This is the second part of a post on White Rose Estate Winery in Dundee. The reason Jeff and I went up to the winery was to talk to Jesus Guillen II. That's him in the photo above walking in the vineyard with Jeff. I told Jesus (pronounced "hey soos") it was great to meet another winemaker by that name. The first one was a turn of the first millennium itinerant rabbi. That Jesus had a very unusual style of rapid production. This one is a bit more typical in his approach. Jesus Story is amazing.
His father works in the vineyard at White Rose Estates. The day we are visiting Jesus senior was out spraying the vineyard. I asked Jesus Jr. how he became a wine maker. He told me he had gotten a computer science degree in Mexico and after graduation had come up to Oregon to visit his father. "I love the mountains and the ocean and the woods." He told me. One visit to Oregon and a taste of some amazing Pinot Noirs and he was fell in love. "I threw away my degree and started to work in the vineyard." White Rose is an amazing estate. It has self rooted, and by American standards, old vines planted in the 1980's. Up until fairly recently the fruit was all sold to other wineries. Jesus came on board just as the new owner of the estate was starting to make their own estate label.
Jesus started out as a worker in the vineyard, but his passion for wine and incredible intelligence soon caught the eye of the owner who made him his cellar master. Jesus soon became the assistant wine maker, and then, finally the head wine maker. He explained that he started taking classes in English, but the classes were much too slow. "Just give me all the books" he told his instructors. He taught himself a second language in three months! He took a similarly intense approach to learning the art of wine making. "We were lucky to have some great help when we were first making wines. We brought in Mark Vlossak as a consultant. It was an amazing opportunity."
Everything about the White Rose Estate is closely controlled, clean and planned out. They sand down their wine barrels every year! Look at how beautiful and clean those barrels are in the photo above. Jesus walked us through a tasting of the wines they have in barrel. They use a unique whole cluster approach. When they first started making wines the grapes were too fruit forward. Jesus experimented with a small batch of whole cluster fermentation. It did not go well! He discovered that they had to let the fruit hang longer on the vine in order to allow the wooden parts of the cluster stems to ripen. The ripened vine are "lignified". I love learning new geek wine words!
The grapes are carefully harvested and then transported in custom made carts (in the photo above). They ferment the grapes at a very low temperature over a long time frame. I'm amazed that Jesus will openly share these trade secrets with us. But that is a part of the DNA of the Oregon wine industry. Jesus said that when he arrived he tasted several wines that worked to tie his fate to Oregon. Two were from Archery Summit, and Adelsheim vineyards. "I went to the wineries and asked to talk to the winemakers and I could not believe that they would share all of their techniques with me." He said. I think that is a part of what make Oregon wines so excellent. They are willing to share, even with the people who are setting up shop just down the road.
It is so exciting that the children of current field hands are starting to take on leadership in some vineyards. Jesus' younger brother is the tasting room manager at White Rose. They are an amazing family and I'm so glad Jeff made it possible for me to meet them. We are fortunate that Jesus fell in love with Oregon!