Dustin Andries is the winemaker for Naumes Crushpad and Fermentation in the Rogue Valley, Oregon. He discovered his passion for winemaking early, knowing by ninth grade that it was the path he wanted to pursue. He earned a degree in Fermentation Sciences from Oregon State University, then spent over four years gaining hands-on experience across the globe—completing harvests in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the Willamette Valley, and Napa Valley.
In 2015, Dustin became the second employee at Naumes Crush and Fermentation, joining as Assistant Winemaker. In 2019, he accepted a position with Jackson Family Wines in the Willamette Valley as an Enologist, expanding his expertise. Longing to return to his home region—especially during the pandemic—he came back to Southern Oregon to reunite with his mentor, Chris Graves. After serving once again as Assistant Winemaker, Dustin succeeded Graves as Head Winemaker at Naumes Crush and Fermentation in the winter of 2024. Media Inquiries: dandries@naumescf.com | https://www.naumescf.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
Naumes Crush and Fermentation founded in 2015 is a Custom Crush Winery serving the Rogue Valley and Southern Oregon Wine regions. Our winery is built around the core belief of making top end wine from grape to glass using all the technology and tools that are available at a state-of-the-art winemaking facility. Over the past 10 years in business, we have seen substantial growth. To put that in context in 2015 we processed 135 tons and now we are regularly accustomed to producing upwards of 500 tons for up to 20 different clients working with close to 30 different varietals in a myriad of styles from sparkling to dessert wines. The one trait I value most about our winery is our focus on working with our various clients making them part of the winemaking journey from start to finish. I personally have each of our clients into the winery to discuss stylistically what wine they are trying to create and how we are going to achieve that. It doesn’t just stop at the initial meeting. We have our clients in to sort fruit, participate in cap management, go through all the major blending and fining trials, everything up until we get their wine put in the bottle. The challenge and excitement of this winery format is the sheer number of different sku’s we produce and bottle. On any given year we could be getting ready to bottle over 100 different wines. Having a great team one focused on only producing the highest quality wines is essential and there is no doubt in my mind we crush it vintage to vintage.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
I can say from the start I am beyond lucky to have a massive amount of winemaking resources that allows our winery to succeed. Our winery ownership has invested heavily on all the winemaking equipment that I could ever ask for. This level of equipment includes Optical Sorting on the crush line, high-end pumps, basket press and bladder press, tanks fitted for pulsair, a lab that has a Metrohm auto titrator and an Admeo Spica Autoanalyzer, 5 forklifts (what winery in Southern Oregon has 5 forklifts?!). I am beyond lucky to have these tools in my winemaking arsenal. If money were no option, one area I would like Naumes Crush to expand on is opening a cooperative tasting room at our winery location to showcase all of the various wine brands we produce for. Our winery is centrally located in Medford, Oregon. Having this central location could open up access to more consumers who normally would have to drive out to our clients’ tasting room, that are sometimes difficult to get to. I also selfishly want to be able to taste all of our wines under one roof!
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
There are so many wines to choose but I’ll take our 2024 Naumes Family Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. I have always had a passion for Sauvignon Blanc. Its one of the main reasons I worked two separate harvests in New Zealand during my harvest hopping intern years. There are so many ways this varietal can be crafted stylistically. Do you make it more grassy focused? Tropical focused? Tank fermented? Barrel Fermented? It’s a versatile grape varietal I also believe grows incredibly well in the Rogue Valley.
For the 2024, we purchased the fruit from a fantastic grower on the East Side of the Rogue Valley. It was a hot vintage so with the way things were coming we knew it was going to drift into the more tropical range of Sauvignon blancs. To control this and add complexity I primarily fermented in a concrete egg (80%) while the remainder (20%) was fermented in stainless steel barrels. For each lot I used separate yeast strains. For the concrete Egg I used Alchemy I, a highly temperature-dependent strain that focuses on those citrus and tropical notes. For the stainless-steel drums I used Sauvy, known for expressing the gooseberry and grassy thiols. Very long cool ferment between the two lots but once put all together I believe we crafted a really interesting Sauvignon Blanc that has loads of aromatic pop and a very complex finish on the palate. Perfect wine for pairing with that coconut on that “Desert Island”. Here’s my wine review of this “dessert island” wine.
Bonus Question: Why Winemaking?
I always wanted to be in an industry where I could meld agriculture and creativity while making a home base in Southern Oregon. I was fortunate to have parents who collected and enjoyed wine who were also willing to support me in going to Oregon State University to pursue this career endeavor. Once I graduated from Oregon State, I spent years galivanting across the worlds wine regions learning as much as I could from some of the best winemakers in our business. This pursuit led me back to my hometown of Medford, Oregon where I am now able to use that knowledge to create special wines that will hopefully bring more focus to the Southern Oregon wine region.