A New Home For Quady North

January 06, 2021  /  Joe Chepolis

This week, bulldozers and excavators began carving out the building site for our new winery building, thus marks the beginning of the end of an effort spanning over 14 years.

We first began imagining a winery on our Applegate Valley property in 2006, envisioning a simple barn-style building capable of producing about 2500 cases. That concept morphed into a cave system tunneled into the hillside, a vision which was nearly achieved in 2009, before the Great Recession came and spooked our lender, causing the bank to run swiftly away from such risky propositions as loans to upstart wineries. (In retrospect, probably a good idea). Since 2013, we had been working anew on concepts, and over the last several years, seeing the rapid growth of the winery, I began working on a master plan for a winery and tasting room complex that would allow for phased growth up to about 65,000 cases. This complex would allow us to grow flexibly, building as we went along, depending on what was needed. In 2019, I began the process of gaining permitting for the complex with the idea of first constructing a tasting room on top of the hill, and later building a production facility. However, as crush began in 2019, events conspired in such a way that it became necessary to build our very own winery, a place that would be safe, efficient, easy to clean, and would allow us to comfortably produce wines of quality.

The new building, expected to be completed by late fall of 2021, will have 16,000 ft2 of production and storage space, a 4,000 ft2 covered crush pad, and at the corner of the building, a tasting room which will overlook Eevee’s and Mae’s vineyards, with a view to the West. Just South of the tasting room is an heirloom oak tree, easily over 100 years old, which will anchor an outdoor area that can be used for picnicking and events.

Using durable metal construction, the winery will be about 25% larger than our current facility, but the roof line will also be much taller, allowing us to stack barrels and case goods higher, plus add larger tanks. This will be a tremendous help for our beleaguered production team. Limited by both height and space in our current facility, our 2020 GSM Rosé is spread over 10 different tanks, which makes blending a long, complicated process. The higher roof means we can bring in a new 8,000 gallon tank, which will allow us to combine all the lots into one tank before bottling.

The master plan incorporates possible future expansion to the building, a tasting room on top of the hill, plus additional buildings for case goods storage, sparkling wine production, as well as a cave system for barrel storage. Whether or not we ultimately build all these will depend on the future success of the winery and our appetite for growth.

Harvest 2020 :: Recap

January 06, 2021  /  Joe Chepolis

Harvest 2020 – Recap

When I was writing our last newsletter, we were just entering the busy harvest season, and doing so under the most challenging conditions we had ever seen. Our valleys were filled with smoke, and the winery had narrowly escaped destruction by the Almeda fire. While we were certainly determined to persevere, we were shocked by the events, and apprehensive about the impact that the conditions might bring. Would the fruit be adversely impacted by smoke? What about the vineyards in the Bear Creek Valley? Would there be off flavors due to the structures that burned? What about our employees that had to leave their homes? When would they be able to go back? What about our employee who lost his apartment? What about COVID? How were we going to safely harvest and crush without putting everyone at risk?

Challenges always bring out the best in a good team, and that was certainly the case this year. We didn’t just manage through crises - we thrived. To mitigate the risks of COVID spread, we arranged our vineyard crews into “cohorts”, small teams that picked together, while staying far apart, helping each other run their buckets to the bin, splitting their pay equally. With this arrangement, we were able to avoid having individuals punch tickets and run buckets, activities that put them in lots of contact with each other. In the winery, we established a 100% mask policy. No matter what the activity, every employee wore a mask, all…day…long. Punching down 30 bins, for the second time, after 12 hours of work, in a mask, for weeks on end, was hard. And yet, knowing that was what we needed to do to keep each other safe, not a single crew member complained.

After about a week of smoke, small rainstorms came through and were enough to clear out the smoke and help fire fighters get control of the major fires. As I took samples of our major varieties from vineyards across the valley, Associate Winemaker Nichole Schulte created “micro-ferments” which allowed us to check, in advance, for any possible smoke issues. After two weeks of monitoring, we were satisfied that even the most sensitive lots wouldn’t be affected by the smoke, and even the vineyards in the Bear Creek valley that we work with were spared.

As we reached and passed the peak of harvest, we began to realize something that was very un-2020. Wines made from this harvest would be of exceptional quality. I know that winemakers (and especially winery owners) are always quick to extoll upon the virtues of a vintage, but it would be no exaggeration for me to proclaim that 2020 is one of Quady North’s greatest vintages ever. Low yields, combined with dry, warm weather, made for levels of ripening that we rarely see here in Southern Oregon, especially on late varieties like Cabernet Franc, Grenache, and Mourvèdre. It is almost as if the universe, having unloaded an unreasonably large number of challenges upon us at one time, decided to even things out a bit, and rewarded our stoicism with the opportunity to make many great wines that we will be able to enjoy over the coming years.

The most recent bit of good news came earlier this week, when we learned that Nait Ortiz, our AVM vineyard worker who lost his apartment and all his belongings to the Almeda fire, would receive a grant from Rogue Wine Country Cares. These funds were raised by local wineries who donated $10 from the sale of select wines sold in the month of October. Realizing that many agricultural workers would be uninsured and ineligible for FEMA claims, Mark Wisnovsky of Valley View and Rachel Martin of Red Lily spearheaded a campaign to fill this gap. Nait was picking fruit on the day of the fire, and by the time he came home, he wasn’t even allowed in his neighborhood, the fire had gotten too close. He spent the rest of the harvest crashing at a friend’s house, while his daughters moved in with relatives. Not only did he come back to work the very next day, he never missed a pick the entire season. With the funds from the grant, Nait is looking for a new apartment, where his family can live together again.

To me, Thanksgiving seems to have special significance this year. There are many out there who have lost homes, businesses and loved ones. I know that many members of our wine club have faced difficult circumstances and my heart goes out to you.

At this time, I would like to say a special thank you to all of you, whose support has made all the difference this year, allowing us to keep doing what we love, making and sharing great wines.

-Herb Quady