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[FOOD & WIne]
A Bountiful Harvest
Jim and Holly Witte’s wedding
picture. Photo courtesy Holly Witte
by Polina Olsen
Holly Witte says she was clever enough
to marry a winery. Jim and Holly
Witte, the husband-wife team that runs
A Blooming Hill Vineyard outside
Cornelius, deliver prize-winning pinot
noir, pinot gris, chardonnay, riesling and
other blushes and blends. Like the 1960s
CBS sitcom Green Acres, where Eddie
Albert and Eva Gabor traded New York
City for a country farm, the Wittes’ (pronounced
Wittey) urban broadcasting careers
evolved to rural life and viticulture.
“We came together late in life,” Holly
Witte said. “We’ve blended a lot of
things, not just our furniture. I took on
the life of a farmer’s wife in the vineyard.
And, we’ve blended our religions and our
respect for each other’s religion.”
Originally a New Yorker, Holly grew
up on Eastern Parkway across from the
Brooklyn Museum. “Union Temple,” she
said, “was my home.” A native Chicagoan,
Jim attended Jesuit Loyola University as a
business major. They first met at his New
York City television production company
in the late 1960s.
32 JULY 2012 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
“About 10,000 years ago I was Jim’s
very bad secretary,” Holly said, explaining
that she and her first husband worked
for Witte, who was also married at the
time. “The company brought mobile unit
capability to events. The first remote
broadcasts from Central Park – Barbara
Streisand concerts, Lincoln Center
productions – came on TV because of
this facility. The company also built the
studios for Sesame Street and the Electric
Company, putting them on the map.”
Anchored in the city, Jim Witte
learned farming from his grandfather and
always dreamed of having his own place.
“His grandfather was a fruit farmer
and made wines in the basement,” Holly
said. “He gave the kids a little nip. When
the retirement mark hit in 2000, Jim
was living in Los Angeles. A friend said,
‘come to Oregon, this will be pinot noir
world.’”
Their parallel lives continued. Holly’s
husband died in 1980; Jim’s wife in 2004.
By that time, Holly lived in Seattle. “A
mutual friend called and suggested we get
Photo courtesy of Jim and Holly Witte
together,” she said. “We had a lovely reunion,
a picnic by the pond. Jim showed
me the early stages of the vineyard. He
started to call, and I told him he was
geographically undesirable. Obviously, he
was persistent. We married in 2006.”
Running a winery
Of course, winemaking doesn’t happen
by itself. Jim attended the viticulture program
at Chemeketa Community College
in Salem, worked at local wineries during
crush time and started planting in 2000.
“It takes about four years to get the first
crop of grapes,” Holly said. “We had our
first commercial vintage in 2008, and
opened the tasting room two years ago
on Memorial Day Weekend.
“It’s been a lot of work,” she continued.
“The hardest part is that you are
completely dependent on the weather.
When the conditions are terrible, you
worry if you’re even going to have a harvest.
But, every harvest is different, and
it’s exciting to see what the bounty of the
earth will be each year.”