Bill Sweat and Donna Morris

After years of marriage we decided it was time to expand and test our partnership in new and different ways. Several years ago, while celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, we were reminiscing about the past and dreaming about the future. We were at a planned turning point in our lives with Bill about to leave the corporate world and a promise by me to leave shortly thereafter. We both recall that it was an earlier anniversary discussion – 10 years earlier in fact – that led us to the decision to one day create something together, on our own. We committed to each other that we would do this before our 50th birthdays.

We decided to focus on our shared passion for wine. For years, many of our simple daily decisions as well as long-term planning involved our love of wine. For example, decisions about what we were going to prepare for dinner or which restaurant we wanted to eat at were based on what wine we wanted to drink that night and which restaurants had the best wine lists. Our travel also became centered on visiting some of the great wine regions of the world.

It was in the mid ’90s that the wines of Burgundy became our preference. The elegance and sensuality of Burgundies along with the beautiful way they paired with foods were what attracted us most. Luckily, we have found those same characteristics in the Pinot noir of the Willamette Valley of Oregon. So, in September of 2006 we moved from Boston, Massachusetts, to Dundee, Oregon to fulfill our vision.