The Oregon Wine History Archive Podcast

The Oregon Wine History Archive

The Oregon Wine History Archive at Linfield University was created to collect, preserve, share, and continue the narrative of Oregon wine. The growth of the Oregon wine industry extends from the farmers and winemakers to the marketers, scientists, innovators, and dreamers of the enterprise — all of whom are vital to the industry’s success. It is our aim to link the past, present, and future of the industry in hopes of sharing the story of Oregon wine. Some oral history interviews are conducted on site and may contain background noise from nature, winery, or tasting room operations.

  1. 23h ago

    Teddi Fuller: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Teddi Fuller of Lushington Wines. In this interview, Teddi discusses the lifestyle she has built through wine and art. Teddi talks about how she ended up in Lyle, Washington. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in fine arts without a defined career path. After she moved to California to ski, she worked in restaurants and a wine bar where she learned a lot about wine through their wine education programs. After working harvests in Tasmania and New Zealand, Teddi set out for a place with mountains, eventually finding Lyle. Teddi discusses finding a vineyard to farm in exchange for grapes to make wine, creating Lushington Wines in the process. Later, Teddi talks about buying the house across the road from the vineyard and enjoying the proximity to the vineyard. Later in the interview, Teddi talks about her passion for art and how it translates into Lushington. Teddi creates the labels herself with her recognizable style of vertical lines. Teddi emphasizes how wine overlap with art. She explains how both wine and art involve trusting your intuition and making your own decisions. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Hi Hill Vineyard on June 16, 2026.

    1 hr

  2. 1d ago

    Brandon Hasart: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Brandon Hasart of Lingua Franca. In this interview, Brandon talks about his wine journey and how he came to be the vineyard manager at Lingua Franca. Brandon speaks about his original intention to work in veterinary medicine, but becoming interested in wine while attending Washington State University. He charts his path from the initial interest to a variety of internships in Oregon and abroad. From there, Brandon talks about his work at Abacela Winery in the Umpqua Valley and Brittan Vineyards in the Willamette. He speaks about the lessons he learned on the wine production side, and then his growing interest in viticulture. This led him to pursue his career working with the vines. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Lingua Franca in Salem on April 1, 2026.

    1h 29m

  3. 1d ago

    Carrie Alexander: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Carrie Alexander of Holocene Wines. In this interview, Carrie discusses the many different roads she has taken that eventually led her to wine.   Carrie talks about the various career paths she has taken. She started pursuing a degree in teaching which she later changed and graduated with a fine arts degree. While she played with owning coffee shops, skate shops, and being a hairdresser, she was introduced to wine by working in restaurants.  Carrie discusses how she first began tasting wine while working in restaurants and hospitality in Napa Valley. Eventually, she moved up to making wine lists and running tasting rooms. After meeting her husband who is a winemaker, their dream was to own their own wine brand where her husband would make the wine and she would do the rest. Then in 2015, they achieved their dreams in creating Holocene. In 2020, they also started making wine in France. Later in the interview, Carrie talks about her proudest achievement during her time in the industry. For her, creating Grenache Fest is what she is the most proud of. After finding out that many others share her love of Grenache, she decided to create an event that honors it. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Salishan Coastal Lodge on June 15, 2026.

    1h 3m

  4. 3d ago

    Eric Weisinger: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Eric Weisinger of Weisinger Family Winery. In this interview, Eric discusses his 30 years in the industry and how he came right back to where he started. Eric talks about how his father always had a dream of owning a winery. Eric was roped into this dream when his father suffered an injury and he had to take over. From there, he realized he was drawn to wine and could make a living from it. For many years, Eric would switch from the two hemispheres for harvest. It was when he hadn’t seen spring in over 10 years that he decided to return to his father’s business in 2011. Eric discusses how him and his father were best friends, but bad colleagues. Eric had left his father’s business originally to learn about the industry from new places and perspectives. When his father asked him to return, he figured the worst that could happen is that he might fail. Later in the interview, Eric talks about the future of the industry and Southern Oregon’s unique attributes to it. Eric believes that to stay relevant within the industry, you must be able to change. He also believes that Southern Oregon can evolve by leaning into its uniqueness of topography. Eric plans to change and stay relevant to continue carrying on his father’s dream. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Weisinger Family Winery on June 11, 2026.

    1h 17m

  5. 3d ago

    Mike Brunson: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Mike Brunson of Valley View Winery. In this interview, Mike discusses what it is like to be a winemaker and how that passion brought him to Oregon.   Mike talks about his journey into the wine industry and how he had a natural gift for it. Mike has a good sense of smell and strong palate. This paired well with his former boss, Fred Payne, who passed the job down to Mike. Fred had his PHD in food science and Mike had the natural abilities. Mike reminisces about Fred serving as a meaningful mentor. Mike discusses the working relationship between him and his son who also works at Valley View. While they may argue over what music to play while working, Mike is proud of his children for the people they have become. Even his daughter is in the industry as she runs a separate winery. Later in the interview, Mike talks about what it is like to be head winemaker and having the wines you make available to consumers. He imagines that seeing people buy your wines is like being a music artist and having people sing your songs.  This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Valley View Winery on June 11, 2026.

    1h 4m

  6. Jun 18

    Mike & Mark Wisnovsky: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Mike and Mark Wisnovsky of Valley View Winery. In this interview, the brothers discuss the responsibility of continuing the legacy their parents passed onto them.   The brothers talk about how they were almost born into the industry. They started planting at four and eight years old, learning the ins and outs of harvest. When they were made partners after their father passed away, they were forced to make big decisions about the winery earlier than most. After their mother passed away, they took on full responsibility of the winery. Now, Mark’s children work with their father and uncle, a three generational impact on Valley View. Mark discusses how connected he is to the vineyard even having nightmares about bugs and various other corruption. This isn’t just a business for the family, it is their life. While Mark focuses on the vineyard, Mike is responsible for the sales. They described their partnership as passing the baton to each other throughout the years.  Later in the interview, the duo talks about their strengths. With the responsibility of continuing a 50-year legacy, they discuss how they keep the business afloat. A big strength they talked about is their accessibility. They also discuss the benefits of producing wine in Southern Oregon as it is the place to go to try something different. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Valley View Winery on June 11, 2026.

    1h 22m

  7. Jun 15

    Soléna Andrus Montalieu & Danielle Andrus

    This interview is with Soléna Andrus Montalieu of Soléna Estate and her mother Danielle Andrus. In this interview, the duo discusses being raised in the industry and the memories that come with it.    Danielle talks about growing up in Napa Valley with her father Gary Andrus of Pine Ridge Vineyards and eventually moving with him to Oregon to start Archery Summit in 1995. After doing a lot of the grunt work, Danielle was asked to create  a hospitality department for the winery until she got married and created Northwest Wine Company and Soléna Estate with her husband at the time, winemaker Laurent Montalieu. After they went their separate ways, they left the estate in Soléna’s name. Soléna discusses how she grew up in the wine industry. While she planned on staying away from the industry, studying psychology and entrepreneurship at Lewis & Clark College, she fell in love with the industry when she came back to pursue a wine internship. Now, Soléna runs the estate and puts an emphasis on the social media and marketing of the brand. She further discusses her big plans for the future of Soléna Estate. Later in the interview, Danielle talks about the personality and impact of her father within the industry. She explains how he was all bout the community. The mother and daughter agree that they’ve found this community for themselves and have never regretted joining the industry they were raised in. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Soléna Estate on June 10, 2026.

    1h 39m

  8. Jun 12

    Jen Parr: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Jen Parr of Valli Wines in New Zealand. In this interview, Jen talks about her plethora of experiences in different wine regions of the world.   Jen talks about growing up in Portland and eventually heading to Stanford University pursuing a degree in English literature. During her time at Stanford, she discovered the wine industry for the first time. After graduating, she transitioned into financial software sales until she found she was hitting snooze on her alarm every morning, not excited to go to work. From there, she decided she wanted to work in the wine industry because she wanted to drink wine that was out of her price range and make a livelihood out of this passion. Jen discusses how she sent around 45 letters to wineries in hopes they would be willing to let her work a harvest. Since she didn’t have any experience at the time, she received many rejections, if any response at all. However, a special place responded and gave her a chance. After working her first harvest, Jen went around the world working at different companies and learning about the unique qualities of each place. Jen specifically notes her formative time in South Africa because of the team she worked with. Eventually, she settled at Valli Wines in New Zealand, where she works today and plans on staying.  Later in the interview, Jen talks about the future of the industry. Jen believes the industry needs to work with consumers to help them find the language of wine and explain why they like what they like. Jen describes wine as “liquid language” as it connects people, place, and time. Jen compares the future of the industry to Darwinism, and explains how the wineries that are able to adapt and listen will survive.  This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Jen’s childhood home in Portland on June 8, 2026.

    1h 50m
See All (923)

4.8
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

The Oregon Wine History Archive at Linfield University was created to collect, preserve, share, and continue the narrative of Oregon wine. The growth of the Oregon wine industry extends from the farmers and winemakers to the marketers, scientists, innovators, and dreamers of the enterprise — all of whom are vital to the industry’s success. It is our aim to link the past, present, and future of the industry in hopes of sharing the story of Oregon wine. Some oral history interviews are conducted on site and may contain background noise from nature, winery, or tasting room operations.

Information

You Might Also Like