Grochau Cellars in the bucolic Eola Hills of Oregon

Yes, it’s true.

And if you follow me on Twitter, perhaps you guessed it. I’ve been hinting for weeks, actually months, that something big is happening.

Beginning this fall, Vincent Wine Company is moving wine production from Portland to the new location of Grochau Cellars in the Eola Hills in the heart of Willamette Valley wine country.

It’s a big change, moving out of Portland where I launched Vincent in 2009. I’ve been all about making wine in the urban core of Portland, and I still believe so much in the urban winemaking culture we have in the Rose City. It’s not an easy decision to leave Portland or my comrades in PDX Urban Wineries, our association of Portland-based wineries.

I just have an opportunity to continue to grow my production – nearly 1,000 cases in 2014 – with a now longtime friend and mentor in John Grochau at his new home, close to the vineyards I work with and the growers I want to spend more time around. It’s simply too good an opportunity to pass up, and it’s the right time.

I met John Grochau more than a decade ago, when I was working harvests at local wineries and working at a local university. I did harvests with John in 2007 and 2008, then I started Vincent in 2009 at his old facility in NW Portland.

I stayed at Grochau Cellars for the first three years on my own, continuing to learn from John and growing to where we became partners with two other friends in Guild Winemakers, a negotiant wine project that has been lots of fun and given me a ton of wine business experience.

I moved to the SE Wine Collective in 2012, where Kate and Tom Monroe and a terrific group of talented winemakers, chefs and servers really helped me grow both my production and my business. Things were great before I got to the Collective, but things got even better for me during my time there and I’ll forever be part of that crew. Thank you Kate and Tom for all we’ve done together, I’m a lucky guy to have crossed paths with you two.

Now I’m entering the seventh year of production as Vincent Wine Company, and I’m moving to the country to reconnect with John and take up a little space in his new facility. He’ll have a tasting room but I’m not planning to be part of that. I still don’t make enough wine and this is his place, I’m just happy to spread out a bit in the cellar and make more wine to sell across the country and beyond.

Instead of a tasting room, I’ll continue my tastings by appointment with mailing list customers and other interested buyers, and I’ll continue to participate in a variety of public and private tasting events. For my customers, the only real change will be the cellar location amid the lush vines and red soils of the astonishingly beautiful Eola Hills. Seems like a fair trade.

I’ve loved my time making wine in Portland, where so many wine lovers live. Now I get to return to wine country where the grapes live. They can’t commute, so I’m going to them and hoping you all can come out and visit us soon.

Vincent – New Location starting Fall 2015 at Grochau Cellars, 9360 SE Eola Hills Road, Amity, OR. For tastings or purchases, contact Vincent Fritzsche at 503-740-9475.