PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – It is peak harvest season for vineyards in the Willamette Valley but the wine industry is facing many challenges this year, including wine sales being down across the board. Now, some wineries are making adjustments.
According to the Oregon Wine Board, vineyards planted more than 2,000 more acres of grapes than they did in the previous year. But they also pointed out wine sales have consistently gone down since 2019. Now wineries have had to get creative on how they make money.
“It’s hard,” Kim Kolb the director of operations at Oak Knoll Winery said, “it’s really hard to try and get people to come out, I mean there were only two people who have been in here today.”
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While some days have been slower than others at the Oak Knoll Winery in Hillsboro, Kolb says they have started taking different approaches in attracting folks to their tasting room.
“We do a lot of things here at the winery, we do events, we are doing anything we can to bring people in the door and do wine sales,” Kolb said.
Oak Knoll is one of Oregon’s oldest wineries, opening back in 1970. Kolb said over the years the way people enjoy wine has changed and they are trying to keep up.
“When we do events we sell out, when we do concerts we sell out, we do bingo and wine, we sell out, so people are coming to the events. It’s more the wine tastings they are not doing anymore. They are just looking for something fun to do,” Kolb said.
Even by adding concerts and bingo nights to bring in more customers, they have had to make some major cuts in production.
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“This year we cut our pinot gris, we’ve cut our Niagara production, we are looking to continue to cut that we have cut production way back,” Kolb explained, “That Niagara production is going to have to go down because we are not selling 34,000 cases a year now we are down to like 10,000.”
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Kolb says their whole sale is what has gone down the most and that could be due to the market being over-saturated.
“It’s hard to get the wine in the market because there are so many wineries out there, so everyone is feeling it. So wine sales are not as good anymore so we try to get people out here and even that is a little bit down as well so we would like to see more.” Kolb said.
Just 20 years ago there were only 215 wineries in the state, now there are more than 1,200. So now with lower sales and tasting rooms not being as busy, Kolb has also had to cut back on staff.
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“During summer we usually have 2 or 3 people working the tasting room. But, we have been doing one person and a half shift this summer.” Kolb said. “I think all tasting rooms are feeling it, they are just not busy like they used to be which is hurting.”
It was a long and drawn-out transfer portal process for former Colorado Buffaloes OT Jordan Seaton, but after the extended recruitment, the No. 1-rated pass-blocker has finally made his decision.
On Friday night, Seaton announced his transfer to the LSU Tigers, choosing them over the Oregon Ducks.
Seaton will be a huge pick up for LSU, acting as the third top-5 ranked transfer that Lane Kiffin has landed since taking over in Baton Rouge.
The Ducks were among the leaders to land Seaton out of the portal, but ultimately, he chose to go elsewhere. After the 2025 season, Oregon will have to replace both offensive tackles, with Isaiah World and Alex Harkey out of eligibility. They are expected to call on the likes of Fox Crader and Gernorris Wilson at the positions, though they also added Yale transfer Michael Bennett via the transfer portal.
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After spending the weekend in Baton Rouge with Lane Kiffin, Seaton cancelled his reported visit to Eugene, with Dan Lanning and A’lique Terry flying out to Atlanta to see him for an in-home visit. There was some buzz that this could have swung the recruitment, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to land Seaton.
Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.
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A major winter storm has been forecast to spread heavy snow and ice across much of the United States. And while the storm won’t reach Oregon, the Beaver State is in for some of the coldest weather of the season.
The National Weather Service forecasts cold weather and potential cold weather advisories beginning Jan. 23 and lasting through Jan. 27, with widespread morning low temperatures near to below freezing.
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The Salem area is under a cold weather advisory until Jan. 24 at noon. The region saw overnight lows that felt like 20 degrees at times due to wind chill earlier in the week.
But don’t count on snow in Marion and Polk counties any time soon. That’s because Oregon is in the midst of an unusually dry winter. Even though it’s cold enough to snow, it’s been nearly two weeks since the region has seen measurable rainfall.
It’ll likely remain dry for the next few days.
Still, there is an 80-95% chance for cold weather advisory conditions west of the Cascades, excluding the coast, and a 60-80% chance within the Greater Portland-Metro area, the weather service said in a release.
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These conditions could see apparent temperatures at or below 25 degrees for four or more hours between Friday, Jan. 23, and Saturday, Jan. 24.
Areas of the Willamette Valley, Cowlitz and Columbia Valleys, and the Portland/Vancouver metros have a 20-40% chance of a Cold Weather advisory between the evening of Jan. 24 and the morning of Jan. 25.
Oregon could also experience “cold pockets” with temperatures at or below 25°F for up to three hours overnight and into the morning hours of Sunday, Jan. 25.
The weather service warned that the houseless could be impacted the most if they are unable to get to adequate heating. Frostbite and hypothermia are also dangers to pets and people not dressed appropriately for the cold weather.
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For updated weather alerts, Oregonians can visit the weather service website at www.weather.gov.
Ginnie Sandoval is the Oregon Connect reporter for the Statesman Journal. Sandoval can be reached at GSandoval@statesmanjournal.com or on X at @GinnieSandoval.
On Thursday at 11:26 p.m. the National Weather Service issued a special weather statement until Friday at 6 a.m. for Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon and Foothills of the Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon.
“Patches of freezing drizzle are moving through the area, with temperatures currently hovering between 20 and 30 degrees. As a result, light ice accumulation is causing a thin glaze of ice on roadways, particularly on bridges, overpasses, and lightly used corridors. Conditions are expected to persist until 6 a.m. Use caution if traveling,” says the weather service.
