Colin Howard is the winemaker at Mendivia Wines in Willamette Valley, Oregon. He moved from Baltimore, MD to Oregon’s Willamette Valley to pursue winemaking in 2005. His love for winemaking began years before in the cellars of Basignani Winery in northern Baltimore County after earning a degree from the University of Vermont’s School of Natural Resources. His first introduction to Oregon winemaking began with harvest at the Carlton Winemakers’ Studio, followed by work at Erath, J. Christopher, and Day Wines. He currently works as the Associate Winemaker at GC (Grochau) Wines in Amity, Oregon, where Mendivia Wines are also produced.
Colin’s experience has at times expanded outside of the cellar, from Head Distiller at Portland’s famed House Spirits (Aviation Gin, Westward Whiskey) to starting the short-lived gem of a wine bar, Oso Market, with his wife, Holly. He has also worked as the Education Manager at Portland’s Multnomah Whiskey Library.
Media Inquiries: colin@mendiviawines.com | https://mendiviawines.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
When my wife and I started the Mendivia brand in 2022, the goal was to focus on Spanish/ Iberian cultivars from Oregon and the PNW. Oregon offers several parallels to some of Spain’s greatest winegrowing environments, from the dry and rugged mountains of the Columbia Gorge and Rogue Valley (think La Rioja and Ribero del Deuro) to the cooler, verdant hills of the Willamette Valley (think Galicia). Spanish wines were a big part of my early wine education, and they just seemed to have a different “mood” than the rest of the European styles, and that piqued my interest.
I continued to keep an eye out for winemakers in Oregon producing Spanish-varietal wines that captured the imagination – scanning for inspiration. When the opportunity came to start our own project, we felt confident that Oregon’s complex geography and climate could produce wines from varieties like Albariño, Tempranillo, Mencia, and others that showed energy, distinction, and classic characteristics.
Mendivia, the name, is also a surname of Basque origin on my father’s side, and represents a nod to that lineage as well as a “thank you” to our family for all their support in building the brand.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
I’ve always had the thought that it would be very exciting to build a Spanish-based side of Mendivia using the same grapes and compare the results to our Oregon-made wines. Albariño from Rias Baixas and the Willamette Valley alongside each other. Tempranillo from Alavesa and the Rogue Valley aged under the same standards to observe the different paths of each wine. When I first moved to Oregon in 2005 and saw what the Drouhin family had created between their two wineries in Burgundy and the Dundee Hills, I was immediately fascinated by the scope and ambition of what they had built. I’m sure it would require quite a ramp-up in personnel and logistics, but it strikes me as a thrilling project.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
The “La Carrera” 2023 Tempranillo from Upper Five Vineyard, Rogue Valley AVA. Upper Five is a biodynamic certified, 23-year-old vineyard farmed by Terry Sullivan at 1920-ft elevation. With three different clones of Tempranillo grown on site, the final wine develops a wonderful blend of herbal and leather-y notes supporting a dark cherry core. Mendivia is about showcasing the great potential of Spanish varieties in Oregon, and I think this wine effectively highlights the depth and nuance of the Upper Five site. Here’s my review of this wine.
Bonus Question: What’s the one thing people would be surprised to learn about you?
Perhaps the five years I spent in distillation. I worked as the Head Distiller at House Spirits Distillery (Aviation Gin, Westward Whiskey) for five years, and the process of developing and creating spirits deeply influenced my approach to flavor and texture in finished products, whether spirit, wine, or otherwise. In spirits, you taste and sense every choice, from botanicals and fruit in a gin to yeast selection and barrel char/ toast in a whiskey. The process is further expanded by the choice of cut at the still. All these options showed me how influential even the smallest blending or aging decisions can tilt your final product in different directions.