An Inspiring Women in Wine Conference

After having gone virtual during the pandemic, this action-packed get together returned to Northern Oregon. Last week 200 women gathered under beautiful skies at Willamette Valley Vineyards for a day of team building, inspirational speeches and a deep dive into what the future of the food and wine industry may hold during the Women in Wine in Oregon Conference.

Diversity in the work world as well as finding what inspires you were two oft-repeated themes of the conference. Marli Williams of Camp Yes, which hosts all-female adult camps, for self-reflection and inspiration, in both Oregon and Mexico, got the whole crowd up cheering and fist bumping. She followed with number of group exercises where you had to turn to a number of strangers and tell them one at a time what makes you awesome. Every time you have to give a different response and it is amazing what you can learn about yourself in two quick minutes.

Another speaker, Jeri Andrews the co-owner and founder of Xobc cellars, encouraged attendees to find their superpowers by listing at least two of them on a piece of paper. She then encouraged the audience to use them to their best advantage noting that by combining two of them “you can do almost anything.”

The Future of Food (and Wine)

The last panel of the day was perhaps the most interesting from an academic perspective. Speakers included a chef, a winemaker and a farmer who raises vegetables and animals, among others.

Chef Kari Kihara had moved from San Francisco to McMinnville, in the Willamette Valley, to take over the helm of the MacMarket restaurant. She adds that she “wanted to be neighbors and friends with our farmers.” She also wants to buy, and break down, whole animals in a culinary move that wastes less of the animal and introduces diners to a wider range of meat cuts.

However, she said that educating diners was a challenge and wondered why it was so difficult to teach people to eat locally raised food. She added that she pioneered the idea of only serving one type of animal at a time, in several dishes, until it was gone. The rest of the restaurant’s dishes are vegetarian.

Current menu choices include a grazing platter with rotating spreads, breads, fermented chips, olives and ferments; a dish of morels and spring onions with whipped and fried tofu, oyster mushrooms and sea beans; and little gem lettuce with a lemon-garlic vinaigrette.

Rachel Spiegelman of Drake Farm, moved from Los Angeles with her husband two years ago. “We were really excited about nature and community.” However, she expressed concerns that much of the language we use surrounding food means very little these days: including terms such as farm to table, sustainable and pasture raised.

She also focused on the importance of developing a shared economy among farmers, chefs and wine producers. She added that few small farmers could afford all the equipment needed so it behooves neighbors to share items when possible.

She concluded noting that labor is currently farmers’ biggest cost and “our laborers need to be paid more.” Farmer Spiegelman and chef Kihara’s points of view were fascinating. I only wished this panel had occupied a more prominent position in the lineup of speakers and could have perhaps had more winemakers take part in the discussion.