March 24, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 9A
Savoring a diversity of flavors
at the Cannon Beach wine walk
Savor from Page 1A
Some wineries such as Pud-
ding River Wine Cellars have
been attending since the fes-
tival’s inception seven years
ago, said winemaker Sean
Driggers, who brought along
bottles of its 2014 gold med-
al winning Syrah. “The east
Willamette Valley of Oregon
is unique and really good for
producing high quality grapes
much like the great wine
growing regions of Rome and
France.”
Marissa Ooyevaar- Voor-
hies and her husband Tyler
from Willamette Valley Vine-
yards spoke of the wine’s
minerality and how the soil
can bring out the minerals of
the Willamette. “The Willa-
mette Valley has a lot of dif-
ferent soil types because of
the Missoula floods which
scraped the surface of the soil
and deposited it in different
ways throughout Oregon.”
This, she explained is why
different wineries from the
valley can have different wine
tastes from not only the soil
type but vine type as well.
This was the first year back
for Sokol Blosser Winery
since the first year of the fes-
tival, according to Lee Medi-
na who was busy sharing the
winery’s history and pouring a
medal-winning Estate Rosé of
Pinot Noir. He explained that
when there is an abundance of
this versatile grape, there are
more rosés coming out of the
valley. “It’s all in the process
and the first straining of the
grape which gives the rosé its
color.”
John Derthick of Lujon
Wine Cellars has been attend-
ing the wine walk for four
years and loves being part of
this festival. He began work-
ing at a winery in Sonoma
in 1994, attended the wine
program at UC Davis and
returned to Oregon in 2003.
Relatively a new winery, Lu-
REBECCA HERREN/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Winemarker Greg Matiko of Skylite Cellars with guests at Cannon Beach Bakery.
jon was conceived in 2005
and has produced some high-
ly rated wines from Wine En-
thusiast and Wine Spectator
ever since. “As a winemaker
I think Oregon is in a unique
position. From my perspec-
tive I’m able to make great
wines from a huge variety
of grapes from all over the
Northwest.”
Savor Cannon Beach con-
tinues in popularity. Well over
900 individuals attended this
year’s event with almost all
tickets presold. But it’s not
only the attendees who bene-
fit; the festival donates a por-
tion of the proceeds to a local
charity, according to Gary
Hayes, owner and publisher
of Explorer Media Group and
organizer of the event.
“Clatsop Animal Assis-
tance needs all the help they
can get and we are proud to
have them as our recipient.”
Part of the budget, Hayes not-
ed, includes a grant from the
city’s Tourism and Arts Fund,
which gives a portion of the
city’s lodging taxes to arts-re-
lated events.
Whether your interests fall
to the bold and hearty reds,
the aromatic whites or the
softer blends and syrah, the
overall scope of Oregon and
Washington’s wines abound-
ed with a diversity of flavors
and styles, enabling wine
walkers with enough excel-
lent samples to quench every-
one’s thirst.
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REBECCA HERREN/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Marissa Ooyevaar-Voorhies of
Willamette Valley Vineyards
poured at Jeffrey Hull Gallery.
Author speaks on tragedy
Urbani from Page 1A
enjoyed writing and it be-
came a form of therapy, she
said. Being from the South,
Urbani’s characterization
of the victims of that storm
allows for a fictional inter-
pretation of these historic
events.
“I could write my own
stories,” Urbani said. “I
could write well and I real-
ly wanted to write a book of
family stories, as I prefer to
write about truths I know.”
Her family was horrified
upon hearing the news and
burst into tears, not about the
divorce or that she had left
her career behind, but at the
thought of her writing about
them. “They begged me:
please don’t do it.”
Afterwards, she respected
their rights and agreed not to
write the memoir.
She decided to go in a
different direction and make
something up. Writing fic-
tion was new and frighten-
ing. After some thought, she
realized she had lived on
the edge before and why not
embrace fiction writing as a
new challenge. She could,
she said, still take similar
themes she wanted to write
in the memoir and filter them
into her fiction writing. “And
that is where ‘Landfall’ came
from.”
“In so many ways, we fail
to know each other,” Urbani
said. Think about the people
you’re closest to, the secrets
we keep from each other.
Sometimes we wind up clos-
er to a stranger than the per-
son we’ve chosen to spend
our life with. Even with fic-
tion, we let ourselves seep
into our writings.”
She posed the question:
“Can we come to understand
the people we love?” and an-
swers, “that is why I wrote
‘Landfall’ — to find the paths
through these secrets and a
way toward knowledge.”
The first year was spent
researching, mostly on the
storm. Although the book is
not about the hurricane, Ka-
trina became a character, a
REBECCA HERREN
Author Ellen Urbani at the
Cannon Beach Library.
backdrop for the story. When
asked, Urbani said it took 18
months to write the book and
another year to fine-tune.
“Landfall” follows the
journey of two women
named Rose as they navigate
the troubled waters of their
lives in the wake of Hurri-
cane Katrina. Showing the
resiliency of the human spir-
it, Urbani creates a fictional
world within the aftermath of
the devastation caused by the
storm. “Through the grief,
came beauty,” she added.
Urbani said she is grateful
that people read her books
and when asked what the best
part about being a writer is,
she smiles appreciatively and
answers: “I get to go around
and meet people, talk about
myself and people listen.”
Urbani earned a Bachelor
of Arts in writing and design
at the University of Alabama
before serving as a Peace
Corps volunteer from 1991
to 1993. Upon returning to
stateside, she earned a master
of arts degree in art therapy
from Marylhurst University
specializing in oncological
diseases and trauma survival.
Her work became the sub-
ject of a short documentary
“Paint Me a Future.”
“Landfall,” a book of con-
temporary historical fiction,
won the 2016 Maria Thomas
Fiction Award from Peace
Corps Writers, was named a
2015-16 Great Group Reads
by Women’s National Book
Association and was named
Book of the Year in Lunel,
France. “Landfall” was pub-
lished in 2015 and premiered
on the 10th anniversary of
Hurricane Katrina.
Preventing falls:
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Join us March 30 at 3:30 p.m.
As we age, the risk of falling becomes more serious. Falls can
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Join Providence experts as they discuss ways you can prevent
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includes a short introduction to tai chi.
Registration is requested. This free event is sponsored by
the Providence Senior Health Program.
Register at Providence.org/classes
or call 800-562-8964.
Providence Seaside Hospital
Education A
725 S. Wahanna Road
Seaside, OR 97138