Since 1999 I have written and published OWR, and it is today the most in-depth and comprehensive source of information on Oregon's wines and winemakers for consumers.
Please click on the "Sample Issue" button at left to download a free sample issue of the Oregon Wine Report (it is a 9.2 MB file, so it is a big download . . . well, there's a lot to write about when the subject is Oregon's wines!)
If you would like to subscribe to the Oregon Wine Report, the cost is $38 for an annual subscription (four, 32-page, color issues). Please email me at cole@harborside.com and I will be happy to send you the current issue (OWR #24) and invoice you for the subscription (at this point I am unable to accept credit card payments).
If you have any questions about OWR, or about Oregon wines, wineries, and winemakers, please don't hesitate to email me!
Thanks for visiting . . .
-Cole
SCOTTSBURG, OR — The Oregon Wine Report and its publisher/editor Cole Danehower won the 2004 James Beard Foundation Journalism Award for the country’s best newsletter writing on food, beverage, restaurant, and nutrition—an unusual distinction for a niche publication with a regional focus. The annual James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards, announced earlier this month, are among the most prestigious and coveted awards for writing about food and beverages.
“I am extremely proud and pleased to have received this recognition,” said Danehower. “Not only is this great acknowledgement of the quality of the Oregon Wine Report, it is also further validation of the growing importance of Oregon to wine lovers everywhere.”
Danehower founded the Oregon Wine Report, headquartered in an out-of-the-way rural hamlet, in 1999 to meet a need he saw for independent news and reviews for consumers of Oregon’s rapidly growing variety of wines.
“When I moved to Oregon in 1998, I discovered the charms of Oregon’s wines—and also discovered that there wasn’t a lot of in-depth information written about the wines or the people who made them,” says Danehower. “Having spent much of my life living in California and learning all I could about their wines, I decided that if I was going to quench my curiosity about Oregon wines, I’d just have to go out and talk to the winemakers themselves.”
A former marketing executive, Danehower was used to doing a lot of writing. “I figured if I was an example of a typical Oregon wine consumer, then there must be many more out there who wanted to know more about the wines as well—perhaps enough to make a market for my writing.”
Following the example of other wine writers who began their own newsletter on a shoestring, Danehower simply started writing—and prospecting for readers. “Oregon’s winemakers are an amazing group of people, and I received a lot of support from them, along with a willingness to put up with my questions. A lot of them encouraged their customers to subscribe to what I was writing. From there it just took off.”
Even though Danehower is located three driving hours away from Oregon’s two main wine regions (Newberg/Dundee/ McMinnville in the north, and Medford/ Grants Pass/Ashland in the south), it hasn’t discouraged him from making the trek whenever he needs to get a story or taste a wine.
“A lot of people think I’m kind of crazy to hop in the car, drive three hours to Portland or to Medford, where I’ll meet a winemaker for a tasting, and then drive back home at the end of the day,” he says. “But I figure that is just what I have to do in order to report accurately and thoroughly.”
The other thing that Danehower “just has to do” is manage without a staff. He writes all of the content for his 32-page magazine-style newsletter. Plus, he individually tastes and reviews hundreds of wines each year, takes all his own photos, and has designed the “look and feel” and done the layout for every issue.
“People will often comment that I have a dream job,” laughs Danehower, “but they don’t know how much intense work it is. After you’ve tasted the 23rd wine in 48 hours and written 300-word reviews of each one, the job doesn’t seem so glamorous anymore!”
All his driving, tasting, and writing seems to be paying off. Subscribers are increasing, especially those from outside of Oregon. “There are a lot of people around the country and even the world who love Oregon wines,” Danehower says. “When they discover there is a good source for keeping up with what’s happening in Oregon wine, they tend to become loyal subscribers.”
Keeping his subscribers happy is critical, says Danehower. “It is very gratifying to have won the Beard Award. Even though I’m producing a relatively small, regional newsletter, I am committed to giving my readers the best possible writing, reviewing, and reporting on what I believe is one of the most exciting wine regions in the world,” he says. “I see this award from the Beard Foundation as evidence that I am succeeding, but in the end it is satisfied subscribers that spells success!”
The James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards are acknowledged as the highest honors for food and beverage writers. Established in 1992, the Beard Journalism Awards recognize print and online journalists for their excellence in reporting on food and beverage-related subjects. The awards are open to any journalist in the United States and Canada for work published in the previous calendar year. Work is judged by leading journalists and editors not covering the food and wine field, and by retired food and beverage writers.
Now that his Oregon Wine Report has been named the top food and wine newsletter in the nation, Danehower is looking for some wider exposure. “A lot of people think of Oregon as pretty remote. But we are home to one of the most vibrant, creative, and individualistic food and wine cultures in the country. When I started the Oregon Wine Report there were about 125 wineries in the state—now there are nearly 300 and most of them are small, quality-oriented operations that produce limited quantities of true hand-crafted wines. Their small production means that the big wine magazines and newsletters don’t have much incentive to do regular and in-depth reporting on Oregon—but I do. So if people want to really understand what’s going on in Oregon wine, I think they have to read my newsletter—it’s the only place where they can get the whole story on the Oregon wines they love!”
