Eric Misiewicz is Head Winemaker at Van Duzer Vineyards in Willamette Valley, Oregon, a role he has held since the 2020 vintage. His experience spans New York’s Finger Lakes, Spain, Australia, and Napa Valley, shaping a versatile, site-driven approach.
At Van Duzer, he works within the demanding conditions of the Van Duzer Corridor AVA, focusing on wines with structure, acidity, and balance. His approach emphasizes preserving freshness in white wines and managing phenolic development in reds to define texture, color, and flavor.
Media Inquiries: Jane Brigham jane@lawrence-pr.com | https://vanduzervineyards.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
Van Duzer embodies the pioneering spirit. We have always been in a location that is off the beaten path. With that comes the combination of humanity, history, nature, and agriculture that all give our wines their character. The oldest evidence of people on the Van Duzer property is a slight depression into the hillside that was a homestead site created by western settlers. Years later, when the property finally became a vineyard in 1983, the first section of the land to be planted with vines was right next to the homestead site.
I feel there is something poetic about the fact that the vines were planted next to this pioneering site because in the 80s, most of the planting was further up north, but it was decided to plant somewhere off the beaten path. To this day, that character remains on the property. We are surrounded by the Basket Slough Wildlife Refuge, and we have clear views of the slough, bucolic hills, meadows, and forests in all directions. Even on the 150-acre site, only 60 acres are planted to vines; the other parts of the property are devoted to restored native oak woodland habitat. I have to think this integration of solitude, nature, and agriculture makes its way into the palate of the wine and the experience people can enjoy when they visit us.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
I want to bring wine back to its original purpose, connecting people to the land, community, food, and nature. Over the course of thousands of years of human history, this is always what wine was about, but now we seem to have lost our way to a degree. There is a lot of focus on scores, prestige, collectability, and exclusivity – but that isn’t what wine has been for the majority of its existence. I want people to be able to experience our wines in our setting. At the top of our property, we have a beautiful meadow inside an oak grove.
I want to create an outdoor space to do family-style dinners there. I want people to experience what it is to be surrounded by the verdant nature of our space, meet new people at the same table, enjoy delicious food with our wines, and feel how a slow pace of life can connect us to our community. I have talked with old friends and new acquaintances from New York to rural Montana, from tech to cattle ranching, and all across the country, and people tell me they want community. This is what made wine great for thousands of years; we need to find a way to get back to that. To me, this kind of experience with other people in nature is the closest we can get to a magical experience in our everyday lives.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
Our Flagpole Block Pinot Noir. This wine is crafted from the Wadenswil Clone of Pinot, which was one of the first to be grown in the Willamette Valley – it embodies our collective pioneering spirit. The wine is savory aromatically; it has black tea, forest floor, and leather notes underneath the typical Pinot fruit and it is structured, which is a hallmark of the Van Duzer Corridor and the winds. Plus, year after year, this block seems to be my favorite. Read my wine review, and think savory when you do.
Bonus Question: Why Winemaking?
I have always enjoyed the bonding and satisfaction that you get with a team doing a hard day’s labor. There is something special about bringing a team together from all around the world, finding ways to motivate everyone to create a great product, and the physicality of it. When the team clicks together, it is a very special feeling that is fleeting and unique, but stays with you in your memories forever. Wine is the closest I can come to capturing that in a bottle, and we hope it is enjoyed in the same joy from the impermanence through which it was created.