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Kate: “Community and sharing is something that’s really important to us. The model of the chateau on a hill surrounded by grape vines is of course part of the story of wine, but there’s also villages with vines all around them and we looked at Portland like a scaled version of one of those villages. We also love this town and we thought we would have more connection with people discovering our wines if we put the winery somewhere close to where the customers would be versus putting it somewhere in the valley and hoping they added us to a list of places they might drive to. We really loved Portland and the community here and people’s focus on food, wine and quality of life. It made sense to put it down the street from our houses. Accessibility is another thing that Tom and I want to promote with our wines, and going wine tasting and driving into the Willamette Valley is wonderful and I encourage everyone to do it, but people don’t start there. They have to get comfortable and have to really be able to feel like it’s something easy to learn and taste and have in their lives. Having a winery right here in town is something that we thought would help people on their journeys to discover wine.”

What is the benefit of being an urban winery? 

Tom: “I mean the biggest benefit is the proximity to our vineyards and our homes and being a part of a sub-community of the greater wine community. Getting to know the district pretty well. We really get to feel like a part of our community. One of the things about a winery on a hill on a vineyard is that it’s really isolating, and while it’s got its own set of benefits with being close to the vineyard and what not, there’s this sense that we really are part of a community. We can walk into a grocery store and recognize a familiar face from one of our tastings and things like that happen all the time.  I think those are the big advantages.”

What is the biggest challenge of owning an urban winery? 

Tom: “Logistics. Getting grapes in and out of town.”

What kinds of wine do you make?

Kate: “We make a lot of different kinds of wine at this point. Variety is a key word with our wines and we make almost 30 different bottling each vintage. That’s something that I feel is our specialty, we’re able to create wines that are distinct and delicious, but also have a really wide range of style, approach and appeal. That’s something we love to do and we were just laughing because we both listen to a lot of different music too; it’s just important, the variety – it’s our entire lives!”

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To hear more about Division Winemaking Company be sure to check out our Social Media pages and you can find a link to them on our website.