Get Inked!
Some of the prettiest little wines coming out of Oregon right now
Come Meet Jarad Hadi of Grape Ink!
The Poet-Farmer-Winemaker Star of Oregon's Winemaking Scene is in the Lot, Spinning Tales... and East Bay DJ (and VB Wine Club Member) Erik Danielson in the Lot, Spinning Tunes!
This Wed, 6/22 at Elmwood!
6 - 7:30 PM.
Reserve Your Spot Here!
How many vignerons enter the world of winemaking... via poetry? Come meet one of the unlikeliest new producers in the world of domestic natural wine... and one of the most exciting!
Poet and polymath Jarad Hadi now has an extensive wine background; but his first wine gig was taken at age 21 when he went to Argentina to celebrate the publication of a book of his poetry... and realized he might need another job besides poet-in-translation if he wanted to make his way back north!
Hadi accepted a cellar job at a winery there for a daily ration of empanadas and a small stipend... and the hook was set! He would subsequently train at some of the top estates in Napa and Bordeaux (including the famed Pauillac estate, Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande), and eventually earn his Master's degree in viticulture & enology in Bordeaux.
Despite his formal education there, though, in France he came to understand that great wine is made “with intuition and intent rather than refractometers, brix and malic acid levels; that rules are made to be interpreted rather than categorically followed; that each year should present its own story; that soil is more important than grapes and soul is more important than technique.”
The poet-farmer-maker eventually settled in the northernmost tip of the Willamette Valley after buying a farm in North Plains. He owns a wild 26-acre property there, with only 5 planted to vineyard; the rest is wild forest, meadows and gardens. His vineyard management team includes chickens, pigs, and alpacas!
All his wines are sourced from organically and/or biodynamically farmed vineyards, Come taste his volcanic soil-driven "Canvas of the Valley" Pinot Noir rosé (pictured above, with canvas labels painted by his Italian winemaking wife), as well as his Chardonnay, his Pinot Noir, and his much-in-demand co-fermented blends of red and white grapes, the "Nebbioso" and "En Plein Air."
DJ Erik Danielson is in the mix
Come taste them all! Join us safely outdoors behind the College Avenue shop: 5 wines, a poet-farmer-winemaker and a DJ set besides!