While wine making in Oregon may conjure notions of bucolic countryside and the verdant Willamette Valley, the operation at Division Winemaking Company looks a little different. Founded in 2010 by Thomas Monroe and Kate Norris, Division crafts their expressive, low-intervention wines in the heart of southeast Portland. (Division is the street name of their original home.) This year saw the winery move into a larger facility in the city. There, it nearly doubled production capacity to about 12,000 cases and allowed space for some playful experimentation. But during harvest season, it’s all-hands-on-deck, and Monroe and Norris bring us along for the ride.
6:30 a.m.
It’s customary in the Willamette Valley to start picking at 6:30 or 7 in the morning. And it might take two to four hours to pick the site. We create the work orders the night before, so everyone will have their to-dos for the long day ahead—what grapes will be coming in, how they’re going to be processed, and what fermentation management work needs to be done, plus any special projects. One of the peculiarities of being in the city means that we’re not getting grapes delivered from the valley until early or mid-afternoon.
10 a.m.
Typically, Tom goes out to the vineyard, or Kate’s brother, who does a lot of grape hauling for the winery. We’re working with about 22 vineyards this year. Cassin Vineyard is in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. And we lease the whole property and handle the farming ourselves, which is managed
This Article was originally published on IMBIBE Magazine
