Division Winemaking Co.

Division Winemaking Company is a Portland, Oregon based winery founded in 2010 by Kate Norris and Thomas Monroe. Inspired by the wineries of the Loire, Beaujolais, Burgundy and the Northern Rhone where they first learned winemaking and viticulture, the urban winery creates Oregon and Washington wines including Pinot Noir, Gamay, Chardonnay, Rosés of multiple varietals , Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Côt, Syrah, and Grenache.
Determined to make approachable and balanced wines through minimal manipulation, Kate and Tom have a passion to work with well farmed terroir expressive vineyards, many of which are organic and/or Biodynamic®, celebrating the varietals they as winemakers love to drink.
Division Winemaking Company includes the flagship Division label, the more approachable Division-Villages label, the Gamine brand inspired by the Rhone Valley and a personal expression of co-founder Kate Norris’ love of the region, as well as the experimental Tripod Project label, a collaboration between co-winemaker Tom Monroe, Barnaby Tuttle of Teutonic Wine and Jesse Skiles of Fausse Piste. Division Winemaking Company is also a member of the PDX Urban Wineries Association.
Division Winemaking Company represents a new generation of winemakers that are looking beyond the status quo to create unique styles of wine, with a purpose, a story and without barriers.
Both Tom and Kate have been passionate about wine for most of their lives, for Tom it was when he started an entry level sommelier course in college, for Kate is was spending time at her family home in the Loire Valley, France. The both decided to trade cubicles for winery cellars and France proved to be a perfect place for their immersion into viticulture and enology.
Starting with no grape farming or production experience, they crafted Pinot Noir, Gamay and Chardonnay at Domaine Sauvat during the 2009 season and harvest, followed by internships in Beaujolais and Burgundy. They each completed an intensive eight-month private viticulture and enology program with both classroom and field study in the vineyards and wineries of Burgundy, Beaujolais and the Northern Rhone.
Norris and Monroe arrived in Oregon in early 2010 with youthful energy and armed with the wealth of experience and knowledge that they learned in France. Not being taught the more traditional New World winemaking methodologies most commonly seen on the West Coast, provided the opportunity to start their own winery uninfluenced by the New World norms. The wine company has become an ambassador for the new generation of Portland produced wines and serves as a guide to the hottest upcoming varietals and wines such as Gamay Noir, Chenin Blanc, and old world style rosés.
In 2016, Norris and Monroe were named to Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40 tastemakers list. DWC has been named an Oregon Winery to Watch by Wine Press Northwest, a top urban winery by Wine Enthusiast, Punch, Wine Spectator and winemakers to watch in the San Francisco Chronicle article All you wanted to know about this year’s Winemakers to Watch. DWC wines have been featured in a number of articles including the Division 2012 Willamette Valley Gamay Noir as the number one pick by Eric Asimov in the New York Times article Wines for Thanksgiving the Refresh the Palate, in 2016 Asimov listed Division Winemaking Company among the Willamette Valley’s excellent small producers of pinot noir, and Portland Monthly selected the 2015 Division-Villages Les Petits Fers Gamay Noir as one of Oregon’s Top 50 Wines, the 2013 Division-Villages “Les Petits Fers” Gamay Noir in the San Francisco Chronicle article 2014 Top 100 Wines: Zinfandel and Other Reds, and was featured in a 2016 Punch article on wineries pioneering the Oregon-Loire Valley confluence. The inaugural #DrinkChenin day was featured in the Wall Street Journal, and their Chenin Blanc was featured by Eater in 2016. The 2011 Gamay Noir was also the only wine from the United States to win a gold medal at the 2014 International Competition of Gamay in France. Find more information at www.divisionwinco.com, Facebook Division Winemaking Company, Twitter @divisionwineco or by calling 503-208-2061.
Twitter: @divisionwineco | Facebook: Division Winemaking Company | Instagram: Division @divisionwineco, Tom @winestache, Kate @truegamine
  
Current Varietals
Chenin Blanc
Chardonnay
Sauvignon Blanc
Gamay
Pinot Noir
Cabernet Franc
Côt
Syrah
Grenache