{"id":841,"date":"2016-02-28T18:16:33","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T00:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecorkscrewconcierge.com\/?p=841"},"modified":"2017-07-03T16:57:41","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T21:57:41","slug":"celebrating-black-winemakers-and-winery-owners-abbey-creek-vineyard-winery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecorkscrewconcierge.com\/2016\/02\/celebrating-black-winemakers-and-winery-owners-abbey-creek-vineyard-winery\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Black Winemakers and Winery Owners \u2014 Abbey Creek Vineyard & Winery"},"content":{"rendered":"
Last but certainly not least in this year’s Black History Month focus on black winemakers and winery owners, is Abbey Creek<\/a> Vineyard & Winery in Oregon. The winery is located just west of downtown Portland in North Plains, OR, so it’s an easy drive if you’re visiting Portland – and even closer than the Willamette Valley. Owner and winemaker Bertony Faustin is the first black winemaker in Oregon and has become a major voice for other minorities in the wine industry. He is the mastermind behind the soon to be released documentary film Red, White, and Black which highlights what it’s like to be Black, Hispanic, Asian, LGBT, or any other minority in the historically white world of the wine industry.<\/p>\n Faustin, who is the heart and soul of Abbey Creek, is a First generation Haitian-American and former anesthesia technician. For decades, Faustin’s in-laws grew grapes on their land and sold them to others in the wine industry. It was Faustin who had the crazy idea to keep those grapes and start their own wine label. Their first wine was produced in 2008 and they have been going strong ever since. Faustin does everything from planting the vines, to harvesting the fruit, to making the wine, and everything in between. He’s there from dirt to glass! The vineyards of Abbey Creek consist of Pinot Noir (of course), Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Gew\u00fcrztraminer, Gamay Noir, and Albarino. The wines are sold on the winery’s website. And don’t be deterred if you don’t see your state listed when you try to purchase. Texas wasn’t listed when I tried to place my order. So I simply emailed them and they quickly responded and added Texas as a ship-to state. Lucky me!<\/p>\n Now on to the wines. So I took the day off to do this wine tasting. OK, I also needed a mental health day as my husband was traveling all week for work and I\u2019d been on morning and evening duty with Thing 1 and Thing 2 for days. Plus I\u2019m training for a wine run and really needed to get in a good run (more on that foolishness later). And I have to say that my intent was to JUST open the sparkling wine and use my new, handy Coravin<\/a> for the other bottles since I was home alone, but the best laid plans\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2014 Sparkling Pinot Gris<\/i><\/p>\n I was trying to recall if I\u2019d ever had a sparkling Pinot Gris and I can\u2019t remember one, but who knows.<\/p>\n