Honoring Heritage

Hispanic producers to celebrate culture

By OWP STAFF

Ximena Orrego has been busy, preparing for both harvest and organizing the area’s first-ever Hispanic Heritage Month wine celebration: Celebrating Hispanic Roots: Raíces Unidas, Sept.15–Oct.15.

“I really wanted to celebrate the diversity of our cultures and backgrounds, and share our personal stories,” said Orrego, owner and winemaker of Atticus Wine in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. “I was surprised that there was really nothing like this that spanned the entirety of the Hispanic region — from Mexico down to South America, the Caribbean and Spain.”

Working with other Latinx winery owners/winemakers in the Willamette Valley, Orrego explains the collaboration as “a small group of Oregon wineries honoring the roots that bring us together and move us forward.”

By celebrating their cultures — Peruvian, Argentine, Mexican and others — the wineries will be raising funds for the locally disadvantaged Spanish-speaking community through the Oregon Community Foundation’s Latino Partnership Program. Participating wineries will offer a special wine or wine selection to commemorate the event; 10% of sales will be donated to the OCF nonprofit.

The celebration starts Sept. 15 in the afternoon, with a virtual presentation and discussion. Each winery will tells its story through two panels: one in Spanish led by Roxy De La Torre, an award-winning bilingual reporter, producer and founder of Somos Media; the other in English and led by wine writer Katherine Cole of “The Four Top” podcast.

Participating wineries include: Atticus Wine; Beacon Hill Winery (Carla Rodríguez), Cramoisi Vineyard (Sofia Torres McKay); Gonzalez Wine Company (Cristina Gonzales); Parra Wine Co. (Sam Parra); and Valcan Cellars (JP Valot).

Follow the month-long celebration on Instagram: @celebratinghispanicroots.