SECTION TWO SANDY, OREGON. THURSDAY, JAN 19,1978
There's no secret recipe for the wine made by
the Schedeen brothers of Boring. Both testify
that their product is good and local tavern owners
are betting on it: they've already lined up
for the still unavailable stocks of wine
This business is sw eeter than wine
While the wine ages, the winegrowers
ferment.
Tony and Brinkley Schedeen are
taking the Big Fir Winery on Tickle
Creek toward its opening day of
business with the speed of a growing
blackberry.
“There’s no rush,” Tony declared.
“ We’ve seen wineries put half-hearted
wines on the market because they were
in too great a hurry.“
The first bottle of Schedeen wine
might be on the shelves by next Sep
tember.
The enterprise can’t wait much
longer than that. For a tart and fruity
taste, the wine should age for six to
eight months, the brothers say. For a
smoother taste, it must sit for 14-2
years. The optimum storage time is
less than three years for fruit wines
“ We’ve never been able to keep wine
around that long,” Tony chuckled.
Rush is something reserved for
fraternities, not for the Schedeen
brothers' wine. The pair has about 1100
gallons sleeping in kegs in the aging
room.
At the eye of the lull, however, there’s
a storm of learning brewing.
Backed by ‘‘our zymologist,” Samuel
Pengelly, the two have picked up an
extensive knowledge of the activity of
yeast cultures in liquids. Samuel calls
the shots. UK tMe laboratory. Brinkley
admitted, but he and Tony insist on
knowing what’s going on inside the
barrels.
Sounds of activity aren’t limited to
the crackling of ‘‘yeast going like
crazy.” Big Fir has 320 acres that need
tending.
“We have about 150 acres in berries,
150 in timber and 20 acres in dogs,”
Brinkley said, playfully cuffing one of
seven canine residents.
The pair built Tony’s house, which
will be converted eventually into a wine
tasting room. More outbuildings are in
progress.
The back-to-nature brothers believe
in doing it themselves. By aging in the
Gresham area to the ripe years of 26
and 31, respectively, Tony and Brinkley
have collected a few friends.
“There’s always five or six people
around to help out,” Brinkley said Ray
Burnhardt helped build a forced air
heater for the Schedeens’ combination
storage shed-play room
Tommy
Althauser also turned in a lot of free
labor.
There’s a catch Those 1100 gallons of
wine in storage have already been
spoken for by friends who sampled the
stuff all in a day’s work Local taverns
also are lining up for the still
unavailable stocks of wine.
The Schedeens offer expertise at the
tasting end of the bottle.
“When I was 16, I started making
wine. My intention was really to create
alcohol,” Tony admitted.
“ 1 was
always getting into it before it was
through fermenting It was horrible
stuff.”
Over the years, he acquired more
patience and fewer stomach aches The
improving product led to thoughts of
business.
Brinkley dropped a crate of rasp
berries on the ground one day. “Get the
kegs,” Tony called “Let’s make some
wine.”
“We made raspberry wine for three
consecutive summers,” Brinkley said.
“ It inspired us. The wine just started
coming out great. There's no secret
recipe.”
The pair obtained large quantities of
advice from winegrowers in Oregon
and California.
“ Fruit winemakers are not at all
secretive," Tony noted appreciatively.
“They’re like a bunch of musicians
talking about techniques
Grape growers are another story.
“There’s a lot of snobbery in the
grape wine business, Tony said.
“They say if you’re not making grape
wine, you're just making alcoholic
juice ”
“ It’s Ford versus Chevrolet all over
again,” Brinkley added “ It gets kind
of silly after a while
“We're not interested in making a
KEGS STACK up over the head of Brinkley Schedeen,
top. as stores collect before wine sales begin. The
labels for the new^merprise will read, Big Fir Winery
on Tickle Creek, named for the lightening-ravaged tree
shading Tony Schedeen and tractor, above. At right.
Tony, left, and Brinkley Schedeen test a batch of black
berry wine for clarity. Although the pair to Involved in
a move back to nature. Tony makes a concession to
progress, lighting the fire with a blow torch, below
right. The brothers also use an “iron win«” machine to
harvest berries.
classy wine.” *
They are interested in good taste—for
personal as well as business reasons.
Won’t they drink up the profits?
“ We’ve been accused of that
already,” Tony laughed.
The winery is all business. The
brothers buy beer for functions with
friends while awaiting a license.
The acreage east of Boring makes
good partying, but their land has long
been an operating Schedeen farm.
Tony and Brinkley’s father, Poly
Schedeen, raised crops from pole beans
to berries for the last 30 years.
The transformation from working
farm to winery will be made with his
participation and blessing. It’s a way to
stabilize farm profits.
“ Both our parents are actively in
volved emotionally,” Brinkley said.
“The license is in Poly’s name and he’s
up here working all the time.
“ It just wouldn’t be the same without
the old man around.”
The family is on a first name basis.
“We all feel on the same level,” Tony
(Roland E. Jr.) explained
“Our
parents allow us that kind of room.”
“ We call Betty Betty’ because she’s
more than a mother,” Brinkley added
“They’re both like the professionals in
our lives.”
The laid-back farm life would not be
- what it is without two women, Julieann
Schedeen, Tony’s wife, and Elma
Falcon, Brinkley’s girlfriend
“The ladies make it interesting,”
Brinkley said. “They don’t need night
life. In June, July and August, we just
farm We might make it into town once
every 15 days—if it rains.
“ It takes a woman who can ap
preciate and live with dirt.’
“ And we say ‘dirty’ with all the
affection in the world,” Tony smiled
The enterprise also will leave room
for down to-earth creativity. Although
local merchants advise production of
two or three really good wines, the
brothers expect to expand eventually
“We made a small batch of banana
wine,” Brinkley recalled. “It was a
near throw-away. The color was bad
The taste was bad. For a while it just
got shuffled around ”
“The whole thing got no respect at
all,” Tony added.
One day, the pair took a taste and the
wine was terrific
Patience and a little age can turn a
washout into a winery.