Page 6
March 2024
Community Pages
Wine & Brew Industry vs OHA’s “Rethink the Drink”
North Douglas Herald
North DouglasWine is an Oregon Wine Heritage
Story by Rusty Savage
North Umpqua Valley Region is Thriving
The Umpqua Valley has a rich and
Gewürztraminer, Riesling and other cool-
Oregon Wine Council - “Dissapointed with the OHA” important history in Oregon Wine growing. The gris,
climate varieties thrive here.
A public service announcement from
the Oregon Health Authority that aired across
the state about alcohol consumption, is getting
pushback from the wine industry. The PSA
called “Why?” is part of the OHA’s “Rethink
the Drink” campaign that launched at the
beginning of December.
The advertisement shows a father and
his daughter shopping at a grocery store.
The father first picks up a case of beer and
his daughter says, “Is not on the list.” Then
they’re shown in the wine section where the
man picks up a bottle of wine. The daughter
asks, “Why I can’t drink wine?” The father
struggles to give her a good response as she
continues to respond with “Why?” The father
eventually decides he doesn’t need the bottle
of wine and puts it back on the shelf.
The executive director of the Oregon
Wine Council, Fawn Barrie, said the PSA’s
message is to not buy Oregon wine.
“I was really disappointed with the
ad OHA put out related to wine,” Barrie said.
“There’s support in the industry for moderation
and responsible drinking messaging, not a
message of put back the bottle of wine you
just picked up.”
Her organization, along with the
Oregon Beverage Alliance and the Oregon
Winegrowers Association, all sent letters
to Governor Tina Kotek’s office and the
OHA asking why taxpayer money was
used to discourage wine sales and wine
consumption. The industry groups argued
the state government is contradicting itself
by investing more than $700,000 to promote
buying Oregon wine and then investing
more than $800,000 in a PSA that they say
discourages it.
Barrie said the campaign is missing its
intended goal of helping people who struggle
with alcoholism. “They should really be
focused on Oregonians who have an alcohol
problem and an addiction problem and
offering them resources, offering them ways
to get help. There’s no way people know how
to access resources based on the ad they put
up.” Barrie claims the state’s responsibility is
to ensure people are socially responsible and
support “moderate” drinking. “And to ensure
if people have a problem they have access to
resources.”
Two Oregon wine groups, the Oregon
Wine Council and the Oregon Winegrowers
Association. In a Dec. 20 letter to Kotek, the
groups expressed support for educating the
public on the risks of excessive consumption
but took issue with the OHA’s messaging.
“The state should be focusing its public
health messages on getting help to those who
need it, not on vilifying an Oregonian at the
grocery store purchasing a bottle of locally
grown wine,” the groups said in a joint letter.
The Oregon Beverage Alliance, which
represents the state’s brewers, winemakers,
cider makers, distillers and the hospitality
industry, shared its concerns in a letter to
Governor Kotek on december 21st . “We are
disturbed to see the Oregon Health Authority’s
Rethink the Drink ad campaign pivot from
educating Oregonians about responsible,
moderate consumption by legal drinking age
adults to a neo-prohibitionist agenda.”
To get a local perspective I spoke
to Ali Rodgers, Executive Director of the
Umpqua Valley Winegrowers Association.
The UVWA is at the heart of the Oregon Wine
Industry, whose roots go back to those initial
Umpqua Valley wine vineyards in the 1880’s.
“Most of the wineries and vineyards
in Douglas County are small, family-owned
and family-operated businesses. The recent
TV advertisement from OHA feels like a
direct attack on our local wine industry. We
are disappointed that the OHA would use
taxpayer money to create a campaign that
would hurt local agriculture, at a time when
small family growers continue to struggle, and
are still recovering from Covid, wildfires, and
recent inflationary pressures.”
It appears that the message the
OHA appears to be promoting is abstinence
as opposed to responsible alchohol
consumption. This does not really jive with
the States support of local alcohol related
industries. Even the OLCC, who commended
the Rethink the Drink campaign in 2023, is
quick to point out it’s support for the wine
and alcoholic beverage industry and how it’s
own efforts, promotes responsible growth and
economic success for the industry as well as
the general public.
wine-growing history dates back to the 1880s
when German immigrants who had worked
for the Beringer Bros., the oldest continuously
operating vineyard in Napa, planted the first
wine grape vineyard in the Valley. Those
immigrants established vineyards, a winery and
a distillery, and produced an estimated 20,000
gallons of wine in the Umpqua Valley.
Production, at first significant, was slowed
as Oregon anticipated Prohibition, which went
into effect in 1914, six years before National
Prohibition. After repeal it took till 1933 for the
Oregon legislature to legalize grape growing
and establishing the Farmer’s Winery License
for production of light wine from privately
owned fruit.
Umpqua Valley’s first Post-prohibition
winery is established by Adolph Doerner as
“Old # 7” on Heydon Road near Roseburg in
1934. Ray Doerner, Adolph’s son, continued to
operate “Old # 7” until 1965 when he paid the
last BATF taxes and closed his business.
Richard Sommer, a winemaking pioneer
in the Umpqua Valley, planted 36 acres of
California Vinifera. He established HillCrest
Vineyard near Roseburg in 1961. He was the
first to plant and bottle Pinot Noir in Oregon
despite being told by his UC Davis cohorts that
it was impossible to successfully grow wine
grapes in Oregon.
By 1970 the Roseburg area was a hotbed
of winegrowing in Oregon and the birthplace
of the Oregon Winegrowers Association.
Today the Umpqua Valley AVA continues to
evolve and now has over 30 wineries making
over 40 varieties into some of America’s most
distinctive wines. Everyday more winemakers
discover the area, bringing with them a passion
for innovation and world-class wine and the
Umpqua Valley AVA became official in 1984.
It was through the Umpqua Valley
Winegrowers that I learned about the Elkton
AVA. The Elkton Oregon AVA is the coolest
and wettest region within the larger Umpqua
Valley AVA and produces different varieties
and different wine styles than the rest of the
larger AVA. The northern area around the town
of Elkton enjoys a cool, marine-influenced
climate with a cooler, but milder and longer
growing season than the rest of the Umpqua
Valley AVA and receives much more rain
annually, about 50 inches. Pinot noir, Pinot
The Elkton Oregon AVA is situated 33
miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. It is wholly
within the Umpqua Valley AVA, which in turn
lies within the larger Southern Oregon AVA.
Elkton Oregon is the northernmost region in the
Umpqua Valley. The Umpqua River weaves
through the middle of the region, offering a cool
afternoon breeze during the growing season.
The Elkton Oregon AVA is an American
Viticultural Area that was established in 2013
in and around the town of Elkton, Oregon.
The AVA encompasses 74,900 acres. It is the
17th AVA in Oregon and resides completely
inside the greater Umpqua Valley AVA and
huge Southern Oregon AVA, an area known
to be warmer than the northern appellations
of Oregon.
The Appelation covers approximately
11 percent of the 689,904 acres. Umpqua
Valley AVA and .04 percent of the much larger
1,977,298 acres Southern Oregon AVA. The
vineyard soils here are predominantly residual
clay, silt loam soil, alluvial deposits and river
terraces around the meandering Umpqua River.
Clay soils retain water very well, resulting
in less of a need to irrigate and lower yields.
Elkton Oregon is the northernmost and lowest
elevation region in the Umpqua Valley.
In Elkton, you’ll find some exquisite
vineyards and tasting rooms that are tucked into
this particular wine country, including, Bradley
Vineyards, Brandborg Winery, Haines Creek
Vineyard & Tasting Room, Knoll Vineyards,
Lexème, River’s Edge Winery. Not within
the Elkton AVA but still producing fine wines
from North Douglas county in Oakland and
Umpqua are the Triple Oak Vineyard, Spire
Mountain Cellars, Meadows Estate Vineyard
& Winery and Henry Estate Winery. I shouldnt
fail to mention winery’s just north of county
line in south Lane county, the Lorane area
King Estate Winery, Chateau Lorane, Alesong
Brewing & Blending.
It’s definitely worth the adventure,
checking out the Vineyards and Tasting rooms
in the region. In contrast to the rest of Southern
Oregon, wines produced from this region are
more often from cool climate varieties made
in a lusher style, fuller in body with bolder fruit
notes than those produced in the Willamette
Valley. Photo by Tyler Bradley - Bradley Vineyards