Join the Club
They always say the mid-point of any vacation is when things speed up, and time seems to move faster. On our third day, the official halfway mark of our time in the Willamette Valley, it felt like time stopped when we paid a visit to Lemelson Vineyards. On a now characteristically rainy fall day, windows fogging around the edges of the car as we drove past rolling fields, we pulled up at this darling little house on a hill. Or at least, that's what it looked like from the road. Standing beneath it, looking up at this grand barn, I felt giddy with anticipation. Outside, there was a giant steel bin overflowing with grape clusters, poised like jewels in a dragon's hoard: bountiful, bright, and dangerously enticing. My partner and I climbed the winding stone path up to the patio outside their tasting room as the roar of their grape press thundered in our ears. Our tasting host bedecked in colorful flannel and khaki beckoned us with a cheerful smile and wave, ushering us into the warmth and out of the rain. We shook off our coats and settled down in a corner of the room beside the window. Below, the red leaves on the trees tremors in the breeze, the awning covering the balcony shivering in the morning chill. My partner and I smiled at each other over the rims of our glasses, the taste of spring on our lips as we drank their Rosé of Pinot Noir. Although I am all too familiar with pinot noir based rosés, this one still draws my attention like a piece of art in a gallery you return to, trying to riddle out exactly why it makes you feel the way it does. Glass by glass we worked through our flight, each wine striking a powerful chord with every sip.
Most wineries share a similar goal when you wander through the doors of their tasting rooms: encourage you to sign up for their membership club. And thus far on our wine journey, over many thousands of miles and through a dozen of the biggest, grandest houses across the West Coast, my partner and I had skillfully avoided signing up for any membership. We're both young, starting our careers without much expendable income for such luxurious frivolities. But with each new wine, our guard lowered brick by brick and it was clear to us that was about to change. We finally bit the bullet and said the words every host works so hard to hear, "We'd love to sign up for your wine club."
Throughout our tasting, just beyond the edge of the patio, we'd see a forklift zip back and forth with a giant crate filled with grapes followed by the roar of the press, crushing the clusters. It was such a spectacle our host noticed our captive attention and invited us out to their fermentation room. My eager breath baited and cloudy on such a crisp day, we tip toed around hoses on the concrete floor, looking up in awe at steel fermenting vats as tall as our house. To imagine the volume, the mechanation, the sheer amount of work going into our glasses happening here a few yards away from our table in the corner of the room separated only by time, I felt a stirring in my heart, a call to be an active participant on this side of the story. Yes, I enjoy my work as a wine retailer very much, helping customers select the perfect Champagne to toast the new year, or finding a bottle of cabernet valuable enough to convey their heart felt thanks. But, to be here turning water into wine, making the luxury goods I take for granted, and contributing to the hard working farmers that make such vast agriculture possible...that felt like a dream worth pursuing. And an idea started to form in the back of my mind.
I'd seen on Instagram several of the wineries I follow post about their latest harvest interns. The bright young minds of tomorrow who'd come from all over the world to learn how to make wine, participate in the harvest, and share their story in the meanwhile. I'd thought about it in passing, "what if I could do that?" It felt almost treasonous. I'm studying to be a sommelier, the tasting room is my arena, studying the intricacies of bottle service ballet and honing my blind tasting skills are what I wanted for so long. Is it possible I could have more? It possible I could do both, exist with a foot in each world? This new idea that I could get back into education to learn about winemaking felt scary and dangerous at first. But it was so enticing, like a siren's song, I couldn’t just ignore it. It feels safe to say that my focus has shifted from solely wanting to be a somm to now also wanting to become a winemaker.
I don’t know that if I had just continued to sit in the tasting room by that warm fireplace, I’d be sitting here now with this new dream filling my head, but I do know that because of Lemelson Vineyards, my world has irreparably changed. And not just because of the membership only bottles slowly filling my wine fridge, but because of the way they share their dreams with the world. They have my heart and my cellar for the rest of my life.
Resources
Lemelson Vineyards
Located 12020 NE Stag Hollow Rd, Carlton OR 97111
Open Daily 11 AM - 4 PM
Starts at $40 per person for parties of 1-6 people
Reservations recommended, walk-ins welcome
Outside food allowed on patio, food available for purchase, dogs on leash welcome on patio