A winery wasn’t the first Columbia Gorge-based business for Jure Poberaj and Nina Jimenez. The couple founded and formerly owned White Salmon Bakery and Soča Wine Bar in White Salmon, Washington. These seemingly disparate businesses share a common thread.
“We want to work with traditional forms, whether it’s making bread or wine, and bring them into the modern era,” says Poberaj.
Recently, Poberaj and Jimenez sold their popular wood-fired bakery and wine bar to focus on growing grapes and making wine on their 10-acre homestead on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. Poberaj has a finance degree from Portland State University and a winemaking certificate from Cornell University. Jimenez has a degree in viticulture and farming practices from University of Washington. The couple brings their expertise in growing grapes and producing wine to their Columbia Gorge AVA winery.
One thing that makes this winery unique is the use of qvevris, terra cotta pots that have been used for centuries in the eastern-European country of Georgia. Poberaj learned this method of winemaking from his uncle, Joško Gravner, who is considered the father of natural winemaking in Italy.
In the early 2000s, Gravner abandoned modern winemaking methods for the more traditional use of qvevris to make wine on land that straddles Italy and Slovenia. The parcel had been in the family for generations. Gravner is known for using Italian grapes such as Friulano, Ribolla Gialla and Nebbiolo. Poberaj learned winemaking from his uncle and brought these practices to his Gorge-based winery.
Qvevris are handmade terracotta vessels lined with beeswax as an antiseptic and to smooth out cracks. They can range in size from small to enormous. The qvevris at Poberaj are between 700 to 1,800 liters. They were imported from Georgia where only a small number of artisans produce them. At Poberaj Winery they’re buried underground to control the temperature of the contents. Whole clusters of grapes are placed in the qvevris. They are left uncovered during fermentation and then sealed with a food-grade barrel sealing and marble. Red wines are kept in the qvevri for primary fermentation then aged in Italian neutral oak.
Poberaj’s orange wines are fermented and then aged for 6-7 months on their skins in the qvevris, then go into 10HL Botti for about three years. The beeswax lining in the qvevris slows down oxidation and blocks microbes while allowing a bit of minerality into the wine. The oval shaped vessel allows grapes to move around buoyed by the bubbles of fermentation. The wine isn’t filtered and Poberaj uses minimum intervention in the winemaking. Each bottle is filled by hand. They will be pressing their grapes from 2024 in the next week or two.
Poberaj and Jimenez are currently growing three acres of wine grapes featuring those same unusual varietals familiar to Joško Gravner: Nebbiolo, Friulano and Ribolla Giallo. Their goal is to grow all their own grapes for the winery. For now, they source grapes from Columbia Gorge vineyards such as Oakridge Vineyard in Husum, Washington, and Analemma Estate in Mosier, Oregon.
The Ribolla Gialla cuttings were from Steve Matthiasson, who came to know this varietali through Napa Valley vintner and businessman George Vare. It was Vare who visited the winery of Poberaj’s uncle, Joško Gravner, decades ago and brought a dozen vine cuttings of Ribolla Gialla to plant in the Napa Valley. The cuttings Matthiasson gave to Poberaj originate from his uncle’s vineyard in Friuli, Italy.
Like Gravner and Vare, Poberaj is trying something new and untested. Wine grapes have been grown for decades in this breathtakingly gorgeous region that straddles the Columbia River. It’s an area filled with possibilities for winemakers interested in shaping the future of this wine region. The climate here varies dramatically in a short distance. On the west side of the Cascade Mountains it gets roughly 99 inches of rain per year, and the east side gets as little as 20 inches.
Same goes with the soils as you change elevation. Down low you have the soil deposits which are fertile and left over from the Missoula Floods, and as you increase in elevation, you start getting into the volcanic ash and basalt. “I chose this area for its diversity and uniqueness for growing grapes in such a small area, with so many soil and climate variations. I hope to one day have Ribolla planted throughout the Gorge to really learn where it does well and where it does not,” says Poberaj.
Poberaj Winery wine can be found at Soĉa and in Portland, Oregon, at Providore, Coquine, Noble Rot, and Veno. It’s distributed by Prufrock Wines. Poberaj and Jimenez in the process of opening a tasting room to allow visitors to see their unique wine making practices and sip their unique wine. They hope to open in spring or fall of 2025.
