Kim Voelz mixes her winery's Cabin Red blend in 2023. Volez uses a combination of traditional and American wine-making methods. K Voelz Wines plans to open a tasting room in La Grande in June 2024.

LA GRANDE — Kim Voelz’s goal has been to have her own winery.

Voelz established K Voelz Wines in September 2022 and the La Grande-based winery will host its 2024 spring release of wine on June 8 at its new tasting room and winery, The Cellar Door, 1104 Jefferson Ave.

In 2007, Voelz graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in food science and technology and optional fermentation science. In addition to her degree, she has 20 years of work experience in wineries.

“I met my husband, Vernon, 13 years ago when we were living in Corvallis,” she said. “When he got a job in California, we moved there where I worked for some very large wineries.”

Their plan was to eventually return to the Grande Ronde Valley and build a winery on her in-laws’ century-old farm property on Fruitdale Lane by Riverside Park. Her in-laws own and operate the Riverside Greens miniature golf course.

“We were planning to have all the wine processing on the property on Fruitdale Lane, but there are some restrictions due to the residential farm zoning, and I couldn’t do the wine processing part of my business there,” she said.

However, Voelz is allowed to plant a vineyard there, so with her husband’s help, she will be planting a 10-acre vineyard on the property, starting with a 1-acre test plot.

“It was the best area to plant because that’s where Vernon’s grandfather once grew vegetables for Del Monte,” she said. “It was a fruitful area for that. I’ll see how it turns out for grapes.”

Voelz has developed a special rosé in honor of her own grandparents called LeBet, derived from a combination of their first names, LeRoy and Betty. So far, she has used grapes from Richland to produce this wine. Her plan is to use the grapes from her first acre on the Fruitdale property to continue making that rosé.

“My grandpa passed away last year, and I’d like to dedicate that first acre of grapes to continue making LeBet,” she said.

To start her vineyard on Fruitdale Lane, Voelz purchased some test vines from a nursery in the Tri-Cities. The older ones are 8 years old, and she planted them “here and there on the property” to see how they do in the soil. If they look good, she will plant the test acre next spring, and her first harvest will be in 2028 or 2029 at the earliest.

“I’ll put a drip system in for our first acre and expand with irrigation in coming years as we go,” she said.

Although this has been her dream, she credits her husband for being the motivator behind the whole winery project. She feels she’s ahead of schedule in meeting her goals because of his determination and drive.

A new winery locationSince the farm property is zoned residential farming, Voelz was not able to build a winery there. However, just then, a building on Jefferson Avenue became available for sale, so Voelz looked at it and decided that with some remodeling it would make a great location downtown for her winery and tasting room.

The 1104 Jefferson Ave. building was once the Epling Building, newly built in early 1948 and leased out that year to Fondren Motors with Nash Sales & Service. In 1963 the Harmon Motor Company moved there from its former Adams Avenue site, and about 1984 it became Blue Mountain Auto Parts. The same owners changed it to Car Quest and then to Napa Auto Parts.

The latter business operated there until February 2023, when it relocated to Island Avenue.

The interior has been redesigned to retain the automotive ambiance of the building’s rich history.

“We purchased the old Napa Auto Parts building in August 2023, and we are getting it presentable to have a spring release party in June in the 3,000-square-foot showroom area,” Voelz said.

There are a lot of moving parts with the remodeling work, including scheduling with contractors, so some delays have been inevitable.

“I’m also applying for grants to update the building, (including) the roof,” she said. “I’m going to have our full production facility at that address as well.”

Voelz said she will call the building The Cellar Door and it will carry other things besides her wines.

“I’m hoping to have space for other local creators I met at the farmers market, ones that produce packaged foods, candle makers and women entrepreneurs,” she said.

The winery processFor the past few years, Voelz has been producing vintage wines without her own vineyard or winery. She’s been accomplishing this by sourcing grapes from other growers and custom crushing them at Travis Cook’s Copper Belt Winery in Keating.

“He’s been my mentor for the business side of our winery,” she said. “When we moved over here, I reached out to him and he’s also been a tremendous help with our new winery downtown.”

In the first year of business, Voelz sourced all her grapes from Richland. Her 2023 vintage included a pinot gris that she sourced from the Willamette Valley. She also sourced fruit from Keating as an added product.

Voelz prefers making dry wines and she uses a combination of traditional and American wine-making methods. Not all her wines are aged in oak barrels, she said.

Her cabernet spends a little time aging in a former bourbon barrel from a distillery in Eastern Oregon. So, her methods vary widely, but that’s all part of her proprietary secrets.

“Our red wines from 2021 are still aging,” Voelz said. “The 2022 vintage will hopefully be available this fall.”

Some K Voelz Wines selections age in neutral barrels and some in new oak barrels, whereas the rosé, pinot gris and white wines immediately go in the bottle and are released.

Currently, the K Voelz Wines may be purchased in La Grande at Market Place Fresh Foods and at the Landing Hotel.

“Once we have our June 8 spring release party, we will be opening on the weekends from (the Jefferson Avenue) location,” she said. “By then, our store hours will be posted on Facebook and Instagram.”