Viola Wine Cellars is excited to announce they are relocating their Tasting Room from Portland to Mosier, Oregon in the Columbia Gorge and will share the space currently operated by Rack & Cloth cidery. Owners Darryl & Sarah Joannides are planning a Memorial Day grand opening. You can look forward to sampling a variety of Italian-inspired, Gorge-grown creations on Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6pm throughout the Summer months. The Mosier Tasting Room will primarily operate as a bottle shop so you can stock your pantry with creations from Viola and Rack & Cloth to go. They will have a daily flight offering 3 rotating wines and one cider, plus a few options by-the-glass and the opportunity to enjoy a bottle on premise before heading home with extra bottles in your trunk or bike
bag. While food won’t be a regular offering, Viola plans to take advantage of the existing kitchen at the Mosier Tasting Room to invite friends from the local area and Portland to come host occasional Pop-up dinners. You might even find winemaker/owner Darryl in the kitchen once or twice this Summer recreating some of his famous pasta dishes that drew long lines when the couple operated Assaggio Trattoria in Sellwood years ago. To keep up with pop-up events, be sure to sign up for Viola’s email newsletter or follow them on Instagram @violawines.
About Viola Wine Cellars: Viola Wine Cellars is a small winery crafting naturally made wines from Italian varietals grown primarily in the Columbia Gorge AVA. Striving for unique wines that reflect the varietal as it was intended in its native Italy, using Old World techniques and minimal intervention in the winemaking process, Viola produces as many as 15 different bottlings each vintage. The focus is on fresh and accessible stainless tank reds and structured, dry skin-macerated whites. Experimentation with winemaking techniques leads to exciting new creations each vintage. Winemaker Darryl Joannides draws on his Italian wine and culinary background as inspiration for Viola wines. In 1994, he spent a month hanging with Aldo Vacca at Produttori del Barbaresco in the heart of Piemonte and left with wine imprinted on his soul. He spent a decade as chef/owner of Portland’s Assaggio Restaurant (Willamette Week’s Restaurant of the Year 1997), leading the kitchen’s creation of classic regional Italian pasta dishes while developing an award-winning Italian wine list which he and his wife, Sarah, curated. He followed up with a decade as a wine retailer, operating cork – a bottle shop in Portland through 2013 while balancing a growing interest in wine production. cork was named Portland’s Best Wine Shop multiple times and featured in Food & Wine’s Best New Wine Shops in America. In 2012, Darryl turned his attention full time to wine production and produced 285 cases under the Viola label. In 2013, the couple bonded their garage in NW Portland and began making the wines at Casa Viola.
Today, the winery makes wine from 10 varietals sourced from the Columbia Gorge, throwing in a little Horse Heaven Hills and Walla Walla Valley for occasional creations. Many trips to Piemonte, Puglia and recently Friuli and Slovenia continue to influence his winemaking decisions. With a move of production to the Gorge planned in the near future, exciting possibilities lie ahead. Follow Viola Wine Cellars @violawines on Instragram and Facebook.
About Rack & Cloth: Rack & Cloth ciders are the creation of Silas Bleakley, a Mosier resident who farms 30 acres of apples, pears and other crops. Named for the style of traditional cider press used to produce its juice, the Rack & Cloth cidery was founded in 2012. The use of a small press allows for the attention to detail, including hand-sorting of fruit, that is essential to create a high-quality artisanal beverage. The cidery operates as a component of a larger vision: a small but diverse farming operation. Creating a system wherein agricultural products are showcased while increasing tilth and feeding of the farm is their guiding principle. All the apple pomace from pressing is used as feed for livestock which, in turn, fertilize the orchard. Happy animals make for happy trees, happy trees make good fruit, and good fruit makes good cider! A winemaking background brought Silas to the cider world and his different offerings reflect a precise and skilled hand in the cellar. Rack & Cloth is sold in keg at restaurants and growler fill stations around the Northwest with bottles planned for the near future. To learn more, visit
rackandcloth.com
For additional information, please contact [email protected] or 503.318.5053.