PAUL
CRAIG
The News-Review
January 9, 2007
UMPQUA VALLEY — When a local wine earns a prestigious award, winemaker Kiley Evans
wonders what the judges say when they learn where it was made.
Southern Oregon is still relatively unknown in the world of wine production. Evans,
who makes wine for Abacela Winery in Winston, pictures a contest taster revealing
an Umpqua Valley label and asking, “it’s from where?” “It’s
important to show it doesn’t just happen from Eugene to Portland,” Evans said
of creating quality wine.
Two Umpqua Valley wineries proved just that recently by earning platinum honors
from Wine Press Northwest’s annual Best of the Best in the Great Northwest competition.
Abacela’s 2004 Grenache
and Spangler Vineyards’ 2004 Sundown Vineyard Cabernet Franc each earned the award
from a panel that included an international wine judge, wine writers and wine
competition directors.
The competition featured 247 wines from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British
Columbia. To enter,
the wine had to already have earned a gold medal from one of 30 prestigious competitions
during the year, including The Dallas Morning News Wine Competition and The Los
Angeles County Fair Wines of the World Competition.
Pat Spangler, owner and winemaker at Spangler Vineyards in Green, said he hopes
that getting picked amongst so many great wines will continue to bring more notice
to the Umpqua Valley.
Instead of saying, “it’s from where?” he believes they might be starting to say,
“wow, another one from there.” “Wow,”
is the response winemakers strive for. Spangler said it is an unsolicited and
pure response. It’s
also quite possibly what the Northwest Wine Press judges said when they tasted
the offerings from Abacela and Spangler.
Only 32 wines earned platinum or double platinum honors. Of those, only a handful
were from Oregon. “How
can that not feel good?” Evans said of being part of that group. “How can that
not be a validation for what you’re doing?”
Abacela was one of, if not the first Oregon winery to produce grenache, Evans
said. It was nice to know “we didn’t fall on our faces” with it.
In fact, the wine was already sold out before the judging was announced. Only
72 cases were made.
Spangler’s stash of its 2004 Cabernet Franc totaled 169 cases.
Those smaller production numbers make it difficult to immediately benefit from
awards. If a customer calls about a wine they read about in a magazine and it’s
already sold out, the winery has to try and draw them in with other wines.
Fortunately, there is a lot to choose from at most Umpqua Valley wineries. Spangler
said more than 30 different varieties of wine grapes grow in Douglas County.
That diversity is a testament to the area’s winemakers, Spangler said. In Napa,
he continued, the weather is going to be the same every year and the grapes will
not differ much over time.
Not so in Southern Oregon.
That does, however, prevent Southern Oregon from having a single standout grape.
The Umpqua Valley doesn’t have a varietal that is its “calling card.”
Still, because of its undiscovered stature, winemakers are able to make wine how
they want. Both
Spangler and Evans said they taste the fruit on the vine. They can decide how
long to let the fruit hang and when to pick it.
They don’t adhere to a set schedule.
Evans said “90 percent of winemakers in the country wish they could do it this
way.” Doing it that
way doesn’t just build the name of Abacela or Spangler, it gives a boost to Southern
Oregon and the Umpqua Valley.
Winning awards isn’t always the goal, exactly, it’s just part of the process.
“Everybody in this
part of the state has one common goal, that is to make the wines better,” Evans
said. | 
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