Brad’s first harvest was in 1986, when he worked in the important roles of tractor driver and bucket collector. He took a short break after high school to work as a bartender, carpenter, grant writer, and English instructor. He then returned to wine, taking classes with Barney Watson, Al MacDonald, and Professor Wamser at Chemeketa and PSU.

Brad worked with Earl VanVolkinburg, Joe Dobbes, and Russ Raney, who taught him the practical aspects of the craft and about their love of the produc t. He also owes a debt to Peter Julian of Nuit-St. Georges, Burgundy, who invited him to attend tastings from Chablis down to Mercurey, hitting all the major towns in between. His experiences there taught him that winemakers can craft incredible wine without huge operations, but not without close attention to the vineyard and vinification.

“My favorite wineis definitely a pinot noir. Thanks to Russ Raney, I learned about Henri Jayer and his nephew, Emmanuel Rouget. Rouget’s small but impeccable production area in his house impressed me a lot, but not as much as it did once I had tasted his 2005 Cros Parantoux. I had never had a wine that was so light and unimposing at first and clearly not heavily extracted, yet which came across with a more complex aroma. It had no jam, no chocolate, no vanilla, but tobacco crushed between the fingers, rose-petal potpourri, and raspberry lemonade concentrate. Well, at any rate, it was poetic and memorable.”