Governor appoints 2 directors to Oregon Wine Board

The Oregon Wine Board announced Wednesday that Gov. John Kitzhaber has appointed Steve Thomson of King Estate Winery and Juan Pablo Valot of Silvan Ridge Winery as directors.

News of the two Eugene-area appointments was joined by the reappointment Leigh Bartholomew of Archery Summit in Dundee and Michael Donovan of RoxyAnn Winery in Medford.

Archery Summit’s Bartholomew to chair Oregon Wine Board

The Oregon Wine Board elected Bartholomew as chairwoman, while Donovan becomes chairman emeritus. Bartholomew, who also owns Dominio IV in McMinnville and the biodynamic Three Sleeps Vineyard in Mosier, term expires Dec. 31, 2015. Her term as vice chair expired Dec. 31, 2012.

Bill Sweat of Winderlea Vineyard & Winery of Dundee was elected vice chairman. Ellen Brittan of Brittan Vineyards in McMinnville was named treasurer for the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Thomson is executive vice president of King Estate, the state’s largest winery and the country’s largest producer of Pinot Gris. He also is a partner in Octave Vineyard in Walla Walla, Wash.
Valot arrived in Oregon in 2001 from Argentina. He has been been at Silvan Ridge for the past seven years. Last year, he was promoted to winemaker.

Other directors include Sam Tannahill of A to Z Wineworks in Dundee and David P. Beck,
Crawford Beck Vineyard in Amity, whose terms expire Dec. 31, and Doug Tunnell of Brick House Vineyards in Newberg, whose term expires in 2015.

Proprietors of two Southern Oregon wineries — Terry Brandborg of Brandborg Vineyard & Winery in Elkton and Kara Olmo of Wooldridge Creek Vineyard & Winery in Grants Pass — saw their terms end.

The Oregon Wine Board is a semi-independent state agency that manages marketing,
research and education that support and advance the wine industry, which generates more than $2.7 billion in economic activity to the state economy each year, including more than 13,500 wine-related jobs and $382 million in wages.