, “was really at the Grossmann’s expense,” Lelack acknowledged. At issue was whether the Grossmann’s Faith Hope & Charity vineyard, which met minimum planting requirements of 15 acres, had to be in grape production or qualified under state law if the grapes had only been planted.
With the hearing officer’s decision, Lelack concluded, “many of the obstacles (to wineries) are resolved...”
The winegrowers association is planning a summer meeting Aug. 12 at the Ranch at the Canyons clubhouse. The session will include tasting a Le Crescent wine made from Monkey Face Vineyard grapes under contract to Faith Hope & Charity. The Le Crescent was made at Pallet, a Medford custom crush facility, by winemaker Linda Donovan.
