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. 6h ago

    Jim Maresh: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Jim Maresh of Arterberry Maresh. In this interview, Jim talks about growing up on the family farm, becoming interested in wine, and starting his own wine label. Jim talks about his family’s history in Dundee. His grandparents Jim and Loie purchased the property on Worden Hill Road in 1959 and began planting many different crops. Jim’s dad, Fred Arterberry, met his mom, Martha Maresh, while working at Erath. Fred started making wine under the Arterberry label in 1979. Jim discusses getting into the wine industry himself in 2003, working at the Carlton Winemakers Studio under the Penner-Ash brand. In 2005, he began his own label called Arterberry Maresh, honoring both sides of his family history. He has made wine every year since and overviews the memorable vintages. Later in the interview, Jim talks about how his winemaking style has evolved over his 20+ years in the industry. He also touches on becoming a dad and how that changed his approach towards his work. As for the future, he doesn’t plan on retiring from winemaking anytime soon. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Jim’s home in McMinnville on May 29, 2026.

    1h 56m

  2. 5d ago

    Emily Rozga: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Emily Rozga of Soter Vineyards. Emily is originally from Santa Rosa, California, and talks about growing up around food, agriculture, and the outdoors. She shares how those early interests led her to attend Cal Poly with the focus on wine and viticulture, initially believing winemaking would be her future. Through internships, harvest experiences, and working in tasting rooms and cellars, she discovered she was more drawn to vineyard health and grape growing than production itself.  Emily discusses wanting to see more of the world after college, traveling internationally, gaining hands-on vineyard experience abroad, including time in New Zealand. She reflects on returning to California, working in Napa, and eventually stepping away from the wine industry for a period to work in organic vegetable farming in the Pacific Northwest. The experience deepened her interest in ecology, sustainability, and long-term land health. Next, Emily talks about how she returned to wine with a different perspective—focused less on winemaking and more on viticulture, vineyard systems, and environmental stewardship. She talks about collecting vineyard data, monitoring pest and disease, improving crop health, and helping create long-term solutions for sustainable farming practices. She also shares how finding community within Oregon agriculture and the wine industry played an important role in her career.  This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt in Sheridan, Oregon on May 14, 2026.

    1h 24m

  3. May 27

    Wayne Oppenheimer: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Wayne Oppenheimer of A Great Oregon Wine Tour and WineUp. Wayne is originally from Seattle, Washington, and was raised in Beaverton, Oregon. He talks about first becoming interested in wine in his early twenties after attending a tasting and realizing how different wines could be from one another. The curiosity led him to dive deeper into what he describes as “liquid geography,” eventually pushing him toward a career centered around wine and hospitality.  Wayne discusses attending Portland State University for economics while always feeling drawn toward the wine industry. After visiting Napa Valley, he began reaching out to wineries directly and eventually landed a position working in public relations and hospitality. He reflects on working as a tour guide, meeting people from around the world, and discovering that wine was as much about storytelling and connection as it was about the product itself. Wayne talks about various businesses he has created, including starting wine tour companies, wine clubs, retail projects and WineUpTV, which is a show focused on interviewing people throughout the wine world. He talks about businesses alongside his wife, Camille, growing A Great Oregon Wine Tour over the years, and creating spaces that introduce people to wines from across the globe. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt in Newberg, Oregon on May 19, 2026.

    1h 8m

  4. May 27

    Jay Pscheidt: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Jay Pscheidt of Oregon State University. In this interview, Jay talks about how he came to be in Oregon, transitioning from studying potatoes to all kinds of woody perennials. Jay talks about his journey from pre-med to bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin. After attending a lecture by a plant pathologist, he realized he could apply all his newfound knowledge for the betterment of growers in his area. Jay discusses beginning to work at Cornell, where he switched his focus from potato plants to grapevines. There in New York, he studied a combination of grapes grown for wine and table or juice grapes. Later in the interview, Jay talks about moving to Oregon and getting a job with OSU. He really enjoyed extension services and embedding himself in the community in that way. In addition to teaching a field diagnostic course, in which students traveled all around the state to study different crops, Jay was also in charge of the yearly Pacific Northwest Plant Disease Management Handbook publication. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Oregon State University’s Botany & Plant Pathology Field Laboratory in Corvallis on April 28, 2026. On March 26, 2026, Jay gave a lecture at Chemeketa Community College’s Eola Campus outlining the highlights of his 38-year career with OSU’s extension plant pathology department. He summarizes some of his team’s key findings while working with 21 different crops, estimating some 4,400 treatments studied for plant disease management.

    2h 36m

  5. May 22

    Anna Jesse: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Anna Jesse of Forest Hills Farms, a third-generation farmer helping lead a family operation that has grown from strawberry fields in the 1950s into thousands of acres producing blueberries, wine grapes, corn, and other crops across Oregon.  Anna is from Cornelius, Oregon, and talks about growing up in Forest Hills Farms, spending years working in vineyards and agriculture, and learning firsthand what is means to be part of a multigenerational farming family. She shares how attending Oregon State University initially led her towards business, changing majors, and developing a stronger appreciation for the connection between farming, land, and community.  Anna discusses working internships and gaining experiences outside the family business, including time at Northwest Wine Company, where she worked in operations and earned more about the wine industry before eventually returning home.  This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Forest Hills Farm in Cornelius, Oregon on May 13, 2026.

    58 min

  6. May 21

    Davis Palmer: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Davis Palmer of McMenamins Edgefield Winery. In this interview, Davis talks about his early fascination with fermentation leading him to working at McMenamins in beer production. Working in a variety of brewpubs within the company allowed him to work on honing the house style while also experimenting with new fun recipes. He talks about being intrigued by winemaking and viewing it as more dynamic work, and joining the winemaking team at Edgefield for harvest in 2000. Soon after he joined as the cellar master, then later the head winemaker. He talks about the evolution of his work and the evolution of the production in that time. Later, Davis talks about how he’s seen the Oregon wine industry grow and where it might go next. He also discusses Edgefield’s evolution and what he’s looking forward to. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt in the Nicholson Library at Linfield University in McMinnville on April 13, 2026.

    1h 16m

  7. May 20

    Morgan White: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with Morgan White of Amaterra. In this interview, Morgan talks about her career in the wine industry, from moving to Oregon without having a harvest job lined up to becoming the winemaker at Amaterra. Morgan shares about going to the University of Florida for physiology & kinesiology with plans of becoming a physical therapist. After graduation, she and a friend visited Mendoza, Argentina, and she fell in love with the wine culture there. Upon returning to Florida, she took a sommelier course and began working at wine bars and restaurants. Morgan talks about her first harvest in 2017 at Apolloni Vineyards and becoming their cellar master. There, she learned to solve problems in the moment, which helped her become a better winemaker. She also began working with Matt Vuylsteke, Amaterra’s founding winemaker, as the fruit was processed at the Apolloni facility. Later in the interview, Morgan discusses joining the Amaterra team for the 2021 harvest. The multi-floor winery was still under construction, so she again learned to pivot and make things work while the site was in flux. Now as winemaker, she is enjoying finding her unique winemaking voice and trying new things. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Amaterra in Portland on April 14, 2026.

    50 min

  8. May 20

    John Platt: Oral History Interview

    This interview is with John Platt of Helvetia Winery. In this interview, John talks about moving off a houseboat to Helvetia, planting grapes, and expanding his business into a winery. John shares about moving to the Helvetia area after a piece of land came up for sale and meeting with an extension agent to determine what kinds of crops he should plant. Among the list was grapes, which John and his wife Elizabeth planted with the intention of selling fruit to home winemakers. John talks about his other work during that time, including legal work with Pacific Northwest Native American tribes and their fishing rights, as well as Elizabeth’s work in politics including a 6-year term in Congress. As they began planting the vineyard and building the winery, they were flying back and forth to DC for her career. Later in the interview, John discusses how he went about deciding what to plant, collaboration with many in the industry, and learning to farm grapes by “looking it up” and “making mistakes.” Within 20 years of planting the vineyard, he had purchased additional land to build a winery and host guests at the house-turned-tasting room. While he sees lots of challenges facing the industry in the future, he’s also optimistic that the industry will continue on for years to come. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Helvetia Winery in Hillsboro on April 6, 2026.

    1h 23m
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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.

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