PHOTO CREDIT EVAN SUNG
"Mr. Lightner never loses sight of deliciousness while pursuing a vision that melds ecology, philosophy and history with culinary sciences. It’s valuable to understand the role morels play in traditional Indigenous forestry, but when paired with caviar and a richly laminated housemade brioche, they take on a significance almost beyond words."
See the list at The New York Times
IMAGE COURTESY OF SUSAN SEUBERT (left) + ROBERT AUGHENBAUGH (right)
A celebration of ōkta 1 year after the restaurant opened. Karen Brooks champions Chef Matthew Lightner’s alchemy of food, wine curator Ron Acierto’s determination to find the unusual, farmer Saruh Wyens’ beautiful bounty, and head of service Christine Langelier’s impeccable attention to detail.
Read the article at Portland Monthly
PHOTO: CRAIG BARRITT / GETTY IMAGES; ALLEN BEREZOVSKY / WIREIMAGE; THEO WARGO / GETTY IMAGES
Food & Wine featured three NBA stars, including Channing Frye of Chosen Family Wines, who are using their success to build community within the wine industry.
Read the article online at foodandwine.com
The Setting Inn in Newberg, Willamette Valley
To find the “Top 5 Dreamy Destinations for Solo Travelers” journalist Jean Chen Smith used criteria such as safety, getting around, traveling light, things to do, and dining alone to evaluate the properties she visited. The Setting Inn in Newberg in the Willamette Valley scored highly for its small town charm, modern luxuries and picturesque views.
Read the article at SFGate.com
The launch of OPB: Superabundant explores the science and history behind delicious Oregon Strawberries, and highlights how Salt & Straw’s Co-Founder and Head Ice Cream Maker, Tyler Malek, uses the incomparable flavor of Oregon berries to make some of their most legendary flavors.
Watch the video above, or read the story at OPB.org.
Tiquette Bramlett is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.
Meet this year’s honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.
Read “‘It’s bigger than wine’ for USA TODAY’s Women of the Year honoree from Oregon” on the Statesman Journal.
TIME Magazine revealed the third annual list of the World’s Greatest Places, which highlights 50 extraordinary travel destinations around the world.
To compile this list, TIME solicited nominations of places—including countries, regions, cities and towns—from its international network of correspondents and contributors, with an eye toward those offering new and exciting experiences.
ōkta, Tributary and Corollary Wine were featured as one of the exciting new experiences in the Willamette Valley, which earned a spot on this year’s list.
Read “The World’s Greatest Places 2023” on Time.
“The weekend begins with a sumptuous tasting menu with produce from the nearby ōkta farm, then continues the next day with live-fire cooking by local Oregon chefs at the farm and tastings from nearby wineries and Oregon food artisans.”
Read “An Expert’s Guide to the World’s Best Food Festivals” on Departure.
“Indeed, if О̄kta is a sign of things to come, Willamette Valley will be a destination truly worthy of its wines.” - Tim Fish
Read “Cutting-Edge Cuisine Comes to Willamette Valley” on Wine Enthusiast.
“In honor of Black History Month, Black athletes in the wine space have joined together to support diversity and inclusion in the wine industry. Channing Frye and Chosen Family Wines invited fellow Black athletes to come together in support of The Roots Fund, a nonprofit that provides resources – including financial support, educational scholarships, wine education, mentorship, and job placement – to BIPOC scholars interested in the wine industry.”
Read “Black Athletes in Wine Team Up in Support of The Roots Funds” on Cuisine Noir.
“American sparkling wine is having a fabulous moment as more and more winemakers use their amazing fruit to craft méthode champenoise bubbly…
Corollary Cuvee One Rose, 2018: World-class sparkling is being made in Oregon and this expression is testimony to that.”
Read “Celebrate New Years Eve With The Best American Sparkling Wines” on Forbes.
“Former NBA champion and Chosen Family Wines partner, Channing Frye, hopes to change the perception around athletes and celebrities creating wine brands as mere vanity projects. He recognizes there’s important work to be done and is realizing those goals through wine.”
Read “All-Star Wines: The Growing Trend of NBA Stars’ Brands” on Wine Industry Advisor.
“An iconic Oregonian Pinot Noir if there was any — this cherry-hued wine is perfect for sweater weather. At Red Electric, they bottle the TGV only in exceptional years and the proof is in the tasting.”
Read “15 Quintessential PNW Wines for Cold-Weather Sipping” on SIP Magazine.
“Chosen Family Wines aims to connect people through some of the best wines imaginable and a promise that what you are drinking is cultivated with care.”
Read “NBA Great Channing Frye On Founding Chosen Family Wines & More” on Paltrocast.
“When we hear the term ‘white supremacy,’ we think of despicable scumbags in pointed white hoods. But white supremacist culture is lurking right under our noses in the wine world, insidious and omnipresent.”
Listen to Ep. 122 of The Four Top’s Wine Season Podcast, “Is Wine Culture White Supremacist? Er, um, yeah” featuring Tiquette Bramlett, as she talks about making change in the wine industry with Our Legacy Harvested.
“After working a few harvests, my parents and I got the crazy idea that we should start a winery,” Alex Fullerton explained. “And we have never looked back.”
Read “Promise Fulfilled: Fullerton Wines is building a family legacy bottle by bottle” on Oregon Wine Press.
“After being named president of Compris Vineyard in 2021, Tiquette Bramlett became the first Black woman winery executive in Oregon and since then has used her position to continue to advocate for equitable representation in the industry.”
Read “Wine Enthusiast’s 23rd Annual Wine Star Award Nominees” on Wine Enthusiast.
“In an industry heavily dominated by white males, 2022 IPNC Board Member Tiquette Bramlett is furthering the work to ensure that Black women are recognized.”
Read “Black Women Absolutely Shined at This Year’s International Pinot Noir Celebration” on Ebony Magazine.
“Set amid 45 acres of bucolic wine country and Pacific Northwest forest landscapes a few miles from town, Abbey Road Farm has several options for charming, rustic wedding venues to suit weddings of any size, from two to 200.”
Read “20 Rustic Yet Refined Wedding Venues to Book Across the US” on Brides Magazine.
“These sorts of restrictions put women’s health in jeopardy, for a lot of different reasons,” said Kim Malek, CEO of Salt & Straw Ice Cream. “So, we sort of leapt in the deep end, knowing that we would figure it out as we go along.”
Read “How two Oregon companies plan to help out-of-state employees access abortion” on OPB.