Open: Year-round
Walut City WineWorks was the brainchild of two amazing farmers -- John Davidson and John Gilpin. This serendipitous meeting in 1984 at one of the first wineries in Yamhill County was the start of an abiding friendship and business partnership based on a mutual love of pinot noir.
The two Johns came together to form St. Joseph Orchard, working shoulder to shoulder with the best of Oregon's wine pioneers.Through St. Joseph's, they have grown, grafted, and planted more than a million vines in verdant Yamhill County over the last two decades. Currently they own or manage more than 200 acres of vineyards in the Willamette Valley.
In 1999 Davidson and Gilpin expanded their business and vision to include their own production facility to allow the vineyards they manage to come to full realization, while still encompassing the total in-house, hands-on method. They repurposed the original Willamette Valley Walnut Co. building in historic downtown McMinnville, Oregon (once nicknamed "Walnut City") to provide their vineyard customers a home for them all to come together and bring to fruition their dreams while still keeping the integrity of the vine-to-wine mentality.
In a nutshell (pun intended) Walnut City WineWorks is a multi-brand "custom crush" wine production facility. Since 1999 we have been producing small-lot, hand-crafted wines for numerous labels around the Willamette Valley. What sets Walnut City apart from other "custom crush" facilities is our involvement in the wine growing process: not only do we make the wine, but we also plant, manage, and farm the vineyard sites where our fruit is grown. The brands currently produced here at Walnut City include Walnut City WIneWorks, Bernard Machado, Carlton Hill, Z'IVO, Lundeen, Genius Loci, and Robinson Reserve.
