It’s the last weekend of the Women Winemakers’ feature and on Friday you can taste wines from Airlie whose owner attended Augsburg College and is now fulfilling her dream of making wine in Oregon.  We are also featuring Leah Jorgenson who is making small amounts of high quality wine in Oregon with hopes to have her own winery some day and Mercedes Lopez de Heredia who is continuing a long family legacy at one of the oldest Rioja wineries!

Airlie : Mary Olson- Owner (left), Elizabeth Clark– Winemaker (right)

Mary grew up is Osceola, WI and attended Augsburg college right down the road. She fell in love with Oregon and gave up her day job to buy her own winery in 1997.

Elizabeth is another transplant to Oregon that fell in love and never left. She spent 5 years training at a premier winery in the Willamette Valley and began working for Mary in 2005. She focuses on creating very food-friendly and affordable wines.

Airlie Muller Thurgau $11.99/Sale $10.79

Airlie 7 White $13.99/Sale $12.59

Lopez de Heredia: Mercedes de Lopez de Heredia

Mercedes is the 4^th Generation winemaker at Lopez de Heredia continuing what her Great Grandfather started 135 years ago.  Lopez de Heredia was the first winery in Haro and is the 3^rd oldest winery in Rioja, Spain. The wines are still made in the traditional method of the late 1800’s with longer aging periods before they are released (vintages listed below are current releases), no new oak, and they are always true to their style when fads and tastes around them change. These wines have stood the test of time enticing wine lovers of all ages, generation after generation.

Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia  ’05 $25.99/Sale $23.39

Lopez de Heredia Vina Cubillo ’06 & ’07 $24.99/Sale $22.49

Lopez de Heredia Vina Bosconia ’03 $33.99/Sale $30.59

Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia ’02  $35.99/ Sale $32.39

Leah Jorgensen Cellars: Leah Jorgensen

Leah creates her own interpretations of Loire style wines based on site selection and what the vintage brings. She has worked in almost every capacity of the wine industry for the past fifteen years, and began working in the Oregon wine industry starting in 2004 at Erath Vineyards in Dundee. She then went to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates in Woodinville, WA, before returning to Oregon to work for Adelsheim Vineyard. Simultaneously, she began offering marketing consulting for a handful of wineries while studying enology. She worked her first full harvest at Anne Amie Vineyards in 2009, followed by two years of cellar work at Shea Vineyards, and then crafting her first small lot of Cabernet Franc in 2011. She is currently working towards owning her own vineyards and winery one day but is in the meantime bringing us hand selected, small production, high quality wine.