Since it's founding, Adventures In Wine has continued to grow beyond it's original concept.
In March of 1994, company founders Kathy Reese and Fay Westenhofer were both employed in the insurance industry. Both had been wine touring in Oregon, Washington and California for several years.
Kathy and Fay were members of an insurance organization that was planning a conference in Portland. Ideas for pre-conference tours were tossed around and wine touring won the bid.
Fay planned an accompanied the bus tour with 30 participants. "Our goal was to have fun and break even," she said. What in fact happened was a profit for the local hosting association.
Jokingly, the two commented that "there is a business in this." Time went by and Fay was notified that her company was downsizing, her position would be eliminated. They both thought, "perhaps we should do this".
A few days before Fay's job ended, Kathy was laid off from her office. She called Fay at work and said, "I really think that we need to investigate this".
The two set out to investigate wine tours as a business. They met with local winemakers, tasting room staff members, hotel concierge and meeting planners. The response was very positive. Within a few months, they were booking small and large tours.
The company began it's life as Northwest Wine Tours in July of 1994. In September of 1994, Kathy began working in the tasting room at Autumn Wind Vineyards ( now Patricia Green Cellars) where she can still be found on holiday weekends. This gave the company a good backing from the wine industry.
After only a few months, the two began to branch out planning in-home tastings as well as presenting a midweek wine tasting in the lobby of the Silver Cloud Hotel in Northwest Portland twice a month. "This meant that our name no longer truly fit the business," commented Kathy. The name was changed to Adventures In Wine. "This allows us to do tours, other events and sell wine related products," she said. With a chuckle, "It also put us at the top of the list in the phone book!"
In 1996, Fay returned to the insurance industry full time and left Adventures In Wine, although she and her husband still assist by conducting tours from time to time. "And we still have our annual company Holiday Party for three," said Kathy. "Although Fay is no longer employed with the company, she and her husband will always be an important part of the team."
Over the years, Kathy has continued to work in other facets of the wine business. She moved from the tasting room at Autumn Wind to marketing the wines to retailers once the winery was sold to Patty Green and former Autumn Wind employee Jim Anderson. She has worked as a Wine Steward at Lamb's Marketplace in Troutdale and Fred Meyer Raleigh Hills. She is also the author of the biweekly wine column, The Grapevine on KOIN.com as well as a column on Avalonwine.com.
The business has planned tours for such names as Intel, Tektronix, the American Association of Plastic Surgeons, National Association of Insurance Women, Women For WineSense (nope, that is not a typo), Mentor Graphics, the Iowa Farm Bureau, the International Food and Wine Society as well as countless smaller private groups. You can see some of their comments here
Where is Adventures In Wine heading? Into the future with great events in mind! We will be planning more Riedel Glass Tastings, Corporate Events, Tours, Dinners and much more. Stay tuned to our website for information on our upcoming events. We hope to see you at many of them!