Herb Quady is the founder and winemaker at Quady North in Applegate Valley, Oregon. He grew up around his family’s winery but didn’t consider a career in wine until 1997, when he became a “cellar rat” at Randall Graham’s Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz. The experience hooked him on Rhône varieties. With a degree in Politics from UC Santa Cruz and studies in Viticulture and Enology at CSU Fresno, Herb moved to Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley, working at Cowhorn and later becoming winemaker at Troon. In 2005, he and his family planted Mae’s Vineyard to Cabernet Franc, Viognier, and Syrah, and founded Quady North the following year.
Herb left Troon in 2014 and, with partners Brian Gruber and Nichole Schulte, converted an old pear-packing shed into Barrel 42, a winery and custom-crush facility. A new winery was built on the vineyard property in 2021.
Herb received the Oregon Wine Board’s Founder’s Award in 2020 and was named Oregon Wine Press’ “Person of the Year” in 2024. His favorite accolade? Being dubbed “Southern Oregon’s Godfather of Grapes” by Michael Alberty in Sprudge.
When he’s not fixing winery equipment or vineyard irrigation, Herb enjoys sourdough, gardening, reading, and family time. Media Inquiries: hquady@quadynorth.com | https://www.quadynorth.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
Hustle. We work harder. I’m a second-generation moonlighter. My father started our family winery on the side while he worked at a winery in Lodi in the 1970’s. I remember a lot of late nights and weekends at the little winery behind our house when I was a kid. I did the same in the Applegate in the 2000’s, and with a lot of hard work and a ton of help from family and friends, I was able to establish a brand, a vineyard, a vineyard management company, a winery, and a custom crush facility. I’m not afraid to try new things, adjust on the fly, fix what’s broken, and figure it out as I go along. I have a slogan: “Be kind, work hard, and make good wine.” At the end of the day, I don’t want to make trophy wines that only wealthy people can afford; I want to make delicious wines that are affordable and accessible.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
First, I would increase salaries and benefits. I have a great team, and I would love to be able to compensate them more. Secondly, I might give myself an office with a window.
Otherwise, I would love to plant out the rest of our property. We have about 30 acres more of really beautiful hillside that I think would be great for some later-ripening Rhône varieties like Cinsault and Carignane, things that are kind of a push for Southern Oregon. If I really was unconstrained, I might like to finish building the winery according to my master plan. I built the building we could afford that did everything we needed, but I designed a facility that included a cave for barrel and sparkling wine aging and a tasting room on top of a hill with a commanding view of the valley. I always thought that someone else, maybe my kids, might be able to build that, but it would be great to see it done.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
This is hard because I’m proud of so many wines, but if I had to choose one, it would be our Rosé GSM. I first made it in 2007 when contracted Syrah wasn’t ripening for red wine. I could have manipulated it or rejected the fruit. Instead, I rolled with it, found some Grenache, and made a crisp, fruit-driven, just-off-dry Rosé inspired by the dry Rosés Meloney and I loved in the South of France.
I made just 60 cases. The first account ordered 28. The second wanted 28, and I had to tell them I only had 22 left. Two accounts and we were sold out. That had never happened to me before—or since. I figured I might be onto something.
Twenty years later, we make nearly 6,000 cases of dry Rosé in three styles, with grapes from vineyards we’ve grafted and planted specifically for it. What started as a problem with Syrah became one of the defining wines of Quady North. Stay tuned, this wine review is coming soon!
Bonus Question: What are your wholehearted convictions related to the wine business?
In the long run, you are better off making wines from varieties and styles that do best in your region, objectively, regardless of how popular they might be at the time. If you make a wine that is unsuited to where you are, just because it’s popular, you’ll end up being one of the first to lose relevance once that popularity ebbs, because the wine will never be considered one of the best examples of that variety or style. On the other hand, if your site allows you to make one of the very best versions of a wine, you’ll be able to find customers and recognition, even if the wine is unpopular at the time. This can be a hard conviction to uphold sometimes, but it’s something that my Dad taught me, and I do believe it.