Show and Tell and Taste

By Hilary Berg

Remember picking out that treasured item for show-and-tell in grade school? Whether it was your dad’s baseball glove, a favorite doll or a photo of your grandma, you couldn’t wait for the day to come so you could share it with the class.

Skip ahead to college, and you know show-and-tell can only vastly improve. At Chemeketa’s Northwest Viticulture Center (NWVC) in Salem, not only is it better, it’s tastier and a real barrel of fun.

At the fifth annual NWVC Barrel Tasting & Open House, May 19, winemaking students will showcase their hard work for the public to sample. Let’s call it a show-and-taste.

According to Craig Anderson, director of Chemeketa’s agriculture programs, it’s a great way for students to interact with industry people. Plus, students get feedback from local winemakers and enthusiasts on the wine they’ve made.

Alongside the students, graduates will also pour their latest vintages made at their current employers across the state—some will sample their own labels. With a mix of the graduated and the green, the tasting has also become an alumni reunion/networking event, of sorts.

“The tasting gives the graduates a chance to come back, reconnect and get caught up,” Anderson said. “It is extremely valuable in showing what the program is accomplishing, in terms of training students as future employees of the industry.”

New to this year, the NWVC will honor Dick Erath and the Erath Family Foundation, and Dick and Betty O’Brien for their generous grants and endowments to the school.

Hors d’oeuvres will be served, and Chemeketa’s own wine label will be sampled and sold. For more information, call 503-399-7809 or visit www.chemeketa.edu/aboutus/locations/eola . ◊

Chemeketa Barrel Tasting/Open House

Location: Chemeketa Northwest Viticulture Center
Address: 215 Doaks Ferry Rd. N.W. • Salem
Date: Tuesday, May 19
Time: 4:30 to 7 p.m.
Information: 503-399-7809 • www.chemeketa.edu/aboutus/locations/eola