Oregon Wine: A Q&A with Lynn Penner-Ash
May 17, 2017
Like many winemakers, the path to wine was a roundabout one for Lynn Penner-Ash, founder and winemaker of Penner-Ash Wine Cellars. It all began with a summer internship at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., when her mentors told her in order to work for the Smithsonian she should look into attending college at the University of California, Davis.
From one coast to the other, Penner-Ash set off to UC Davis, studying botany there for three years before switching over to viticulture – a choice she made after spending a summer in Napa Valley following her freshman year. However, in the early '80s, Penner-Ash realized viticulture jobs weren’t readily available for women, and she decided to make one final switch from viticulture to enology. And that’s where she stayed.
“I was thinking I could go in the back door – make wine, get a job and eventually go back to the vineyards, but I ended up just really loving the winemaking side of it all,” Penner-Ash said.
Breakthru recently got to sit down with Lynn Penner-Ash to talk about her experience in the industry – particularly in Oregon wine, and what truly distinguishes Oregon as a winegrowing region.
You were the first female winemaker hired in Oregon, what was that experience like?
Lynn Penner-Ash: The industry was really small at the time; there were only 49 wineries when I started. You’d walk into a room – the entire Oregon wine industry fit into one room – and I would walk into a room and I’d think to myself, “Where do I sit?” Because it was all men, and they all knew each other, and they all played poker together, and I would just think to myself, “I’m very uncomfortable.” But there were some really, really welcoming people – like Ted and Terry Casteel from Bethel Heights – they immediately took me under their wing and said come sit with me, and today we’re still the best of friends. But there were definitely some intimidating aspects – it was hard to fit in. Being a woman, there are certain things that the guys do together, and they don’t necessarily think to invite you. I kind of always felt like I was somebody’s date in the early years rather than a standalone entity in my own right. But that was years and years ago and I think I’ve taken control of the situation.
Do you feel like you’ve set an example for other women in the industry?
Absolutely! When we started off with our harvest interns, one or two women were applying for the jobs, and now I’d say 90% of our applicants are women. It’s almost hysterical, because we’ll have six women and two guys – and there are other people in the industry who you’ll see that have no women on their staff. It’s not that there aren’t qualified women out there – it’s obvious by the women we’ve been able to hire – we’ve had some amazingly strong women work for us.
You started Penner-Ash with your husband. What’s that dynamic like working together?
We shared our own sort of expertise sets – he was in education before we came together and crafted our brand. I had many years of winemaking and experience in the industry, and we came on and we started working together. He was the diplomat – he’s very good at talking to people and managing, and great about sales and marketing. It allowed me to really focus on the wine, and I had a lot of experience running it from the administrative side because I ran Rex Hill for many years. So we kind of divided and conquered. It was harder once we had kids – we always had to do the kid trade off.
A lot of wineries are family owned and operated, are your kids in the industry at all?
I think that’s a hard issue with having kids while you’re starting a brand, because they see how hard you work and how intense it is. I think our kids looked at our lifestyle during those early years and decided they weren’t interested. We wanted them to go their own way and grow in their own ways and not say to them, “You have to get into this business.”
How would you describe your approach to winemaking?
I’m very much about a textural experience when you try the wine. Everyone knows that a wine has to smell good when you smell it in the glass, but how does it feel in your mouth? So I work really hard with the fermentations to allow the vineyards to speak for themselves and only guide them in ways to make sure that we’re getting a textural experience when you put it in your mouth. From front to finish, it should feel good.
Tell us more about Penner-Ash’s portfolio.
We’ve got something like 13 different vineyard designates - so that mostly stays in the direct-to-consumer atmosphere. Our main three in the national market are the Estate, Zena crown and Shea. And then the Willamette is the most commonly seen on the shelf. I get to play around with a little Syrah, just because it’s kind of nice to have a different red grape just to see what’s going on. And Viognier – we chose to do Viognier rather than Pinot Gris because I wanted to be different when we started our brand. We didn’t want to be that just Pinot Noir/Pinot Gris producer. So we’re using it to co-ferment with our Syrah, and now I think we’re one of the largest producers of Viognier in Oregon.
In your opinion, what distinguishes wines coming out of Oregon?
I love going into markets and having fresh Oregon berries and having somebody try that experience. Just right off the vine – a strawberry or a raspberry – they’re just so fresh and flavorful. And I think that’s what really distinguishes our wines – that fresh, bright, liveliness. And there’s also a great acidity.
What’s next in Oregon wine?
Chardonnay – that’s the next big wave. In the earlier years, when I first started, I made Chardonnay for Rex Hill. It was the wrong clone, but again that was the only thing that was available at the time, so I planted it, and that was the wrong choice. Now there are much better choices, and so there’s much more excitement about Chardonnay. Now we’re planting Chardonnay where it belongs rather than just sticking it in corners; we’re actually dedicating really great land to Chardonnay. We’ll be starting a Chardonnay program at Penner-Ash with the 17th vintage.
Any last thoughts you’d like to leave us with?
Oregon is a distinctly unique growing region – it’s so absolutely breathtaking. And I encourage everyone to come and be a part of it. Our tag line is, “A sense of place,” because you really can’t experience it until you’ve been there.