Small Winery Solutions <5,000 Cases
The small winery environment is particularly sensitive to resource availability and timely access. Our distinguished panel of Oregon winemakers discusses economies of scale, prioritized spending to achieve stylistic goals, and creative problem-solving to remain competitive as a small producer. This session will encourage audience engagement and Q & A!.
Speakers Bios
Graham Markel graduated from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and got a job at Antica Terra Winery in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. For seven years he worked under Antica Terra’s Maggie Harrison and Hiyu Wine Farm’s Master Sommelier, Nate Ready. Graham learned many things from Maggie and Nate, but the number one thing learned was to think deeply about winemaking and how to add beauty to every step of the process. No matter how arduous or tiring, every action must be taken to make the best wine possible.
Chris Graves is the winemaker at Southern Oregon’s premier custom crush facility, Naumes Crush and Fermentation. Since NCF’s opening in 2015, he has overseen all winemaking, winery operations, client relations, sales, marketing and support services. Born and raised in California’s vine-covered Sierra Foothills, Graves developed an early fascination with winemaking. By age 16, he knew it would be his career. A 2004 graduate of the UC Davis Viticulture & Enology program, in college Graves worked at a high-end wine store and gained valuable experience in wine and fine food. Graves began his professional career at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, Calif., serving first as an enologist and then as assistant winemaker. He became winemaker for Wente’s Cal-Ital brand, Tamás Estates Winery, where he took charge of all wines and began blending and designing new styles. Also, Graves was involved at every step in the marketing process and helped build a successful brand. Graves left Wente Vineyards in 2007 to start a boutique brand, Ruby Hill Winery. Under his leadership as head winemaker, the company saw double-digit growth for years and cultivated an extremely successful wine club. This spurred Graves and his partners to launch a second brand in 2013, Rubino Estates Winery, also focused on Cal-Ital style wines. Lured by the rapid growth of Southern Oregon’s wine industry, Graves and his family relocated to beautiful Jacksonville, Oregon in 2014. He worked as a consulting winemaker before joining Naumes Crush and Fermentation in 2015 and continues to consult for many brands in Oregon and California. Graves teaches wine courses at Southern Oregon University and Umpqua Community College’s Southern Oregon Wine Institute and he serves on the Oregon Wine Board’s Research Committee.
Chris Bertsche, is native of Sonoma County. He grew up in Healdsburg. Attended CSU, Fresno and earned a BS in Business Administration with concentration in Accounting and Finance. Chris entered the wine industry in 2004 through the lens of budgeting, focusing on restaurant groups and blending. Chris made the move to Oregon in 2013 were he was Assistant Winemaker at Trisaetum and then moving to Coelho Winery in 2016, where he currently is head of all production.
Andrew Kirkland is the winemaker and vineyard manager for Ruby Vineyard and Winery in the Laurelwood District Sub-AVA of the Chehalem Mountains. Ruby Vineyard consists of old vines planted in the 1970s, farmed organically since 2013. Andrew is intimately involved in every aspect of production from pruning to glass. Since joining Ruby in 2016 he has continued organic farming practices, implemented no-till farming practices since 2017 and grown Ruby’s production from 1500 to 4500 cases per year. Small production winemaking has been at the core of Andrew’s passion and experience from Beaujolais in France, the Hunter Valley in Australia, to the Willamette Valley.
Ben Casteel is the son of Terry Casteel and Marilyn Webb, co-founders of Bethel Heights Vineyard. Ben grew up at Bethel Heights. The vineyard was where he played as a child; it was where he spent his summers working as a teenager. After college Ben spent a season working the ’99 harvest in Burgundy, then returned to Oregon to work at Rex Hill under Lynn Penner-Ash, where he spent the next five years working his way up to Assistant Winemaker. In 2005 when Ben’s father retired as winemaker at Bethel Heights, Ben agreed to accept the position. Ben strives to continue the vision of his father and family to produce wines that reflect time and place at Bethel Heights Vineyard, more than the hand of the winemaker. It is a vision born of thoughtful experimentation, patience, and restraint, and one that he believes can only reach fulfillment at the small winery level.
Tim Hanni MW is a resident of Prescott, Arizona, and has over 50 years of experience in virtually every facet of the wine industry. He became the first American, along with Joel Butler, to earn the Master of Wine credential in 1990. Hanni is recognized as an innovator, researcher, renegade, and a crusader against wine snobbery. Hanni is a faculty member and teaches wine business course for the Napa Valley Wine Academy, Washington State University (Pullman, WA) and Linfield University (McMinnville, OR), and also consults for wineries and wine-related companies around the world. He is the author of “Why You Like the Wines You Like; Changing the way the world thinks about wine.” This paradigm-changing book focuses on expanding wine enjoyment by understanding the factors that influence personal wine preferences.
