Wine Soundtrack - USA

Native Flora is a small, secluded vineyard and winery hidden high in the famed Dundee Hills. Founded in 2005, we strive to produce premium estate wines in limited quantities for people who enjoy great wine, a good laugh, natural beauty and a more personal wine experience.

Despite the inherent exclusivity of our diminutive size, we remain down to earth, hospitable, and enthusiastic about sharing our chosen path in life. It is highly likely that one or both of the proprietors will be on hand to host your visit. Our aim is to enlist you not just as a customer, but as a new friend and fellow enthusiast of good wines and places.

Dan Smith planted the vines of Sweet Cheeks Vineyards throughout the 1980s and 1990s, selling grapes to other wineries before opening the tasting room Thanksgiving weekend of 2005. The name comes from the curious swell in our hillside. Winemaker, Leo Gabica, originally from the Philippines, moved to Oregon in 1994. Leo answered an Ad for Silvan Ridge night crew on the bottling line and fell in love with the industry. Dan offered Leo a job as our cellar master, and was our first employee hired. Leo took over as lead winemaker in 2013.
Jessica, Dan's Granddaughter, became General Manager in 2016 at the age of 26 after a one year "sabbatical" of traveling and working in Napa/Sonoma. Dan's wife, Beth, took over as President after Dan's sudden passing in 2018.
Beth's daughter, Katie, is our Marketing Director. Together, Beth, Leo, Katie and Jessica
run Sweet Cheeks Winery. The winery expanded and opened a second tasting room,
Sweet Cheeks on 5th, in downtown Eugene at the Fifth Street Public Market. We focus
primarily on our DTC channel, but we do distribute in Oregon and parts of Washington,
Lousiana and Florida.

Jonathan Scott Oberlander, owner and winemaker of J. Scott Cellars, is the epitome of the new generation of Oregon winemakers who utilize a combination of Old World winemaking traditions with New World technology and innovation.

Jonathan received a Master’s in Enology from UC Davis (California) and worked as Associate Winemaker for Bernadus Vineyards and Winery in Monterrey. In 2003 he was offered the position of Assistant Winemaker at Silvan Ridge in Eugene, Oregon, it seemed an opportunity he could not pass up! Jonathan and his wife, Bonnie, sold their home in California and very quickly, the family (including two young daughters) was on its way to Oregon. In 2005, Jonathan was promoted to head the Silvan Ridge winemaking team.

While at Silvan Ridge, in 2005, Jonathan established his own brand, J. Scott Cellars. The first eight years, J. Scott Cellars wine was made at Silvan Ridge as a “custom crush” client. In 2013, we moved into what is the current winery/tasting room space in west Eugene and J. Scott Cellars became Jonathan’s sole winemaking focus. The J. Scott Cellars brand features an extensive menu of extraordinary tasting wines of the Pacific Northwest, with 18 current and past vintages receiving the coveted 90 Pts and above from national publication, “Wine Enthusiast”!

Because we are an urban winery and have no vineyard, we are able to contract with farmers around the state (and in Washington) to purchase grapes that meet Jonathan’s high standards, this means we are not restricted to what grows only in the southern Willamette Valley. For example, we source grapes from the warmer, drier Rogue Valley along the California/Oregon border or head up to Walla Walla in Washington for Bordeaux varietals.

Now, in an exciting addition to the brand, a second tasting room will be opening in January of 2020 at 207 E. 5th Ave., Suite 105, in downtown Eugene’s bustling 5th St. Market District. The new J. Scott Cellars on 5th will provide full wine service, retail bottle and wine related merchandise sales plus a small menu of plates focused on wine friendly, quality foods. The current Tasting Room located within the working winery is only able to open to the public Friday evenings and Saturdays, as well as closing in early fall during grape harvest and crush season. This additional location on 5th Street will allow guests to enjoy J. Scott Cellars wine seven days a week, all year long. The original Winery Tasting Room location on Commercial St. will continue with its current Friday and Saturday hours in the WestSide Warehouse District.

The family’s motto of Geology, Origins, and Territory are best exemplified in the passion indeared on all the estate wines. The geology is principal, not only since that was Michael’s background, but it is the sole composition of the building blocks that make the vineyard and varietals excel in the estate. The origins revolves around not just the legacy created by the Larner family, but also reminiscent of the origins of the award wining fruit that has set the vineyard apart as a “Californian Grand Cru”, stated by Robert Parker, Jr., that ultimately leads to world-class wines. Lastly, the territory, which must be perfectly suited to allow the cultivated varietals to express their true characteristics, where year after year the gapes and their wines consistently produce optimal aromas and flavors – eventually entering the vintage bottled time-capsuled.

To best appreciate the wines made by The Hilt Estate, ideally one would visit the dramatic and even extreme vineyards where the grapes are farmed. Just as all great wines tell the story of their place of origin, The Hilt’s pinot noirs and chardonnays are the bold expressions of the unique estate in the highly regarded viticultural area known as the Sta. Rita Hills. By employing innovative viticultural practices, selecting clones strategically, and making the most of the coastal influence, winds, and soils, Winemaker Matt Dees is pushing the vineyards to the hilt of their potential and creating wines that are lively, fresh, and well structured.
In the summer of 2014, The Hilt acquired the historic 3,600-acre Rancho Salsipuedes, setting the stage for the ultimate home of The Hilt Estate. Located in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA in northwestern Santa Barbara County, California, the property is home to two distinct vineyards, Radian and Bentrock, on the original Rancho Salsipuedes, once known as Rancho Cañada de Salsipuedes. In Spanish, “cañada” means “canyon.” “Salsipuedes” (pronounced sahl-see-PWAY-days) means “get out if you can.” The warning refers to the narrow canyons that Salsipuedes Creek travels through on its way to the ocean.
The Hilt Estate is an untamed landscape of steep hills, windswept ridges, and fog-blanketed canyons. The Estate’s north facing vineyards command the lower left quadrant of the Sta. Rita Hills, closest to the Pacific Ocean. Here, exposed to the Pacific Ocean’s rough winds and cool maritime influence, The Hilt’s chilly, sun-drenched vineyards present a grape grower with some of the worst possible conditions for farming. For Winemaker Matt Dees, however, the opportunities and sense of discovery presented by The Hilt Estate make them the most exciting vineyards one could imagine.

Oceano Wines is a joint venture between Rachel Martin and Kurt Deutsch. Rachel has been growing grapes and producing wine for over 15 years at her family's winery and vineyard, Boxwood Estate Winery, in Middleburg, Virginia. Kurt is a Grammy-award-winning music, theatre and film producer, now working as a senior vice president for Warner Music Group. The two randomly met at the Middleburg Film Festival in October, 2014. They happened to be seated across from each other at a dinner prior to the screening of Kurt's feature film, "The Last Five Years.” From this chance meeting came a romantic relationship.
Oceano Wines is distinguished by its unique location -- closer to the ocean than any other vineyard in the state of California -- its Sustainable in Practice certification, its uncompromising commitment to quality, and its approach to winemaking as "sculpting" rather than the traditional "painting."

Since Oceano’s first release in 2018, they have attained distribution in New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Delaware and California. In 2020 the goal is to increase their wholesale footprint and open a larger tasting room in San Luis Obispo. They plan to produce an Albarino in 2020.

The story of Ehlers Estate is one of passion, patience, and hard work, intertwined like the tendrils of robust vines that have been part of the landscape here since the mid-1800s.

It was the lure of winemaking that tempted Bernard Ehlers to buy a small, dying vineyard in the late 1800s and embark on a quest to create the winery that continues to bear his name. He replanted his newly-acquired 10-acre vineyard, established the olive grove that still thrives today and in 1886 completed construction of the stone barn that is now our beautiful winery building. His original Bale Mill Winery continued to operate long after his death, run by his wife until the 1920s and then by successive new owners who took advantage of its prime location and unique terroir.
A century later, another husband and wife team discovered the lure of this idyllic spot in the heart of the Napa Valley. French entrepreneurs and philanthropists Jean and Sylviane Leducq saw the potential for this region to produce wines with the power, balance and structure of the finest Bordeaux bottlings they knew and loved. Over several decades they patiently built a contiguous wine estate – common for French chateaux but increasingly rare in California.

With the help of renowned enologist, Jacques Boissenot, they gradually acquired individual local vineyards as they came up for sale and replanted with the most suitable clones and rootstock. By the turn of the century they had created the 42-acre estate we farm today, with Bernard Ehlers’ original stone barn and vineyard at its heart and the Ehlers name once again poised to grace wine labels. The 21st century began with the release of the very first vintage from the Leducqs' new Ehlers Estate.

Donum has four estate vineyards in Carneros, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. We farm organically and biodynamically, and make our wines at our wines at our estate winery in Carneros with native fermentation and minimal intervention. Donum is also home to a world class sculpture collection, featuring large-scale works by artists such as Ai Wei Wei, Louise Bourgeois, Keith Haring, Anselm Kiefer, and many others.

We are a small, boutique Sonoma winery producing Syrah, Grenache, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Roussanne and Viognier. We have elected to prize quality over all other factors. Simply put, we think wine should taste great — with every vintage and every grape, this is our ultimate priority and our greatest motivation.

We believe that the best wines are not made but discovered. We take pride in harnessing the greatest qualities and natural variations in a vineyard and a variety. We make wine with patience, embracing the mystery of what nature gives us.

Folded Hills is a sustainable working ranch, vineyards, tasting room and Farmstead shop. There are 15 acres under grape and an additional 18 acres of organic row crop and orchards. Folded Hills farms organically following the biodynamic calendar. We use sustainable practices in the vineyard including sheep grazing the vineyard cover. Folded Hills is home to many animals including cattle, Kunekune pigs, llamas, donkeys, peacocks, chickens, and even Clydesdales, a camel and a zebra. Folded Hills has two tasting rooms. The Estate Tasting Room at the Homestead on the vineyard property and the first ever tasting room in Montecito in the lower village. Folded Hills creates bespoke experiences for guests wanting a more in depth introduction.