The Humble Beginning…

Lee Mankin’s vineyard and wine experience began in college when he spent a year and half studying in Florence, Italy. He left Italy to pursue a career in dentistry, but returned to his passion in his “encore career” when he and his wife, Vicki, came to the Rogue Valley in 2002 in search of an ideal area to start a vineyard.

The Mankins bought two orchards they thought were best suited to grow grapes, established Carpenter Hill Vineyard, and planted Merlot and Syrah.  Lee attended every seminar on viticulture he could find and joined the Rogue Valley Winegrowers Association, later becoming president of the board.  The area was exploding with new producers and high-quality wines. But, there was no organized marketing effort to promote these new Southern Oregon wines.

Joe Ginet of Plaisance Ranch, Cal Schmidt of Schmidt Family Vineyards, and Mankin saw the need to promote their region and started thinking about a way to introduce the area’s wines to the consuming public – and that was the beginning of the World of Wine Festival.  The trio believed that if they could educate locals of the amazing wine being produced in their backyards, it would build pride and consumption for the region.

Mankin, Schmidt and Ginet financed the first World of Wine Festival with their own credit cards. They invited 25 wineries, made the food themselves, and paid a local band for entertainment. One criterion for participation was that all wine had to have been made from Southern Oregon fruit. Three hundred tickets were sold the first year. The following year, WOW petitioned the Oregon Wine Board for a grant to help underwrite the Festival. The grant proposal was accepted and the organizing committee began to grow WOW into what it is today.  Ginet, Schmidt and Mankin are still on the WOW committee, which has grown to include 12 separate sub-committees.

Last year, 750 people attended WOW from 13 different states and two foreign countries. Forty-eight wineries participated, pouring more than 120 different wines.  The Festival has added a game of chance, silent auction, golf tournament and a professionally judged wine competition. Judges are invited to come to this region to taste and evaluate submitted wines using world-class standards.

This year’s World of Wine Festival is on Saturday, August 28^th from 5:00-9:00 p.m. at Del Rio Vineyards in Gold Hill.  A portion of the silent auction proceeds will go to the Southern Oregon Wine Institute at Umpqua Community College. Tickets are available online or for purchase at Del Rio Vineyards, RoxyAnn Winery, Elegance Fine Wines, Schmidt Family Vineyards and Pacific Wine Club.