TWO DECADES WITH OUR MEMBERS
Fall 2026 Member Newsletter
Greetings, Bergström members!
Our membership program began in 2006, brought to life by an enthusiastic group of early collectors that has steadily gained momentum throughout the last 20 years. The importance of you, our members, in terms of direct impact on our efforts is crucial.
In the Willamette Valley today, Bergström Wines is among the few classic Family Estate Wineries; those who have planted, farmed, and stewarded vines for decades, who also ferment, produce, and bottle on site, with our own hospitality team sharing stories directly from the place we are fortunate to call home.
There is a lot of romance to all of that, of course, and yet it also means that when a tractor breaks and a plumbing system needs an overhaul, or if we lose a vintage to smoke, hail, or frost…it is all on us, and it is not very romantic at all.
The risk and reward of being an independent, family-owned and operated winery is why we are so proud to celebrate 20 years with our members. You are our investors. You are our foundation. You are our “raison d’être,” our reason for being.
Returning to romance for a moment… In this member release, you will find treasures that will not otherwise be available. We have allocated one bottle of Cuvée Caroline to each member (the last of this special, one-time bottling made to celebrate a quarter century of marriage). We have saved some of the beautiful bounty from 2019’s exceptional single vineyard sources to include in small quantities, and even a small library release of Homage, our superlative estate cuvée.
We would not be here without our members.* We hope you enjoy these wines with our deepest gratitude.
Happy harvest,
Josh and Caroline Bergström and the Bergström Wines team
*P.S. We have tucked a bit of extra savings into the Fall release to thank you for being part of our membership on its 20th anniversary.
OUR FALL MEMBERSHIP RELEASE FEATURES
The wines featured below represent our broader fall release; selections vary by membership level. Your member dashboard will reflect the wines selected for you.
We honor longstanding preferences you’ve shared with us, so before processing, your individual release may be tailored accordingly.
OUR FALL MEMBERSHIP RELEASE FEATURES
The wines featured below represent our broader fall release; selections vary by membership level. Your member dashboard will reflect the wines selected for you.
We honor longstanding preferences you’ve shared with us, so before processing, your individual release may be tailored accordingly.
2024 Cuvée Caroline Pinot Noir
This year, Caroline and I celebrate twenty-five years together. To mark this milestone, we are honored to release Cuvée Caroline, a one-time bottling dedicated to the woman who has been my partner in every sense of the word.
In the glass, the youthful bright cherry color with pink highlights give way to a Pinot Noir unlike any other that we have made at Bergström Wines, with a floral bouquet of red roses, lavender, cherry blossom, and peony.
Our two sons love the early summer strawberry salads that Caroline makes with mint and Grand Marnier orange liqueur which captures the essence of this wine’s beautiful red fruited perfume. I also find red cherries, black raspberries, logan and marionberries, and dark chocolate in the aromatic bouquet.
Cuvée Caroline is rich and textural with a very silky and generous mouthfeel that finishes minerality, framed with fine tannins from the volcanic soils beneath the Bergström Vineyard, where our story began, and the sandy marine soils of the La Spirale Vineyard where our story moves into the next chapter and future generations.
This structured but ethereal, delicate, and elegant wine promises great longevity in bottle and showcases the careful attention to the prettiness of infusion style winemaking, more akin to tea, rather than an extractive style of winemaking focusing more on muscle, brawn, and oaky prowess.
2024 Bergström Vineyard Pinot Noir
Bergström Vineyard is our original estate and the crown jewel of our vineyard portfolio, the place where the Bergström Wines story began. Releasing a new vintage from this special site is always a celebration, marking another chapter for a vineyard that has been at the heart of our family and our wines since 1999.
Gorgeous, vibrant color in shades of purple, magenta, and burgundy. Aromas of wood smoke, pine pitch and Douglas fir, roses, pomegranate, and currant, layered with savory garden herbs (bay leaf and French tarragon), alongside demiglace or bouillon and a saline edge. Ripe strawberry, dark raspberry, and Bing cherry carry through to a crisp, fresh, saline finish. With time, this will surely be a classic.
2024 Koosah Vineyard Pinot Noir
For the 2024 vintage, Koosah Vineyard makes a special guest appearance in our lineup by way of our friends at Résonance Wines.
Koosah Vineyard is one of the highest sites in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines are planted on steep eastern- and western-facing slopes in richly layered volcanic basalt and marine sedimentary soils dating back 15 million years.
Vibrant colors of magenta, purple, and red lead into strikingly bright aromas of rose, gooseberry, ruby red grapefruit, peppercorn, pine boughs, saline sea breeze, and salted red and dark fruits, very grapey and primary. The structure is tight and tannic, recalling oolong, black tea, or rooibos, with a medium-bodied palate that is unmistakably Pinot Noir in character, layered with spice, dark red fruits, and candied fruit notes.
2019 Homage Pinot Noir
Our Homage Pinot Noir is an assemblage of our finest barrels from each vintage, beginning in 2008. The Homage label is our heartfelt tribute to the friends and mentors, grape farmers and winemakers, both living and departed, who have helped Bergström Wines become what it is today.
Bright red-cherry in color, with an intoxicating perfume of fresh roses, dried flowers, cherry fruit, incense, mushrooms, loamy soil, and toasty French oak spices. Savory umami notes from whole-cluster fermentation, succulent natural acidity, and a delicate floral lift keep the wine light on its feet, while a serious red-fruit profile gives it depth and structure.
Seven years on, Homage is beginning to show exactly why this wine has always rewarded patience. The initially flinty, reductive character has receded, allowing its perfume of roses, incense, red cherry, and forest floor to emerge more freely, while the savory whole-cluster notes have woven beautifully into the fruit. The wine still has wonderful freshness and energy, but the pieces are now coming together in a way that recalls the evolution of the 2010 and 2013 vintages that inspired such confidence at release.
2015 Homage Pinot Noir
From a legendarily warm and dry vintage, our 2015 tribute to the collaborative spirit of the Oregon winemaking community is in a lovely place after its first six years in bottle. The nose is endlessly complex with secondary and tertiary aging aromas of fruit-filled pastries, cocoa nib, sassafras, cola, black raspberries, ripe Hood strawberries, dark cherries, white chocolate, vanilla bean, savory and sweet oregano, and thyme. Ripe fruit flavors tantalize the palate while a surprising amount of vibrant natural acidity keeps the structure youthfully tannic and juicy.
2019 Gregory Ranch Pinot Noir
Our swan-song vintage for the Gregory Ranch Pinot Noir is hands down our finest to date. A lovely dark ruby red color in the glass, this wine’s bouquet unfurls with loads of earthy, fruity, and floral dimensions.
Behaving more like a world-class Barolo terroir than one for Pinot Noir, this wine is densely structured with excellent and enticing loamy mushroom notes, black and red cane fruits, and a distinct floral lift that brings both charm and brood.
Seven years of age have rewarded this famously slow-to-unfold vineyard. The structure that once called for patience is beginning to relax, allowing Gregory Ranch’s earthy complexity, savory depth, dark fruit, and floral lift to come beautifully into focus. There is still plenty of life ahead, but this final vintage from the site is now entering a particularly compelling window to enjoy.
2014 Gregory Ranch
In warm years like 2014, the Gregory Ranch is one of our ripest and richest expressions because of the thin soils, very low natural yields, and steep eastern exposures. The 2014 Gregory Ranch Pinot Noir may be one of our best yet from this great property. This wine has a very dark ruby red color reminiscent of a black cherry. The aromas are a deep, dark, brooding perfume of black fruits, beef bouillon, spice cupboard, black licorice, savory herb garden, and tobacco leaf. This is a very concentrated young wine that has years of promise ahead of it. Rich flavors of black cherry and black raspberry coat the mouth. Silky smooth with fine-grained fruit and wood tannins that give this wine not only power, but grace as well.
2024 Sigrid Chardonnay
Brilliant gold in the glass, with subtle chlorophyll highlights. The nose is layered and quietly complex, revealing aromas of honeysuckle, almond blossom, beeswax, and Meyer lemon, accented by a delicate touch of sweet oak smoke and white pepper that lends depth, nuance, and intrigue.
On the palate, the wine shows precision and poise, with Sigrid’s trademark textural richness. A vibrant line of succulent acidity carries the wine with energy and tension, weaving seamlessly through a generous yet finely etched core of citrus and orchard fruits. The balance is expressively elegant, never overtly weighty, with the wine’s precision, purity, and mineral expression remaining at the forefront.
2019 Sigrid Chardonnay
Lovely youthful white-gold color with a chlorophyll hue, always a sign we love to see in our style of wines that are meant to age for 10+ years. On the nose, aromas of cave-aged cheese or Gruyère, oyster shell, salty ocean spray, grapefruit pith, and Meyer lemon sit alongside bright honeysuckle flower and jasmine, with notes of sugar cookie and pastry crust. On the palate, the wine is bright, with some flint and lots of succulence. Some wood shows and opens with air, revealing saffron and brined citrus fruits.
2024 Bergström Vineyard Chardonnay
Always the iron fist in a velvet glove, the Bergström Vineyard delivers a masterclass in powerful elegance.
Brilliant white gold in the glass, the 2024 Bergström Vineyard Chardonnay opens with a refined and complex aromatic profile of roasted hazelnut, wood smoke, struck flint, orchard fruits, green apple, Bosc pear, meadowfoam, yellow rose, hawthorn blossom, and toasted almond. Subtle hints of sweet, toasted oak and a delicate touch of mineral reduction add further layers of intrigue.
On the palate, the wine is taut and poised, with the structure and balance to age beautifully for years to come.
2024 Silice Chardonnay
Brilliant gold in the glass with a protective, chlorophyll-tinged edge, the 2024 Silice Chardonnay shines in a panoply of ways and stands as a candidate for white wine of the vintage among our cellar team.
The nose is explosively vibrant and layered, revealing notes of seashell, citrus fruits, verbena, and lemon meringue or key lime pastry, complemented by a subtle exotic lift of green papaya alongside delicate white rose, chamomile, and a flinty, stony quality.
On the palate, the wine delivers extraordinary saline freshness that immediately evokes its terroir, with impressive tension and succulent juiciness. The fruit and floral profile remains precise and energetic, and the finish is remarkably long. Substantially expressive yet poignantly elegant, this is a white wine that will deliver enormous pleasure now and reward careful cellaring over the long term.
2024 Cuvée Caroline Pinot Noir
This year, Caroline and I celebrate twenty-five years together. To mark this milestone, we are honored to release Cuvée Caroline, a one-time bottling dedicated to the woman who has been my partner in every sense of the word.
In the glass, the youthful bright cherry color with pink highlights give way to a Pinot Noir unlike any other that we have made at Bergström Wines, with a floral bouquet of red roses, lavender, cherry blossom, and peony.
Our two sons love the early summer strawberry salads that Caroline makes with mint and Grand Marnier orange liqueur which captures the essence of this wine’s beautiful red fruited perfume. I also find red cherries, black raspberries, logan and marionberries, and dark chocolate in the aromatic bouquet.
Cuvée Caroline is rich and textural with a very silky and generous mouthfeel that finishes minerality, framed with fine tannins from the volcanic soils beneath the Bergström Vineyard, where our story began, and the sandy marine soils of the La Spirale Vineyard where our story moves into the next chapter and future generations.
This structured but ethereal, delicate, and elegant wine promises great longevity in bottle and showcases the careful attention to the prettiness of infusion style winemaking, more akin to tea, rather than an extractive style of winemaking focusing more on muscle, brawn, and oaky prowess.
2024 Bergström Vineyard Pinot Noir
Bergström Vineyard is our original estate and the crown jewel of our vineyard portfolio, the place where the Bergström Wines story began. Releasing a new vintage from this special site is always a celebration, marking another chapter for a vineyard that has been at the heart of our family and our wines since 1999.
Gorgeous, vibrant color in shades of purple, magenta, and burgundy. Aromas of wood smoke, pine pitch and Douglas fir, roses, pomegranate, and currant, layered with savory garden herbs (bay leaf and French tarragon), alongside demiglace or bouillon and a saline edge. Ripe strawberry, dark raspberry, and Bing cherry carry through to a crisp, fresh, saline finish. With time, this will surely be a classic.
2024 Koosah Vineyard Pinot Noir
For the 2024 vintage, Koosah Vineyard makes a special guest appearance in our lineup by way of our friends at Résonance Wines.
Koosah Vineyard is one of the highest sites in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines are planted on steep eastern- and western-facing slopes in richly layered volcanic basalt and marine sedimentary soils dating back 15 million years.
Vibrant colors of magenta, purple, and red lead into strikingly bright aromas of rose, gooseberry, ruby red grapefruit, peppercorn, pine boughs, saline sea breeze, and salted red and dark fruits, very grapey and primary. The structure is tight and tannic, recalling oolong, black tea, or rooibos, with a medium-bodied palate that is unmistakably Pinot Noir in character, layered with spice, dark red fruits, and candied fruit notes.
2019 Homage Pinot Noir
Our Homage Pinot Noir is an assemblage of our finest barrels from each vintage, beginning in 2008. The Homage label is our heartfelt tribute to the friends and mentors, grape farmers and winemakers, both living and departed, who have helped Bergström Wines become what it is today.
Bright red-cherry in color, with an intoxicating perfume of fresh roses, dried flowers, cherry fruit, incense, mushrooms, loamy soil, and toasty French oak spices. Savory umami notes from whole-cluster fermentation, succulent natural acidity, and a delicate floral lift keep the wine light on its feet, while a serious red-fruit profile gives it depth and structure.
Seven years on, Homage is beginning to show exactly why this wine has always rewarded patience. The initially flinty, reductive character has receded, allowing its perfume of roses, incense, red cherry, and forest floor to emerge more freely, while the savory whole-cluster notes have woven beautifully into the fruit. The wine still has wonderful freshness and energy, but the pieces are now coming together in a way that recalls the evolution of the 2010 and 2013 vintages that inspired such confidence at release.
2015 Homage Pinot Noir
From a legendarily warm and dry vintage, our 2015 tribute to the collaborative spirit of the Oregon winemaking community is in a lovely place after its first six years in bottle. The nose is endlessly complex with secondary and tertiary aging aromas of fruit-filled pastries, cocoa nib, sassafras, cola, black raspberries, ripe Hood strawberries, dark cherries, white chocolate, vanilla bean, savory and sweet oregano, and thyme. Ripe fruit flavors tantalize the palate while a surprising amount of vibrant natural acidity keeps the structure youthfully tannic and juicy.
2019 Gregory Ranch Pinot Noir
Our swan-song vintage for the Gregory Ranch Pinot Noir is hands down our finest to date. A lovely dark ruby red color in the glass, this wine’s bouquet unfurls with loads of earthy, fruity, and floral dimensions.
Behaving more like a world-class Barolo terroir than one for Pinot Noir, this wine is densely structured with excellent and enticing loamy mushroom notes, black and red cane fruits, and a distinct floral lift that brings both charm and brood.
Seven years of age have rewarded this famously slow-to-unfold vineyard. The structure that once called for patience is beginning to relax, allowing Gregory Ranch’s earthy complexity, savory depth, dark fruit, and floral lift to come beautifully into focus. There is still plenty of life ahead, but this final vintage from the site is now entering a particularly compelling window to enjoy.
2014 Gregory Ranch
In warm years like 2014, the Gregory Ranch is one of our ripest and richest expressions because of the thin soils, very low natural yields, and steep eastern exposures. The 2014 Gregory Ranch Pinot Noir may be one of our best yet from this great property. This wine has a very dark ruby red color reminiscent of a black cherry. The aromas are a deep, dark, brooding perfume of black fruits, beef bouillon, spice cupboard, black licorice, savory herb garden, and tobacco leaf. This is a very concentrated young wine that has years of promise ahead of it. Rich flavors of black cherry and black raspberry coat the mouth. Silky smooth with fine-grained fruit and wood tannins that give this wine not only power, but grace as well.
2024 Sigrid Chardonnay
Brilliant gold in the glass, with subtle chlorophyll highlights. The nose is layered and quietly complex, revealing aromas of honeysuckle, almond blossom, beeswax, and Meyer lemon, accented by a delicate touch of sweet oak smoke and white pepper that lends depth, nuance, and intrigue.
On the palate, the wine shows precision and poise, with Sigrid’s trademark textural richness. A vibrant line of succulent acidity carries the wine with energy and tension, weaving seamlessly through a generous yet finely etched core of citrus and orchard fruits. The balance is expressively elegant, never overtly weighty, with the wine’s precision, purity, and mineral expression remaining at the forefront.
2019 Sigrid Chardonnay
Lovely youthful white-gold color with a chlorophyll hue, always a sign we love to see in our style of wines that are meant to age for 10+ years. On the nose, aromas of cave-aged cheese or Gruyère, oyster shell, salty ocean spray, grapefruit pith, and Meyer lemon sit alongside bright honeysuckle flower and jasmine, with notes of sugar cookie and pastry crust. On the palate, the wine is bright, with some flint and lots of succulence. Some wood shows and opens with air, revealing saffron and brined citrus fruits.
2024 Bergström Vineyard Chardonnay
Always the iron fist in a velvet glove, the Bergström Vineyard delivers a masterclass in powerful elegance.
Brilliant white gold in the glass, the 2024 Bergström Vineyard Chardonnay opens with a refined and complex aromatic profile of roasted hazelnut, wood smoke, struck flint, orchard fruits, green apple, Bosc pear, meadowfoam, yellow rose, hawthorn blossom, and toasted almond. Subtle hints of sweet, toasted oak and a delicate touch of mineral reduction add further layers of intrigue.
On the palate, the wine is taut and poised, with the structure and balance to age beautifully for years to come.
2024 Silice Chardonnay
Brilliant gold in the glass with a protective, chlorophyll-tinged edge, the 2024 Silice Chardonnay shines in a panoply of ways and stands as a candidate for white wine of the vintage among our cellar team.
The nose is explosively vibrant and layered, revealing notes of seashell, citrus fruits, verbena, and lemon meringue or key lime pastry, complemented by a subtle exotic lift of green papaya alongside delicate white rose, chamomile, and a flinty, stony quality.
On the palate, the wine delivers extraordinary saline freshness that immediately evokes its terroir, with impressive tension and succulent juiciness. The fruit and floral profile remains precise and energetic, and the finish is remarkably long. Substantially expressive yet poignantly elegant, this is a white wine that will deliver enormous pleasure now and reward careful cellaring over the long term.
Log in to your member account to review and customize your fall release.
AROUND THE ESTATE
AROUND THE ESTATE
MEET SAM ECENIA
A Q&A with our new Assistant Winemaker
Sam joined Bergström in March 2026, bringing more than a decade of experience working with small, family-owned wineries focused on thoughtful farming and site-driven wines.
What does an Assistant Winemaker actually do?
One reason I gravitate toward this work is that it’s a constantly changing kaleidoscope of tasks and focus. At different times of year, I might be stirring fine quartz crystals for vineyard applications, tasting hundreds of barrels to determine finished blends, pretending I’m an electrician, or honing my prowess in the custodial arts.
Ultimately, my role is to make sure that from grape to bottle, I’m helping translate the land, the plants, and the vision for winegrowing laid out by Josh and Caroline.
How did you get your start in wine?
Continue Reading
Show less
My first harvest was in 2013 at Hourglass in Calistoga, California. Before that, I was studying glaciers and climate change at the University of Colorado.
Is there a wine moment that has stayed with you?
For me, it’s less about one particular accomplishment and more about focusing on what’s in front of me and being present. I’ve helped make many wines I’m proud of.
It’s also pretty special to open a bottle that you once thought might not have been your best work, only to discover that time has transformed it into something beautiful.
Why Bergström?
I love that we take the work seriously, but not ourselves. We arrive every day with a common goal: to work with excellence and integrity. A year or two later, when we have a finished wine in front of us, I think that combined effort really shows.
What do you do when you’re not making wine?
Most of my spare time is spent outside with my wife, Julia, and our dog, Ruth, or trying to find the most difficult way up a large piece of rock.
What’s something unexpected about your path to Bergström?
Before wine, I worked for Outward Bound and would spend about three months of the year living in a tent, taking teenagers rafting on the Deschutes, climbing volcanoes, and backpacking in the Cascades, all to teach leadership and self-reliance.
For the past decade, I’ve also worked exclusively with small family wineries deeply focused on thoughtful farming and individual wines, including Littorai and Antiquum Farm, and now Bergström. One of my earlier harvests, 12 years ago, was at Penner-Ash, so there’s a wonderful feeling of coming back to this area with more knowledge, more experience, and more questions.
Nick Gianopulos, Vineyard Manager
Spring arrived early in the Willamette Valley, with advanced budbreak and vines beginning to bloom in late May. With a strong El Niño forecast suggesting a hot, dry summer, we braced ourselves for a race to the finish of the 2026 growing season and an early harvest.
The summer started off busy (it always does), with vines growing quickly and clusters developing right behind them. But as the season progressed, we were pleasantly surprised by just how nice the summer was turning out to be.
Continue Reading
Show less
A couple of short, tolerable heat waves were flanked by refreshing summer rains, a rarity here. Otherwise, we’ve enjoyed our coolest summer since 2020.
Our enjoyment of the moderate temperatures has been tempered by the effects of drought elsewhere in the region, as Oregon endures a severe wildfire season east of the Cascade crest.
Now, midway through August, we’re well into veraison and watching the Pinot Noir slowly change color. Most of our work for the season is complete. Spraying, mowing, under-vine cultivation, hedging, and canopy management are all behind us, and we’re settling into a more relaxed rhythm before harvest.
The vines are a deep green and showing no signs of stress despite the regional drought. The clusters are healthy and beautifully positioned to develop aroma and flavor over the next month-plus.
Preparations for the big pick are already underway, as are plans for our early-fall work: seeding cover crops, building and spreading compost, and making biodynamic applications before we transition into winter maintenance.
For now, we’re hoping this pleasant weather continues. These conditions are ideal for slow, even maturation of the crop and could set our winemaking team up for a well-paced harvest and a classic vintage.
Nate Grace, Horticultural Manager
As we move toward the end of summer, the gardens have settled into their most generous part of the season.
At Silice, there is an abundance of tomatoes, along with beets and green beans. The berry patch has given us blackberries, raspberries, and currants, and the fig trees have produced an excellent crop. We are just beginning to harvest sweet corn from the sunflower and corn patch, and the dahlia beds have filled out beautifully, including several new varieties that have found their way into the mix.
Continue Reading
Show less
At Ekollon, we’ve been harvesting leeks, Walla Walla sweet onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. It’s one of those times of year when the work of the earlier seasons becomes especially tangible, with the gardens finally giving back some of what we’ve asked of them.
The tea garden has continued to grow into its second year, with chamomile, lemon verbena, and calendula being cultivated specifically for Caroline’s blends, along with mint grown for its own blend, which is becoming quite popular. Caroline created the new label and blends each canister herself, bringing the herbs we’ve grown throughout the season into something that can be enjoyed well beyond the property.
While the gardens are still producing generously, we’re already beginning to look ahead. Working closely with Nichole and Chef Amy, we are starting to plan and plant our fall crops, thinking about what will carry us into the cooler months and what will eventually find its way to the kitchen.
There is always a bit of overlap this time of year: harvesting what is ready while preparing for what comes next. We’re doing our best to stay in step with the gardens, which tend to keep us moving whether we are ready or not.
Amy Griffith, Chef at Ekollon
Late summer and early fall are a time when we cooks have to be creative, flexible, and ready to celebrate the bounty of the season. The Bergström estate gardens are producing incredible fruits, vegetables, and herbs right now: perfectly ripe tomatoes large and small, potatoes of all shapes and colors, cucumbers, squash, onions the size of your head, bushels of garlic, and plenty of figs and berries.
There’s an old adage that “what grows together goes together,” and I find that especially true when pairing Bergström wines with ingredients from the gardens. Right now, I’m pairing our 2024 Koosah Vineyard Pinot Noir with a simple Sungold tomato soup topped with early-season chanterelles.
Continue Reading
Show less
Often, I’ll arrive at the Ekollon house with a plan for what I want to cook for the week, only to change course when I’m greeted by the latest garden harvest.
Sungold tomatoes are naturally sweet and relatively low in acid, which makes them particularly friendly with wine. Tomatoes can sometimes be a tricky pairing, but choosing a lower-acid variety helps the food and wine come together in harmony. I top the soup with sautéed early-season chanterelles, which bring out the savory, earthy qualities of our Pinot Noirs.
Sungold Tomato Soup
Paired with 2024 Koosah Vineyard Pinot Noir
Ingredients
- 2 quarts Sungold tomatoes, washed and destemmed
- 4 tablespoons good-quality butter
- Salt, to taste
- Sautéed corn, chanterelle mushrooms, and/or Parmesan cheese, for serving
Method
- Melt the butter in a heavy pot with a lid. Add the tomatoes and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the tomatoes begin to burst, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.
- Once the tomatoes have fully released their juices, simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and purée until smooth with an immersion blender. Strain the soup to remove the seeds and skins.
- Season with salt to taste. Top with sautéed corn, chanterelle mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, or all three, as I do.
MEET SAM ECENIA
A Q&A with our new Assistant Winemaker
Sam joined Bergström in March 2026, bringing more than a decade of experience working with small, family-owned wineries focused on thoughtful farming and site-driven wines.
What does an Assistant Winemaker actually do?
One reason I gravitate toward this work is that it’s a constantly changing kaleidoscope of tasks and focus. At different times of year, I might be stirring fine quartz crystals for vineyard applications, tasting hundreds of barrels to determine finished blends, pretending I’m an electrician, or honing my prowess in the custodial arts.
Ultimately, my role is to make sure that from grape to bottle, I’m helping translate the land, the plants, and the vision for winegrowing laid out by Josh and Caroline.
How did you get your start in wine?
Continue Reading
Show less
My first harvest was in 2013 at Hourglass in Calistoga, California. Before that, I was studying glaciers and climate change at the University of Colorado.
Is there a wine moment that has stayed with you?
For me, it’s less about one particular accomplishment and more about focusing on what’s in front of me and being present. I’ve helped make many wines I’m proud of.
It’s also pretty special to open a bottle that you once thought might not have been your best work, only to discover that time has transformed it into something beautiful.
Why Bergström?
I love that we take the work seriously, but not ourselves. We arrive every day with a common goal: to work with excellence and integrity. A year or two later, when we have a finished wine in front of us, I think that combined effort really shows.
What do you do when you’re not making wine?
Most of my spare time is spent outside with my wife, Julia, and our dog, Ruth, or trying to find the most difficult way up a large piece of rock.
What’s something unexpected about your path to Bergström?
Before wine, I worked for Outward Bound and would spend about three months of the year living in a tent, taking teenagers rafting on the Deschutes, climbing volcanoes, and backpacking in the Cascades, all to teach leadership and self-reliance.
For the past decade, I’ve also worked exclusively with small family wineries deeply focused on thoughtful farming and individual wines, including Littorai and Antiquum Farm, and now Bergström. One of my earlier harvests, 12 years ago, was at Penner-Ash, so there’s a wonderful feeling of coming back to this area with more knowledge, more experience, and more questions.
Nick Gianopulos, Vineyard Manager
Spring arrived early in the Willamette Valley, with advanced budbreak and vines beginning to bloom in late May. With a strong El Niño forecast suggesting a hot, dry summer, we braced ourselves for a race to the finish of the 2026 growing season and an early harvest.
The summer started off busy (it always does), with vines growing quickly and clusters developing right behind them. But as the season progressed, we were pleasantly surprised by just how nice the summer was turning out to be.
Continue Reading
Show less
A couple of short, tolerable heat waves were flanked by refreshing summer rains, a rarity here. Otherwise, we’ve enjoyed our coolest summer since 2020.
Our enjoyment of the moderate temperatures has been tempered by the effects of drought elsewhere in the region, as Oregon endures a severe wildfire season east of the Cascade crest.
Now, midway through August, we’re well into veraison and watching the Pinot Noir slowly change color. Most of our work for the season is complete. Spraying, mowing, under-vine cultivation, hedging, and canopy management are all behind us, and we’re settling into a more relaxed rhythm before harvest.
The vines are a deep green and showing no signs of stress despite the regional drought. The clusters are healthy and beautifully positioned to develop aroma and flavor over the next month-plus.
Preparations for the big pick are already underway, as are plans for our early-fall work: seeding cover crops, building and spreading compost, and making biodynamic applications before we transition into winter maintenance.
For now, we’re hoping this pleasant weather continues. These conditions are ideal for slow, even maturation of the crop and could set our winemaking team up for a well-paced harvest and a classic vintage.
Nate Grace, Horticultural Manager
As we move toward the end of summer, the gardens have settled into their most generous part of the season.
At Silice, there is an abundance of tomatoes, along with beets and green beans. The berry patch has given us blackberries, raspberries, and currants, and the fig trees have produced an excellent crop. We are just beginning to harvest sweet corn from the sunflower and corn patch, and the dahlia beds have filled out beautifully, including several new varieties that have found their way into the mix.
Continue Reading
Show less
At Ekollon, we’ve been harvesting leeks, Walla Walla sweet onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. It’s one of those times of year when the work of the earlier seasons becomes especially tangible, with the gardens finally giving back some of what we’ve asked of them.
The tea garden has continued to grow into its second year, with chamomile, lemon verbena, and calendula being cultivated specifically for Caroline’s blends, along with mint grown for its own blend, which is becoming quite popular. Caroline created the new label and blends each canister herself, bringing the herbs we’ve grown throughout the season into something that can be enjoyed well beyond the property.
While the gardens are still producing generously, we’re already beginning to look ahead. Working closely with Nichole and Chef Amy, we are starting to plan and plant our fall crops, thinking about what will carry us into the cooler months and what will eventually find its way to the kitchen.
There is always a bit of overlap this time of year: harvesting what is ready while preparing for what comes next. We’re doing our best to stay in step with the gardens, which tend to keep us moving whether we are ready or not.
Amy Griffith, Chef at Ekollon
Late summer and early fall are a time when we cooks have to be creative, flexible, and ready to celebrate the bounty of the season. The Bergström estate gardens are producing incredible fruits, vegetables, and herbs right now: perfectly ripe tomatoes large and small, potatoes of all shapes and colors, cucumbers, squash, onions the size of your head, bushels of garlic, and plenty of figs and berries.
There’s an old adage that “what grows together goes together,” and I find that especially true when pairing Bergström wines with ingredients from the gardens. Right now, I’m pairing our 2024 Koosah Vineyard Pinot Noir with a simple Sungold tomato soup topped with early-season chanterelles.
Continue Reading
Show less
Often, I’ll arrive at the Ekollon house with a plan for what I want to cook for the week, only to change course when I’m greeted by the latest garden harvest.
Sungold tomatoes are naturally sweet and relatively low in acid, which makes them particularly friendly with wine. Tomatoes can sometimes be a tricky pairing, but choosing a lower-acid variety helps the food and wine come together in harmony. I top the soup with sautéed early-season chanterelles, which bring out the savory, earthy qualities of our Pinot Noirs.
Sungold Tomato Soup
Paired with 2024 Koosah Vineyard Pinot Noir
Ingredients
- 2 quarts Sungold tomatoes, washed and destemmed
- 4 tablespoons good-quality butter
- Salt, to taste
- Sautéed corn, chanterelle mushrooms, and/or Parmesan cheese, for serving
Method
- Melt the butter in a heavy pot with a lid. Add the tomatoes and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the tomatoes begin to burst, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.
- Once the tomatoes have fully released their juices, simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and purée until smooth with an immersion blender. Strain the soup to remove the seeds and skins.
- Season with salt to taste. Top with sautéed corn, chanterelle mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, or all three, as I do.
MEMORIES OF OUR JULY MEMBER DINNER
This summer, we gathered with members from near and far for an evening of wine, food, and conversation at our winery in the Chehalem Mountains.
MEMORIES OF OUR JULY MEMBER DINNER
This summer, we gathered with members from near and far for an evening of wine, food, and conversation at our winery in the Chehalem Mountains.
UPCOMING EVENTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
GATHER, GIVE, CELEBRATE
GATHER, GIVE, CELEBRATE
HOLIDAY GATHERINGS @ EKOLLON
THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF BERGSTRÖM WINES
THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF BERGSTRÖM WINES