Was there a specific wine, moment or place that unlocked your passion?
Jesse Lange: I can’t say there was one specific moment. From a very young age, I was always fascinated that wine combines many of the elements that I find alluring: Agriculture, Science, Art, Philosophy, and don’t forget sweat, tears and elbow grease.
What did you study in school and what were you doing before you started in the wine industry?
JL: My formal, scholastic training for wine was in New Zealand in 1999 at Lincoln University, through a scholarship from my alma-mater, Oregon State. (Go Beavs!!) Prior to that, I was working at Santa Barbara Winery, under Bruce McGuire and Greg Brewer, in 1996 and 1997 as a cellar rat.
Before that, I had worked on the farm hoeing/weeding/some tractor work/fence installation/etc. And helping out my folks in the cellar whenever possible.
How has being in the wine industry changed you?
JL: It’s definitely aged me faster than I might have imagined! I think the myriad of differing elements that are required to bring a grape to the marketplace has required me to build skills and experience across disciplines. It’s certainly required me to be more dynamic.
What’s your favorite part of being in the wine industry?
JL: The way in which wine brings good people together around the table to share. There is a deep, communal aspect to sharing wine– it’s wines highest purpose.
My favorite part of “my” (i.e. Willamette Valley) wine industry, is the way in which we’ve always collaborated to raise the banner of our region rather than our individual brands. That ethic was impressed upon me at an early age and I’m privileged enough to pay those respects forward in a meaningful way. I feel a deep and abiding responsibility to craft wines of varietal and regional typicity that also observe a steadfast dedication to quality.
Looking back, was there something in your past that led you to wine?
JL: It was, to some degree, always in my blood. Sometimes figuratively, often times, quite literally!
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