Oregon winery's 'White House wine' sells out

Oregon wine takes second course at State dinner 

The Oregon winery whose Riesling was served at President Obama's first state dinner received even more attention over Thanksgiving's weekend. It sold out of its Presidential pick.

Since KATU's coverage Tuesday - of the pairing of Brooks Wines' 2006 Ara Reisling with the soup course at the White House's high-profile (and now infamous) event - the name of Brooks wine has been the buzz. The White House party led to an economic boom for this Oregon winemaker - a rush to get a bottle of wine like the one served to the President of the United States.

Unfortunately, the "White House wine" - as the 2006 Ara Reisling is now dubbed - sold out by Saturday morning, both at Brooks Wine's online and in-house stores. Collectors may still be able to find the wine at wine stores and restaurants.

Meanwhile, the visibility has been a boom for the winery's Thanksgiving weekend open house. Tasters have been flooding Brooks' tasting room in Amity, wanting to see what "Brooks Wines" is all about.

"I wanted to come because I graduated from Amity High School," said Kathy Taylor, a McMinnville resident and open house visitors. "I thought 'Wow! The Obama's used our wine from little Amity!'"

Wine drinkers have been pouring into the winery hoping to snag a bottle of the "White House wine."

Since "they picked an Obama wine from Oregon ... that's how we ended-up coming out here," said Heather Lavell, another open-house visitor.

Janie Brooks Heuck at Brooks Wines (recently renamed from Brooks Winery), said she "knew it would have an effect but had no idea - with it being the first state dinner - how dramatic the effect would be," Brooks Heuck said. "It has been a pretty busy couple of days."

Right after the White House menu was released, and KATU's story about the second-course selection was published at KATU.com, online orders of the Ara Reisling skyrocketed. The winery's Web site - which usually gets about 30 hits a day - received 1,100 hits in mere hours. They said their phones haven't stopped ringing.

By Wednesday afternoon, Brooks Wine had only five cases left in-house.

With the 2006 version now sold out, the buzz surrounding the 2006 Ara has propelled sales of the 2007 Ara - still in stock - as well.

Pat Middelburg purchased four bottles of the 2007 Ara, but she really wanted the White House '06.

"It's kind of like six degrees of separation," Middelburg said. "In this case, I'm two degrees of separation from the White House."

Brooks' winemaker Chris Williams actually made the now-famous wine. "I've gotten a lot of calls of congratulations on it," Williams said.

Williams is a former forklift operator, mill worker, apartment manager and stay-at-home dad. He became a head winemaker five years ago, after the Brooks wine label was struck with tragedy.

In 2004, Brooks Winery's founder and winemaker - Portland-born Jimi Brooks - died of an apparent heart attack. He died at the age of 38 at his McMinnville, Ore., home.

Brooks death left the wine-making world in this tight-knit valley stunned.

Family and friends, like Williams, chipped in to help keep the winery alive as it transitioned ownership to Brooks' heir: his now 13-year-old son Pascal. Jimi Brooks' sister, Brooks Heuck, volunteered to help lead the winery in the interim. 

"You never know what road you'll travel," Williams said. "This is what I ended-up on, and I'm glad I picked it."

Who knew the road would lead from Oregon's wine valley, outside of Dundee, to Pennsylvania Avenue.

"I think it's really cool," said one tasting room visitor. "And I think it goes to show that our President has really good taste."