I wrote about the new guard of young and diverse winemakers in the Willamette Valley for Bloomberg Pursuits.
Here's a tease:
I’m in McMinnville (population: 34,000), in the heart of Oregon wine country, sharing pizza with the Mayor. As we chat about how she got into politics, she greets every person who walks past our table at Mac Market by name. 42-year old Remy Drabkin is not your typical mayor of a small agricultural town. First, she’s queer. Second, she’s been a winemaker since 2006, known for her Italian-style reds including an estate Lagrein. When Drabkin was young, her mom cooked at Nick’s Italian Café, where all the winemakers hung out. She’d have Thanksgiving with the Lett family (of Eyrie). 4th of July was at the Adelsheims. At the tender age of 14, she worked harvest at Ponzi, where idolized the Ponzi daughters. That’s when she cemented her aspirations to be a winemaker. Today, at her 29-acre property in the Dundee Hills, she has 7 acres planted and sources fruit from other vineyards.
Back then, in the mid-90s, Oregon wine pioneers like the Letts and the Ponzis knew what the rest of the world is waking up to now. The soil and climate of Oregon’s Willamette Valley—the elements that make up terroir—yields grapes that make some of the finest wines in the world. These families and others who arrived decades earlier are still making incredible wines. But Oregon’s wine industry has grown dramatically over the past fifty years—today, there are over 700 wineries in the Willamette Valley, the 150-mile long area that runs from Portland to Eugene. And over the past 15 years a new crop of winemakers—many from different cultural and racial backgrounds—have entered the scene. From a Black former sommelier from Per Se to a Japanese immigrant who started her career in Germany, these and others are injecting a new energy into the Valley. They’re also attracting a younger, more diverse audience to the region.
“I’m aware that just by showing up, I challenge the status quo,” says André Hueston Mack, winemaker at Maison Noir. “There are not a lot of people like me who do what I do.” Mack, like many of the newer faces of Oregon wine I spoke to for this story, does not own land. But he has forged connections with vineyard owners and buys fruit from them, cheekily calling the resulting bottlings OPP (Other People’s Pinot).
I live just an hour from the glorious Columbia Gorge, and whenever I go there to hike or taste wine, I take mental notes of all the new arrivals—especially in the natural wine sector. Last year, Nate Ready at Hiyu Wine Farm mentioned that Italian winemaker Josko Gravner's nephew, baker Jure Poberaj (who, with his girlfriend Nina Jimenez, owns the White Salmon Baking Co.) was going to start making wine, too. I realized it was time to pitch a story. The imminent opening of the stylish Society Hotel Bingen didn't hurt my chances of getting an assignment.
It was such a delight to be able to report on all the latest food, brewery, and wine news for Bloomberg Businessweek's Pursuits section. Here's the article in PDF form— Download Gorgenow or see the link to the online version here.
Or, you can just read it here:
A decade ago, after graduating college, Jure Poberaj moved to Hood River, Ore. (population 7,806), in search of outdoor adventure. Born in Slovenia and raised in Washington, D.C., Poberaj, now 31, was drawn to the magnificent Columbia River Gorge an hour east of Portland for its mountain biking and world-famous kitesurfing (gusts of wind here, where the river stretches about a mile across, can reach 70 mph). The lively brewery scene didn’t hurt either.
As life happens, he met his girlfriend, pastry chef Nina Jimenez, and together they decided to create their own shop, with Poberaj learning how to bake bread by apprenticing around the Northwest. The duo opened the White Salmon Baking Co. four years ago on the sunny Washington side of the gorge, and it’s been crowded ever since, its counters heavy with luscious huckleberry galettes, rhubarb-poppyseed scones, and hearty wood-fired sourdough loaves. As I sat on the patio savoring a latte and messy bacon-avocado toast topped with jammy egg, Mount Hood’s snow-capped 11,250-foot peak standing majestic in the distance, Poberaj told me of his plans to convert some of his land in White Salmon into a vineyard.
Jure Poberaj and Nina Jimenez
Photographer: Kate Schwager
In 2017 the Eagle Creek Fire razed almost 50,000 acres of forest in the area, leaving many hiking trails closed and causing $8 million in economic loss to the region, according to a study commissioned by Travel Oregon. Today, as the forest slowly recovers, tourists aren’t waiting, particularly foodies seeking out-in-the-wild natural wine experiences—that is, tasting vintages made with organically farmed grapes, native yeasts, and no additives in the cellar (aside from a bit of sulfur). And as of May, there’s a new stylish place to stay: Society Hotel Bingen.
A standard queen room at the Society Hotel Bingen.
Source: The Society Hotel
The Scandinavian-chic property just down the hill from White Salmon, in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town of Bingen (population 737), is the second Society property from the Portland-based hospitality group. They converted a 1920s schoolhouse into a book-lined lobby that winks to its past with library carts and a door marked “Principal’s Office.” The gym still has a basketball hoop and original bleachers—and now some kettle bells and yoga mats. “We want to appeal to the adventurous traveler at various stages of life,” says co-owner Matt Siegel.
To that end, there are modern, well-designed bunk rooms and standard rooms with king or queen beds, all with shared baths, while the 20 interconnected private cabins (from $269) offer kitchenettes and hammocks. A spa—complete with saltwater soaking pool, cold plunge, and spacious sauna—has a bar and several fire pits around which guests congregate for drinks and conversation post-shvitz.
The spa pool at the Society Hotel.
Photographer: Micah Cruver
The Wineries
Start your wine-tasting circuit with Savage Grace, about 7 miles west of Bingen in the bucolic community of Underwood, Wash. Winemaker Michael Savage recently bought a vineyard here and is organically farming all 10 acres. Pull up a stool at his new tasting room and gaze down at the spectacular beauty of the gorge as you sip an unexpected 2017 orange gewürtztraminer.
On the other side of Bingen, in Lyle, James Mantone at Syncline Winery makes Rhone-style varietals including mourvèdre, syrah, grenache, and carignan, as well as a bone-dry picpoul and a spicy gamay noir. Pack a picnic lunch for the picturesque garden under white oak trees.
The new tasting room at Savage Grace.
Source: Savage Grace Wines
At Domaine Pouillon, a winding 4-mile drive east past fields with roaming horses and grazing cows, Juliet Pouillon pours her husband Alexis’s fruity and biodynamic Alsatian-style wine, edelzwicker. “There’s something magical about the gorge,” she says, “There’s a can-do energy.” Their first fizzy pétillant naturel will be released on Bastille Day. (Most tasting rooms don’t serve food, but Domaine Pouillon will whip up a cheese or salmon plate on request.)
Back over the bridge to Oregon, a picturesque 10-minute drive east to Mosier, Analemma Wines’ Steven Thompson makes some of the best terroir-driven biodynamic wines around—from a single-vineyard sparkling blanc de noirs to a vibrant tinto blend, which tastes of dark red cherry and dried herbs. The micro-climate in Mosier is similar to Galicia, and he’s lately been experimenting with varieties like the floral-tasting mencia.
Analemma’s vineyards above the hamlet of Mosier (population 459).
Source: Analemma Wines
Dining and Beer
Resolutely casual Hood River is your best bet for healthy, delicious fare. Start your day with Broder Øst’s aebleskivers, Danish-style spherical “pancakes” dusted with powdered sugar and served with lingonberry jam and housemade lemon curd. (The kitchen also makes a mean Swedish hash with two baked eggs, smoked trout, pickled beets, and walnut toast.) Upstairs, the funky—and reportedly haunted—1912 Hood River Hotel has 41 rooms and suites, many with fantastic gorge views.
PFriem Family Brewers, one of Oregon’s best breweries, offers about 20 beers on tap—from a hazy IPA to a Belgian strong. The new seasonal menu is excellent, too, in which sambal honey kicks up buttermilk fried chicken and a lentil-mushroom veggie burger with spring garlic aioli sets a new standard.
New on PFriem’s spring menu: buttermilk fried chicken, served over creamy polenta with braised chard.
Source: PFriem Family Brewers
Down the street, New Yorkers Dan and Jenn Peterson opened Ferment Brewing Co. last August. Dan, who cut his teeth at Brooklyn Brewery, makes flavor-packed Belgian and French farmhouse ales as well as lagers, pale ales, and stouts. In a state where hoppy IPAs are king, this is a refreshing change, and the offerings pair perfectly with the Mediterranean-inflected menu of flatbreads and slow-roasted meats—plus Jenn’s housemade frozen yogurt, a light treat befitting active Hood River.
On the upscale end of the dining spectrum, Celilo still stands strong after 14 years, with skillet-roasted Totten Inlet clams and rich pork sugo over rye-flour gnocchi, served with purple broccoli sprouts.
A charcuterie board and beers from PFriem.
Source: PFriem Family Brewers
But the area’s most memorable reservation is high in the hills above town at Hiyu Wine Farm. Hiyu means “the big party” in Chinook Jargon, a Pacific Northwest pidgin language, and Nate Ready and his partner, China Tresemer, don’t disappoint, bringing in chefs such as Gunnar Gislason from Michelin-starred Dill in Iceland to collaborate on locally legendary dinners. If you aren’t in town for one, opt for a lavish family-style weekend lunch. Otherwise, wine tastings are Thursday through Monday by appointment and include seasonal snacks such as Columbia River smelt escabèche and griddled pea shoots with cured duck yolk. Ready’s field blends are wild experiments in natural wines with historical antecedents: Some 120 grape varieties are grown side-by-side, then fermented together. Falcon Box, a Burgundian field blend made to approximate a wine made in 1800s Burgundy, has a brothy, umami flavor.
Some Hiyu wines—including a dolcetto made by Poberaj—are served at White Salmon Baking Co.’s Monday night pizza parties, with its seasonal wood-fired pies and a natural-veering list that also includes little-known producers in Slovenia and Italy. Turns out Poberaj’s great uncle is cult Italian winemaker Josko Gravner, known for aging wines in terracotta amphorae, and he’ll be heading to Oslavia, Italy, to work harvest with him this fall.
Sandwiches at White Salmon Baking Co.
Photographer: Kate Schwager
Explore the Gorge
The food and wine may be great, but the best part of the gorge is the outdoors
Biking Rent an e-bike from Sol Rides for the 16-mile round-trip journey from Hood River to the hamlet of Mosier via the Historic Columbia River Highway, the first designated scenic highway in the U.S., now a pedestrian and bike path. The 1920s feat of engineering clings to sheer cliffs and burrows through basalt rock. Pause under the Mosier Twin Tunnels for unparalleled views.
Hiking On the Oregon side of the gorge, the popular, short-but-steep Angel’s Rest Trail has reopened after the fires, though the forest service still urges caution. Head to the Washington side for views of Mount Hood. Beginners can try Catherine Creek; the longest trail is just 5.5 miles round-trip. East of Bingen, the 7.8-mile Coyote Wall Trail is more of a challenge and also popular with mountain bikers. For more hikes, the Friends of the Columbia Gorge maintains a detailed list—just remember to be on the lookout for poison oak and ticks.
Kitesurfing For lessons, Kite the Gorge is the best place to find a pro. Private two-and-a-half-hour lessons start at $285.
Kitesurfing on Hood River.
Photographer: Zach Dischner
Vignerons to Watch
Three up-and-coming Gorge winemakers Hiyu’s Nate Ready is excited about right now. Not all have tasting rooms, so check local stores for a bottle to take home.
Michael Garofola of Cutter Cascadia “Michael comes from this Italian-influenced background, and he’s also steeped in classical wine,” says Ready of Garofola, currently the sommelier at Portland’s James Beard Award-winning Beast. Now he’s making his own dolcetto (a red and a rosé) from fruit he farms at Flotow Vineyard, above Hood River. His 2017 vintage of Strawberry Mullet captured the smoke from the Eagle Creek fires; the 2018 vintage is juicy with hints of watermelon.
Bethany Kimmel at Color Collector After working in the cellar at Analemma, Kimmel struck out on her own. So far, she’s focusing on gamay—“the wines are lovely and perfumed and have amazing textures,” says Ready—but she just purchased a vineyard above Snowden, Wash., and plans to plant grapes like jacquère, chasselas, and persan.
Graham Markel at Buono Notte Markel, who started his project within Hiyu, focuses on Italian varietals like sangiovese and pinot grigio. (He also makes a vermouth.) “The wines have an amazing fragrance and texture and, I think, a rare beauty,” Ready says. “They’re really special.”
Kevin Cavenaugh's Fair-Haired Dumbbell looks like the kind of kinetic building you'd see in Barcelona or New York, and it's been controversial in Portland
It's not easy writing about your own city as a travel destination. First off, when you're limited to 800 words, you're bound to leave out so many amazing restaurants, bars, shops, and other businesses. And even though I mention Portland's rising rents and the homeless crisis in passing in this Bloomberg Pursuits article, I wasn't able to give those subjects their due. (Bloomberg Pursuits, is after all, meant for a luxury audience.) That said, I feel this short piece captures something of the evolution of our city. With movers and shakers like Laura Moulton at Street Books, Stephen Green at PitchBlack, Kevin Cavenaugh at Geurilla Design, Emma Mcilroy at Wildfang (and those who didn't make it into the final version of this story like JoAnn A. Hardesty, Rukaiyah Adams, & Danielle Outlaw) my hope is that our city is on its way to a more equitable future.
