Blessed by Wine

UMPQUA — The word “prayer” is in the name. The label on the bottle talks about a church family and mission efforts.

A few friends of Stephen and Gloria Reustle told the couple that including religion in their marketing for Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyard would be a bad idea.

In fact, these friends — successful friends, Harvard-educated friends — told Stephen Reustle it was akin to “shooting himself in the foot.”

There was some worry by the Reustles that the label’s line reading “The grapes were hand harvested by our Church family; harvest proceeds went to Romania mission efforts” might be a bust for their family business.

They soon realized that wasn’t the case. Wine drinkers generally care about one aspect of the wine above all else.

It has to taste good.

Stephen Reustle was convinced he had achieved that after an Alaskan couple stopped in the Umpqua tasting room. The man asked if the Reustles were Christians.

Stephen and Gloria Reustle told him that, in fact, they are Christians.

“He said, ‘I’m a pagan, but I don’t care what you are. Your wine tastes pretty damn good,’” Stephen Reustle recalled.


LIKE BURGUNDY, FRANCE

The Reustle —pronounced “Russel” — family moved to Douglas County in 2000. They planted their vineyard in 2001.

Stephen Reustle, 51, had owned a direct marketing company in New York for 17 years. In late 1997 his business merged with a public company. Reustle was able to retire.

Instead of taking it easy, the Reustles decided to pursue their passion for wine as a new profession.

They relocated from their home in eastern Pennsylvania, one hour south of Manhattan, N.Y., to San Francisco. They planned to purchase a vineyard in Sonoma and even put money down on a property.

Then, Stephen Reustle found another site that caught his eye. It was in Douglas County, Oregon.

Reustle rented a Winnebago and headed for Oregon. When he came upon the property he found online, and the property he now calls home, he was struck by the shape and grade of the land and the vegetation of the grounds.

“I felt like I was in Burgundy, France,” he said.

He stayed in a Roseburg hotel that night. The next morning he went for a jog in Stewart Park.

He first passed a mother and father playing Wiffle Ball with their children. After jogging another 50 yards, he saw an older couple holding hands while watching the Umpqua River.

That ordinary jog convinced him Douglas County was a place to raise a family and also grow old.

“That was the clincher for me,” he said.


“MY HUSBAND IS BRILLIANT”

With their new home set, there was still one important element left to the Reustles’ plan.

Growing grapes.

Stephen Reustle learned much about the trade from books. He also talks about help he’s received from other winemakers, but his wife said it’s much simpler than that.
“My husband is brilliant, OK,” Gloria Reustle, 39, said.

The Reustles invested in high technology for their operation. There are soil moisture monitors that radio back statistics to a tasting room computer every 10 minutes. A giant propeller stands in the middle of rows of grapes, and will be used to fight frost.

There’s also a machine that drops berries to a conveyor before they go to the fermentation bin with eight or so people picking out any twigs, bugs or immature berries that made it through the usual sorting process.

It’s a machine that not every winery uses, but Stephen Ruestle said a few standout winemakers do.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to copy,” he said.

Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyard’s winery opened in April. It didn’t take long to earn some lofty praise.

After tasting the Reustles’ wine at the Southern Oregon Winery Association trade testing this year, David Holstrom, president of wine consulting firm Guy du Vin wrote, “My impression is that Reustle has the potential to produce some of the best wine in the Pacific NW.”

The letter also said it is “one of the prettiest wineries in the state.”

“I actually sent this to my mother,” Stephen Reustle said of the letter.


GROWING GRÜNER

Another line from Guy du Vin mentioned excitement for the Reustles to grow Grüner Veltliner, the first such-labeled wine in the country.

Reustle successfully petitioned the Oregon Liquor Control Commission and the Department of Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to approve the grape variety name.

It is an Austrian grape Reustle discovered while traveling through Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other European countries five years ago.

At an Austrian restaurant, he told the waiter “give me the best red and the best white on your list.”

“And he brought out Grüner Veltliner,” Reustle said. “It was just sublime.”

Reustle said he couldn’t find it when he returned to the U.S., but it was getting noticed. The Wall Street Journal highlighted it, saying it’s a “dry, weighty white with remarkable tastes of white pepper and all sorts of citrus and tropical fruits.”

“I think it’s going to be a big hit,” he said.

The winery produced 70 cases of Grüner this year and the plans are to make 150 next year. It produced 200 cases of pinot noir, 300 cases of tempranillo and 2,900 cases total from its 30 acres of grapes.

Reustle said he might like to grow the business to producing 5,000 cases a year. If the business of selling wine starts replacing the passion to make it, though, they’ve gone too far.

“We want to achieve profitability, but we want to have fun doing it,” he said. “We will increase our productivity and stop when we’re not having fun.”


• You can reach reporter Paul Craig at 957-4211 or by e-mail at pcraig@newsreview.info.

IF YOU GO ... WHAT: Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards, owned by Stephen and Gloria Reustle, with supporting cast — their children — Walter, 5, and Tristan, 9. WHERE: 960 Cal Henry Road, Umpqua, next to Norris Farms. HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. TASTING ROOM: The tasting room features a dining room table, instead of a bar. The goal is for tastings to be as much about relationship-building as sampling wine. Appetizers are also served with tastings. PRAYER ROCK: The winery is named for a rock that sits at the peak of a hill of grapes. Stephen Reustle would climb the hill, along with son Walter, turning on the irrigation row by row. At the top, Reustle would stop to catch his breath. “I’m not getting any younger,” he said. In doing so, he’d pray. His son would do the same. One day, after turning on the water, Reustle started to head back down the hill. His son said, “Daddy, we didn’t pray at the rock.” It was then dubbed Prayer Rock, as was the winery. INFORMATION: 459-6060