Oregon Wine: A Q&A with Julia Jackson
May 11, 2017
This past year Oregon wine has taken center stage outshining its more established winegrowing neighbor regions. From winning Wine Enthusiast’s Wine Region of the Year, to representing 20% of Wine Spectator’s 90+ scores on domestic wines over the past two years, it’s safe to say Oregon wine is on fire.
Among those leading the charge is the Jackson Family, who has invested heavily in Oregon wineries over the past year. Breakthru Beverage sat down with Julia Jackson to talk about her journey into the wine world, why her family chose to push into Oregon and what’s next on the horizon for Oregon wine.
Your family has been in the wine industry for a long time, but when did you get into wine?
Julia Jackson: My family started in ’82 – my dad did – and he was supposed to retire from legal practice at age 52, but then he went into the wine business and just got carried away with it. I was born in ’88, so most of my life I grew up with wine, but I was in school most of the time. My dad would have Sunday school for us on the side – where he would teach my brothers, sisters and me sort of the ropes of the business, and he would drive us though the vineyards. In 2010 when I graduated college, my dad was like, “You’re going off to France and you’re going to make wine.”
How was that experience?
I didn’t know what to expect. I was excited, but I think I built it up to be this romantic thing. So I went to my family’s château in Saint-Émilion to make wine, but it was not romantic at all. I was up at 6:30 every morning in the cellar and my dad would say, “You have to work every day just as hard as the cellar people.” So I was in the cellar at 6:30 a.m. and then out at 10 p.m. every day for two weeks straight. It’s a lot of physical labor, and I think it was then, when I was 21, that I really started to develop more of an appreciation for all of the hard work our wine crew goes through. It’s a lot of physical labor and it’s a lot of attention to detail that forces you to be very present with the grapes during the time from the vineyard to the tanks – that span of two weeks is critical. I learned a lot, and I think that’s when it shifted for me. Even though I had grown up with wine and enjoyed it, I think I developed a whole new love and appreciation of the people who make the wine. 
Did you know you’d always be working in the family company?
I’ve always had a love of the outdoors and animals. I remember wanting to own my own wolf sanctuary at age 6 and then I wanted to be a killer whale trainer at age 7. It was always something with animals. I used to paint a lot, and I got really carried away with painting frogs, wolves and killer whales. I did that for a while, and I wanted to turn our properties into animal sanctuaries, and my parents would be like, “No Julia, this is about wine.” But I had this perky love of land and animals and an artist streak in me that’s very independent. I’ve also always had a love of cultivating crops – being a farmer, so it’s a natural fit for me to love the land and to be a steward of the land. I want to integrate some grazers and goats and do some things that will increase biodiversity of the soils. I’m definitely a farmer at heart.
Do you still paint?
I did study art a little bit in college, and I collect art as well on the side. I like to support artists – I’m going to Art Basil in Miami this year. I really want to dial into artists that create art for the environment who are looking into social change. I want to do some sort of event around wine and art, and bridge them together. I do believe wine is an art and art is a beautiful expression. The grapes are the medium and the artist is the winemaker. For me, I have a natural love and affinity towards wine because I feel like it’s appreciating a beautiful Picasso or Renoir, but in a glass.
Jackson Family recently did an Oregon wine panel across the country. Why did your family chose to focus on Oregon?
Oregon really is a new, yet exciting endeavor for the family. We wanted to showcase our properties in Oregon and our various winemakers, because we believe in Willamette Valley. We believe it’s a beautiful winegrowing region. It’s starting to get more recognition, but I think it has an impact to bring the winemakers into the market and have them really speak to Willamette – because it’s up and coming, and it’s exciting to be a part of that.
Why is Oregon hot now?
It’s a newer winegrowing area. It hasn’t had the history to really establish itself, but it has the ability to produce amazing Pinots and Chardonnays. It’s almost like my family and I are kids in a candy shop – coming upon this region that produces amazing Pinots. My family wants to be a part of that.
What makes Oregon wine unique?
Several of our winemakers talk about biting into a fresh, Oregon strawberry, and it’s really that freshness, that vibrancy. There’s a lot of energy and vitality to the wines coming out of Oregon; it’s like they’re humming in the glass. You drink them and you feel full of life; there’s just something unique about the region itself. And even though each winemaker is different stylistically, there’s this thread that weaves them all together with this freshness and acidity and vibrancy and fruit-forward characteristics that are balanced out. We’re trying to stray away from comparing it to Burgundy, with that more restrained ageability and less austere components that you’d sometimes find in Burgundy.
Now that it’s in the spotlight, what do you think the next big thing will be in Oregon wine?
I hope Chardonnay, I really do. I think Chardonnay goes hand-in-hand with Pinot. The Chardonnay from this region is amazing. I like that there’s focus in Oregon wine. As our winemakers emphasize, it’s hard for regions to really be able to have a varietal identifier, and Willamette is unique in that it’s really part of Pinot Noir, like Germany is with Riesling. To have that varietal identifier is huge. And I don’t necessarily think it will distract from Pinot Noir to have Chardonnay as a focus, because they’re very independent. I think Pinot will always be front and center because of the history, but I do think Chardonnay has huge potential in the region.
You founded Cambria Seeds of Empowerment, which celebrates inspirational women leaders in the community and worldwide. Do you feel like you’ve become a role model to women in the industry?
I hope so. I think that Seeds of Empowerment is in its infancy, but I would like for it to start to get more recognition for all of the women that we’re finding and for all of the great things that they’re doing. Moving forward, I want to find top-notch women for Seeds of Empowerment who are focused on environmental degradation, supporting our local communities and being ecofriendly.
Speaking of ecofriendly, Jackson Family does a lot with sustainability. Can you speak to that?
We try to do a lot. Our vineyards are all SIP certified and CCSW certified. We don’t use any harsh chemicals; we plant a lot of cover crops, which are beneficial for the environment because they attract beneficial insects that then feed off of pests. You then don’t have to use chemicals to get rid of pests – it’s part of a natural ecosystem. The actual cover crops in between the vineyard rows also help sequester carbon for the atmosphere – helping to mitigate CO2 and emissions. We also use Tesla batteries in our wineries, which are very energy efficient, and we’re investing a lot in solar energy. We’re continuing to really dive into investing in eco-technology. I’m working on an electric tractor myself. But Jackson as a whole is really passionate about how we can be stewards of the land and give back to the land, because Mother Nature is providing for us, so we need to provide back. I’m going to start looking more into pollinators – they’re really important for our whole planet. And on a personal level, I’m really focused on ocean health and ocean conservation. The ocean is a huge carbon sink and it’s attracting a lot of the CO2 emissions, which change the chemistry and cause the ocean to become more acidic. A lot of the marine life is not going to be able to survive in too acidic of an environment, and the temperatures are rising in the ocean. That’s alarming to me, because that influences the climate of a lot of our coastal vineyards.
Do you feel like your family is setting an example for sustainability in the wine world?
I think there are a lot of great people in the wine industry already doing very sustainable things – a lot of great farmers who I’ve talked to that are doing great things. They don’t really have the same land ownership as my family, so we might have a bigger responsibility to the environment. But I think a lot of people in the wine industry are starting to care a little bit more about sustainability, which is really nice to see. I would like to see the wine industry step it up a notch – I’d like to see the whole planet step it up a notch.