Oregon winery, Foris Vineyards, has announced the appointment of Stephanie Pao as Winemaker effective March 13. Pao joins Foris bringing extensive experience in enology, which began with a winemaking internship at Robert Mondavi Winery in 2005. She is leaving her current position as enologist at Double Canyon Vineyards, a custom crush Washington winery, to replace current Foris winemaker, Bryan Wilson, who has accepted a position with a small, boutique winery closer to his home in Medford, Oregon.
In making the announcement, Foris owner, Ted Gerber, noted, “This will be only the fourth change in winemakers in 31 years.” He continued, “I want to offer a heartfelt thank you to our present winemaker, Bryan Wilson, for his dedication and passion in crafting Foris wines over the past 9 years and wish him all the best. I am grateful for his willingness to help make a smooth transition with an overlap of working together with Stephanie and through future consultation. Foris is fortunate to have Stephanie step into the position with her knowledge, experience and great palate. I look forward to an exciting, new era at Foris!”
Prior to joining Double Canyon, Pao spent three years with Justin Vineyards and Winery in Paso Robles. Her experience with Pinot Noir includes stints with Bethel Heights and Lemelson in Oregon as well as a season overseas with Dry River Vineyards in Martinborough, New Zealand. Lastly, she was a harvest enologist for the 2008 harvest with Saintsbury in Napa. At Robert Mondavi Winery, Pao was a winemaking intern in their reserve wine program for Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Pao received a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Diego in 1997, prior to studying viticulture and enology at the University of California, Davis. In accepting the position, Stephanie commented, “The opportunity to work with a grower with such depth of experience in a site is rare. I look forward to meeting the challenges of the position and am excited about crafting high quality, estate grown wines that will continue to enhance Foris’ reputation both nationally and within Oregon.”
Located just outside Cave Junction, Oregon, Foris is a grower based winery known for producing high quality, estate grown Alsace varietal white wines and Pinot Noir. Gerber planted his first vineyard in 1975 and founded the winery in 1986. Today, Foris has 140 acres of estate vineyards at three different sites within a few miles of the winery. Foris wines are distributed in 39 states, Calgary, Toronto and Japan.
