DIVISION WINEMAKING CO. CELEBRATES SEVENTH VINTAGE RELEASE WITH SPRING RELEASE PARTY ON SUNDAY, APRIL 2
Representing a new generation of winemakers, the pioneering urban winery offers a taste of Oregon through new and unique wine varietals through wine club, a first Sauvignon Blanc, and the launch of Club Gamay
PORTLAND, Ore. (March 28, 2017) – Known for their passionate promotion of lesser-known wine varietals and minimalist manipulation winemaking, Division Winemaking Company’s (DWC) founders Kate Norris and Tom Monroe prepare to release their seventh vintage and will celebrate with a Spring Release Party on Sunday, April 2nd from 3 to 5 p.m. hosted at the Southeast Wine Collective. This open to the public shindig will feature a fresh line-up from the new vintage to taste, including their first Sauvignon Blanc, a few rare Division treats from the Tom & Kate’s cellar, as well as bites from SE Wine Collective chef Althea Grey Potter. DWC wine club members can pick up their spring wines, and sign up for the brand new “Gamay Club” featuring exclusive Gamay bottlings. The tasting is $20 (free for wine club members), waived if you sign up for a wine club or buy $100+ in wine.
The Portland urban winery launched its wine club last year, a great way to taste your way through new wines, learn about unique varietals, and experience the next wave of Oregon and Washington winemaking. Featuring the “Undivided” collection with six wines delivered to your doorstep and the “Divide and Conquer” with a customer choice of twelve wines, also released twice per year. Additional benefits include discounts on bottles, complimentary flights at the SE Wine Collective, yearly tasting appointments and invitations to release parties and special events. Coinciding with the winery’s seventh vintage release, wine club members will receive a selection from DWC’s 21 wines produced from 10 varietals, which include Pinot Noir, Gamay Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir Rose, and the first ever Sauvignon Blanc. Launching this year is “Club Gamay”, available to existing wine club members, grants you first access to exclusive Gamay specific bottlings, including wines that typically sell out fast.
Division Winemaking Wine Clubs
For every wine club member (current or new sign up), refer and sign up a friend and you will receive free shipping on your next order (any wine quantity to a single address only), and your friend will receive free shipping on their first club shipment. Do this as many time as you want! Free shipping – who doesn’t love that!
Undivided Club
(6 bottle fixed club)
1 bottle – 2015 Pinot Noir “Quatre” Bjonson Vineyard
1 bottle – 2015 Chardonnay “Deux” Stangeland Vineyard
1 bottle – 2016 Division-Villages La Frontière Sauvignon Blanc (brand new wine/release)
1 bottle – 2016 Division-Villages Béton
1 bottle – 2016 Pinot Noir Rosé
1 bottle – 2015 Pinot Noir “Deux” Eola Springs Vineyard
Divide and Conquer Club
(mix and match min of 12 bottles)
2 bottles minimum – 2015 Pinot Noir “Quatre” Bjonson Vineyard
2 bottles minimum – 2015 Chardonnay “Deux” Stangeland Vineyard
1 bottle minimum – 2015 Pinot Noir “Deux” Eola Springs Vineyard
1 bottle minimum – 2016 Division-Villages La Frontière Sauvignon Blanc (brand new release)
1 bottle minimum – 2016 Pinot Noir Rosé
1 bottle minimum – 2016 Division-Villages Béton
1 bottle minimum – 2011 Pinot Noir “Un” – LIBRARY RELEASE (EXCLUSIVE to Divide & Conquer)
1 bottle minimum – 2010 Chardonnay – LIBRARY RELEASE (EXCLUSIVE to Divide & Conquer)
*NEW* Club Gamay
Gamay is almost half of Division’s production yearly – which makes Division one of the most dedicated Gamay producers in the US! Club Gamay gets you first access to wines that sell out FAST, PLUS exclusive Division and Division –Villages Gamay bottlings!
Spring 2017 Club Gamay Wines:
1 magnum (1.5L) – 2016 Division-Villages L’Avoiron Gamay Noir Rosé – CLUB GAMAY FIRST ACCESS (ONLY 200 MAGNUMS MADE)
2 bottles – 2015 Gamay Noir “Renardière” Redford-Wetle Vineyard – CLUB GAMAY EXCLUSIVE RELEASE (ONLY 25 CASES MADE)
2 bottles – 2016 Division-Villages Les Petits Fers Gamay Noir
Spring 2017 Club Gamay Benefits:
Discounts to I Love Gamay Festival tickets (ilovegamay.com)
Invitation to a yearly Division Gamay(s) tasting with Kate & Tom
*Access to Club Gamay is only available through membership to one of our two other main clubs
About Division Winemaking Company
“Pair with good times, good food and good people” is the philosophy of the Division Winemaking Company, founded in 2010 by Kate Norris and Thomas Monroe. Inspired by the wineries of Loire, Burgundy and the Northern Rhone, the urban winery creates sustainable and unique varietals of minimalist approach Oregon wines including Pinot Noir, Gamay, Chardonnay, Rose, Chenin, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Cot, Syrah, and Grenache. Division Winemaking Company (DWC) includes the Division Winemaking Company label, the more approachable Division-Villages label and as well as Gamine inspired by the Rhone Valley and a personal expression of co-founder Kate Norris’ love of the region. Both Norris and Monroe have been passionate about wine for most of their lives, for Monroe it started with an entry level sommelier course in college, for Norris it was spending time at her family home in the Loire Valley, France. Once the pair decided to trade cubicles for winery cellars, Norris’ family home in France proved to be a perfect place for their immersion into viticulture and enology. DWC represents a new generation of winemakers that are looking beyond the status quo to create unique styles of wine, with a purpose, a story and without traditional barriers, embarking on what Norris calls “the Oregon adventure.” Norris and Monroe have been leaders in pursuing the Oregon-Loire Valley confluence, cultivating grapes that are native to the French winemaking region known for Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc and Gamay. From their minimal intervention approach, focusing on terroir and true varietal expression over more industrialized techniques, to their promotion of unique varietals through pioneering campaigns like #DrinkChenin, their award winning wines serve as an example for sustainable production and connection between the old world experience and applying it in a new world environment.
In 2016, Norris and Monroe were named to Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40 tastemakers list. DWC has been named an Oregon Winery to Watch by Wine Press Northwest, a top urban winery by Wine Enthusiast, and winemakers to watch in the San Francisco Chronicle article All you wanted to know about this year’s Winemakers to Watch. DWC wines have been featured in a number of articles including the Division 2012 Willamette Valley Gamay Noir as the number one pick by Eric Asimov in the New York Times article Wines for Thanksgiving the Refresh the Palate, in 2016 Asimov listed Division Winemaking Company among the Willamette Valley’s excellent small producers of pinot noir, and Portland Monthly selected the 2015 Division-Villages Les Petits Fers Gamay Noir as one of Oregon’s Top 50 Wines, the 2013 Division-Villages “Les Petits Fers” Gamay Noir in the San Francisco Chronicle article 2014 Top 100 Wines: Zinfandel and Other Reds, and was featured in a 2016 Punch article on wineries pioneering the Oregon-Loire Valley confluence. The inaugural #DrinkChenin day was featured in the Wall Street Journal, and their Chenin Blanc was featured by Eater in 2016. The 2011 Gamay Noir was also the only wine from the United States to win a gold medal at the 2014 International Competition of Gamay in France. Find more information at www.divisionwinemakingcompany.
About SE Wine Collective
Kate Norris and Thomas Monroe, of Division Winemaking Company, founded the Southeast Wine Collective in 2012 in response to their personal interest in creating a unique multi-faceted urban winery, coupled with increasing public interest in the urban wine movement. The urban winery and wine bar brings together like-minded wineries who are sustainably growing their businesses and offers a venue for commercial custom crush wine production, tastings and events in an area of SE Portland that already hosts a thriving restaurant and nightlife scene. The collective is made up of eleven wineries: Division Winemaking Company, 51 Weeks, Gersing Cellars, James Rahn Wine Company, Laelaps Wines, Loop de Loop, Ore Winery, Pampleau, Stedt Cellars, Welsh Family Wines, and Willful Wine, while continuing to work as an incubator for future wine brands and budding industry ideas. Currently 20 varietals are produced at the Collective ranging from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc to lesser-known varietals such as Gamay Noir, Mourvedre, Chenin Blanc, Muscat, and Arneis. The wine bar features pours and flights from all 10 Collective members and their inspirational wines along with draft beer and a diverse food menu by in-house chef Althea Grey Potter. In 2016, co-founders Monroe and Norris were named to Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40 list of tastemakers. The Collective was listed among the Top 20 Best Wine Bars in America by Wine Enthusiast, 10 Best Urban Wineries in USA Today and Best Wine Bars in The Oregonian. Travel + Leisure called the Collective a must for any wine connoisseur’s Perfect Weekend in Portland, It has also been featured in FOOD & WINE magazine’s A Winemakers’ Beaujolais Nouveau Party, the New York Times article “Bringing the Wine to Portland, Ore.”, Wine Spectator’s “The New Portland,” Portland Monthly’s article “Meet Portland’s Top Urban Winemakers,” and Portland Monthly’s Best Restaurants 2014 7 Days In Portland piece. Wines produced at the Collective have been mentioned in The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times. The wine bar hosts large and small events, wine release parties and pop-up dinners and is available for rent for private parties. Its hours are Mon. 4 – 9 p.m., Wed, Thurs. and Fri. 4 – 10 p.m.; Sat. 1 p.m. – 10 p.m. and Sun. 1 p.m. – 9 p.m. The Collective is located at 2425 SE 35th Place, Portland, Oregon 97215. Find more information at www.sewinecollective.com, Facebook SE Wine Collective, Twitter @SEWineColl, Instagram @SEWineCollective or by calling 503-208-2061.
