Willamette Valley Vineyards

The “budwood” of Willamette Valley Vineyards began long before its founding in 1983 by vintner Jim Bernau. His Dad, a Roseburg attorney, was hired by California winemaker Richard Sommer to secure one of the first winery licenses in Oregon since Prohibition. Jim’s Dad allowed small tastes of Richard’s wine at the dinner table, lighting a path that led Jim from home winemaking to studies at UC Davis and eventually Beaune, France. Jim’s early “winemaking” grew more from mischief when at the age of 10, he liberated his Mom’s frozen Concord grape juice and followed the description of fermentation he found in the family’s set of Encyclopedias!