Signal Strength

Jefferson Public Radio Wine Tasting tunes the Rogue Valley

By Paula Bandy

Each February, while mist drapes the hills and frost adorns the vines, Jefferson Public Radio’s annual wine tasting fills the Ashland Hills Hotel ballroom. The event hums like a well-tuned frequency with warmth, laughter and the unmistakable notes of Southern Oregon wine. Stemware clinks, volunteers in JPR badges weave through clusters of guests and the air is brimming with a layered broadcast of aromas– dark cherry and sagebrush, citrus blossom, truffle salt, wood-fired flatbread.

What started as a small public radio fundraiser has evolved into a marquee winter tradition, celebrated as an annual gathering of community, culture and regional bounty.

The long-running event began in 1982, more than a decade after Jefferson Public Radio, or JPR, launched in 1969 as KSOR, a 10-watt student-run station. Today, the JPR network, a National Public Radio affiliate, spans 60,000 square miles of Southern Oregon and Northern California, reaching more than one million potential listeners.

Before Southern Oregon wine made headlines, the region's vintners found champions on the airwaves. The tasting originated as a creative solution to a common public radio challenge: how to financially sustain an ambitious, rural-serving station without compromising its mission. A small circle of believers– including development director Gina Ing and wine impresario Lorn Razzano– imagined an evening of listeners, vintners and community leaders together in one convivial room, glasses in hand, with pledge cards nearby.

Four decades later, with federal funding for public radio eliminated, it has matured into a polished, often sold-out affair that reflects the region’s own evolution. What started modestly is now a showcase of wineries, restaurants, artisans and nonprofit partners, blended into an unapologetically festive atmosphere that still feels deeply local. Ashland Food Co-op remains a key sponsor.

Vineyards with a Signal

A walk around the room is a crash course in Oregon’s viticultural range.

This year’s tasting features nearly 30 local wineries, and each pour tells a story of soil, sunlight and dedication. Each ticket sold helps support independent voices on the air.

At the Abacela table, guests swirl Iberian varieties– these plantings helped the region understand what thrives in Southern Oregon’s warm, wind-blown hillsides. Tempranillo offers savory plum and tobacco; Albariño flickers with saline citrus. The wines echo JPR’s footprint: grounded, exploratory, confidently original.

Long Walk Vineyard pours contemplative, small-lot wines that reward the kind of attention public radio was built for. The reds feel like slow journalism– layered, patient, revealing more with each pass.

Valley View Winery, one of the Applegate Valley’s heritage names, connects guests to the area’s early pioneers, when planting Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot felt audacious. The winery’s presence at the tasting demonstrates how this fundraiser has grown alongside the region’s winemaking maturity– each vintage and pledge drive reinforcing the other.

Peter William Vineyard offers modern precision with site-driven wines, clean lines and clarity in the glass that rises above the joyful noise. These Rogue Valley wines represent a natural fit for a station obsessed with clearness on the dial.

Around them, a constellation of producers– Applegate stalwarts, Rogue Valley innovators and Umpqua originals– each pouring a unique version of Oregon.

More Than a Glass

Though the wines draw enthusiasts, the evening’s soul belongs to its mash-up of neighbors: teachers and techs, vintners and volunteers, arts administrators, retirees, students and long-time listeners, many greeting on-air hosts like extended family.

Food artisans reveal their own regional stories– local cheeses, seasonal small plates, wood-fired bites and confections infused with local fruit. And the Peerless oysters that disappear as quickly as they’re shucked. Arts organizations and cultural partners– from theater troupes to festivals– join the mix, turning the tasting into a vibrant cross-section of Southern Oregon culture.

In this era of fractured attention, an in-person fundraiser where people linger, listen and look one another in the eye feels almost radical. The JPR Wine Tasting is analog by design: you buy a ticket, shake hands with the people whose voices accompany your commute, discover a new winery, run into a neighbor pouring Chardonnay. The exchange is straightforward and profoundly human.

This year, with federal funding cuts reshaping the fiscal landscape for public radio, the sense of reciprocity feels especially vital. Ticket sales and auction proceeds help power independent news, music, and cultural storytelling across JPR’s vast region. In turn, that service amplifies the very communities and producers showcased in the room. The wines support the signal; the signal tells the story of the wines.

Paul Westhelle, executive director of JPR, reflects: “JPR’s service to Southern Oregon is rooted in the relationships we have with our listeners who support our mission year after year. The JPR Wine Tasting brings us together to strengthen those relationships and connect with our audience in person and in our community. With federal funding gone, the human connections that sustain our work are absolutely essential to our success serving the region.”

For Southern Oregon, this symbiosis is more than symbolic. It is the mechanism by which a once-modest winter fundraiser became a tradition that feels both celebratory and necessary–evidence a community can foster ambitious ideas, from vineyards to journalism, when everyone is invited to the table– glass in hand.
Longtime participant Weisinger Family Winery underscores this shared purpose. “As a winemaker, supporting JPR– and public radio more broadly– is essential.

Events like this let us contribute directly to an institution that informs and connects our region,” shares winemaker Eric Weisinger. “With recent funding cuts, that support matters more than ever. I also appreciate how this tasting has grown into a true community gathering. It’s a chance for us to share the wines of Southern Oregon, celebrate our craft, and stand together in support of the public radio serving us all.”

The JPR Wine Tasting stands as both fundraiser and love letter to radio, resilience and a taste of place. Event proceeds fund programming so both rural and urban listeners stay connected across seasons, mountains and miles. It ensures the signal endures– steady, clear, and unmistakably local.

Jefferson Public Radio Annual Wine Tasting 
Friday, February 6, 6-9 p.m.
Ashland Hills Hotel, 2525 Ashland St., Ashland
www.ijpr.org/jpr-wine-tasting 
Tickets: $85

Paula Bandy and her dachshund, Copperiño, are often seen at Rogue Valley’s finest wineries, working to solve the world’s problems. She has covered wine, lifestyle, food and home in numerous publications and academic work in national and international journals. For a decade, she was an essayist/on-air commentator and writer for Jefferson Public Radio, Southern Oregon University’s NPR affiliate. Most recently, she penned The Wine Stream, a bi-weekly wine column for the Rogue Valley Times. Paula believes wine, like beauty, can save the world. She’s also a Certified Sherry Wine Specialist and currently sits on the Board for Rogue Valley Vintners. @_paulabandy