Wine pairs well with....Re-entry?
Growing up on a vineyard outside of Newberg, Oregon, it was easy to love the rolling hills and vibrant wine culture of the Willamette Valley. My mother, father, and stepmother are all in the wine industry, but it took me until recently to realize how this place has shaped me.
I first learned how to work in vineyards and wineries, and later as a teenager I sought positions at local farm-to-table restaurants like Tina’s and Recipe, in order to save for college. Chefs and servers alike emphasized wine as a powerful tool for coming together and building community, which was something I had witnessed through the dinner parties at my various childhood homes. I studied cultural anthropology at the University of Oregon, coming home to work harvest on the weekends, all the while learning about the ways that other societies, across time have celebrated the seasons, rites of passage, and holidays. Unsurprisingly, many of these festivities involved wine.This holiday season, I find myself in Newberg once more. It’s a story that I’m sure you’ve heard quite a bit in the last year.
In the year after graduating college, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and I moved back in with my parents to save money. However, I know what you are thinking, “Girl, you majored in cultural anthropology, weren’t you kind of expecting to end up at your parent’s door eventually?” Well, the answer is no!
Let’s rewind, since I grew up in a split household--one home nestled on the edge of downtown Portland and the other a 20 acre farm outside of Newberg--I had witnessed a couple different kinds of inequity in my adolescence. First, the socioeconomic disparity between the Latino and white populations of Yamhill County, and second, the egregious amount of people who live without shelter on the streets in Portland. Both phenomena were etched into my young mind, and over time, they turned into something of a philosophical undertaking for me. I started at the University of Oregon as an art student, but the more I learned about the world through my classes, the more questions I had:
“Why are some people REALLY rich and some people are REALLY poor?”
“Why do people immigrate to America?”
“Have there ALWAYS been so many unsheltered people living on the streets?”
“Why aren’t there more people of color in Oregon?”
“Does every place in the world deal with these issues?”
The list of questions grew to be so enormous that I switched my entire course of study over to Sociology (focused on society in the US) and then Anthropology (global perspectives on social phenomena). Eventually, all my intellectual energy was going towards contemplating social inequities, and it gave rise to my senior honor’s thesis in which I volunteered with, and interviewed, women experiencing homelessness. All throughout college I had served as a volunteer at various organizations aimed at reducing poverty and increasing community health, but nothing had impacted me so starkly as that year with the women at the Eugene Mission Women’s Shelter.
It was such a formative experience for me that I decided to go to graduate school at the London School of Economics to study gender, inequality, and social policy. But of course, the coronavirus had other plans! I found myself deferring my master’s degree, and moving back to Newberg. I knew I wanted to keep serving my community, so I looked for AmeriCorps positions in the Portland area thinking I would help with Habitat for Humanity or mentoring disadvantaged high school students as they applied for college. When lo and behold, a position popped up on my screen, and not just any position, but one in Newberg! It was Remnant Initiatives, looking for an Outreach and Program Development Manager.
Ever since starting with Remnant Initiatives in July, it has been a soul-enriching experience to witness the radical life-changing effects that community support has for folks returning from prison. So many of the women I had volunteered with previously had been involved in the court system at one point or another, and now here I am, helping our returning neighbors avoid homelessness, reconnect with their families, and contribute to greater society in healthier ways than ever before. All in the place that I know and love, Willamette Valley wine country! Without a doubt, I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.
Therefore, I am so pleased to share with you all our most current collaboration with Erich Berg from Ricochet Wines. Some of you may know, Ricochet donates 5% of their profits to Remnant Initiatives, and Erich himself is preparing to volunteer with us when the coronavirus restrictions allow. He shares the belief that wine can be an instrument of community building and has designed his label around giving back to organizations like RI.
Saturday, December 19th at 4pm, we invite you to taste, laugh, and learn with our Executive Director Jodi Hansen and Winemaker Erich Berg as they discuss wine and criminal justice reform in Yamhill County and beyond.
It is $60 to participate in this one-of-a-kind virtual tasting event which covers the discounted expense of 2 bottles of Ricochet wine; the 2019 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, and the 2019 Coventina Vineyards Tempranillo. It has been discounted to $60, with $10 of that coming directly to us at Remnant Initiatives. That's wholesale pricing on the wine, and a contribution to our organization.
Yes, 2 bottles of wine! Invite the people from within your household, or quaranteam or pandemic-pod--that is your inner circle--and plan to share the vino over dinner following the virtual tasting, or enjoy the remainder of the wines over the next couple days.
Navigate to the Ricochet website to make the $60 purchase and we will coordinate a contactless drop-off before the event so that you can login, enjoy some quality wines, and listen to the experts from the comfort of your home.
Please consider joining us for this very special virtual tasting, and I hope to see you there!
Best,
Violet Fox
The “Violet” of MadViolets Wine Co.
Daughter of Kelley Fox of Kelley Fox Wines
Step-daughter of Kelly Kidneigh, Winemaking Consultant
Daughter of Stirling Fox of Stirling Wine Grapes Inc.
Remnant Initiatives, Outreach and Program Development Manager