Weisinger Family Winery and the Klamath Knot

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Before I dive too deep into the newsletter this week, I want to take a quick minute to thank everyone for the email replies from last week’s newsletter. There were stories about earlier Oregon Wine Country acquisitions accompanied by conversations surrounding a potential launch of a podcast.

One other note is something I said in last week’s newsletter, “Former New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe teamed up with former New England Patriots coach Josh McDaniels to create Doubleback.” The part where I mentioned former New England Patriots coach is entirely false. I should have done more fact-checking before I made the statement. Josh McDaniels is the CEO and Director of Winemaking but never coached the New England Patriots. I have it on good authority, I am not the only person who got this confused. When the New England Patriots coach turned down the head coaching position for the Colts, the Director of winemaking Josh got a bunch of social media hate. Thank you, Drew, for providing more insight!

It’s difficult for me to get my head around the fact it is October. It feels like yesterday sitting at the first evening of the Wine Media Conference events, where I was first introduced to an incredibly humble winemaker.

I was pleased to hear we would be visiting his winery Wednesday morning. However, I look back on that Monday night and wonder what it was about Eric Weisinger that wanted me to dive deeper? I know I mentioned humble, but there is more. When Eric got up to talk about his wine, he came across as authentic with a knowledgeable passion for his craft while still coming across as a humble human being. It isn’t easy to put into words and is a behavior you need to see in person to understand.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning. The sky is filled with a bit of smoke, but nothing crazy. We were offered KN95 masks, but I don’t think anyone took one. The smoke wasn’t all that bad stepping out from the Ashland Hotel into the van. Before I get too far into the visit with Eric, you know I have to verge a little with some backstory.

Eric’s dad, John, moved from Texas to Oregon in the early 1970s, pursuing the dream of planting grapes and making wine. In 1979 John obtained Gewürztraminer cuttings from friend Frank Wisnovsky of Valley View Winery. In 1988 John released his first label, “Weisingers of Ashland,” along with the winery and tasting room he built. There were only six other wineries in the Rogue Valley at that time. Eric helped in the winery, the vineyard, and anywhere else his dad needed him. In 1998 Eric took over as winemaker while his dad ran more of the business side of the winery.

In 2006 Eric needed to expand his horizons and left the Rogue Valley to become a consultant to other Oregon wineries and Australia, New Zealand, and California. However, it wasn’t until he left “home” that the appreciation of the Rogue Valley terroir, more specifically Ashland, took root. Ashland is known for many things, but it is part of the Klamath Knot in terms of wine. This geological region has granite, sandstone, and clay, all within yards of one another.

In 2011, Eric took more ownership of the family business managing the 11-acre vineyard while still consulting for some local wineries and New Zealand for the April harvest. The time away provided the space needed to think about how to make the family business better. Learning more about grape growing, management, making wine, and production allowed more of a streamlined process of working smarter and not harder.

The hiring of a new employee, Ariel Prescott, in July of 2011 changed Eric’s life in ways he would never have imagined. Ariel used to teach kindergarten in Colorado and became best of friends with a sixth-grade teacher named Julie Hall. Julie ended up moving out to Ashland and persuaded Ariel to move as well.

Having a friend in the tasting room, Julie came to visit Ariel quite a bit. One day, while Eric passed through the tasting room, he took note that Julie visited quite a bit and decided to have a quick conversation. After the brief encounter, the two kept running into one another quite a bit throughout Ashland. Eventually, they ended up getting married, and as they say, “the rest is history.”

In 2013 the winery celebrated its 25th Anniversary. Eric determined it was time to look into the future 25 years. He concluded that history, family, quality, and locale would become the four pillars of the winery along with a new logo and name, Weisinger Family Winery. There was also a change in the business model to continue increasing the custom crush service, which was at 60% of their production. A few years before 2013, this service was only at 10%.

I have no doubt there is way more backstory between 2013 and 2021, but it is time to get this show on the road. So let’s talk about the visit!

Eric greeted outside when our van pulled up, ready to go. He gave a little talk, and we headed off to the original 1978 Gewürtztraminer vines with 9.5 feet in between rows. Tractors were a bit wider back in the day. He poured us a sampling of their 2019 Gewürtztraminer followed up with some Orange Gewürtztraminer being released in super limited quantities in November. It was definitely a different type of wine and better than most orange wines I have tasted. Eric felt this is a great wine to have with turkey.

Moving to a higher part of the vineyard, you can see there used to be a pond here. During the winter, it feels up, but the summer takes its toll. Veraison was also taking place, and I couldn’t help but get in some great pictures.

Getting to the top of the vineyard, what stuck out to me was that we were at around 2,000 feet in elevation. In comparison, most of the vineyards in the Willamette Valley are under 1,000 feet, with some vineyards pushing the limits around 1,100. The grape varietals in the vineyard consist of hotter temperature grapes such as Tempranillo, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Malbec. I love how wine education constantly kicks me in the patootski. Ashland gets pretty warm during the day, but cooling down at night is critical for the acidity to develop inside the skin.

After the vineyard tour, we went into the winery to learn and taste through some wines. In case you didn’t know, because I didn’t know, the Rogue Valley is divided into four valleys: Bear Creek, Valley of the Rogue, Applegate, and Illinois. Weisinger is located in the Bear Creek Valley, home to Syrah, Tempranillo, Merlot, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier.

2019 Viognier

I need more time with this varietal. Some people enjoy it. Currently, I am not one of those people.

2020 Roussanne

This was my first time having a Roussanne. It felt a bit like a Chard without much oak and great acidity.

2018 Grenache

I fell in love with the Grenache! There was a great nose, following through on the palate with a lot of outstanding fruit.

2017 Mourvedre

There was a person in the group who was all about Mourvedre. He was super happy to taste this varietal finally. This was my first time with Mourvedre, and I need way more education!

2018 Malbec

I am not the biggest of Malbec fans, but overall this was very pleasurable. There was great fruit, and the tannins didn’t suck my mouth dry!

2017 Tempranillo

The 2017 Tempranillo won double gold from the San Francisco Chronicle. I was impressed with the super bright red color, but I feel it needed more time in the bottle to calm down the tannins a little more.

Once we finished the tasting, we got a little time to mingle around the tasting room while purchasing wine. When I bought a few bottles of Grenache, I saw they had t-shirts, and you know what? Yup, you guessed it! I had to buy one. I have a certain amount of joy when I buy a t-shirt from a winery I over the top enjoy. I don’t mind being a walking billboard to advertise how much I appreciate everything about them. I adore the moments when people ask me about the shirt, and I get to talk about the experience, the wine, and the people! But, of course, there is also a chance the person asking didn’t want that much information and might have regretted striking up the conversation.

Speaking of shirts, I have a couple you might like……​

Ashland is a great town! We all need to get away for a weekend and the little bit of time I got to spend in downtown Ashland was great! In the morning, deer are all about eating breakfast. There were several shops I wanted to visit, but I wasn’t in town during their hours of operation. When you visit Ashland, be sure to visit Weisinger Family Winery and even though they don’t know me personally, let them know, “A.J. sent me!”

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With Gratitude,

A.J.

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