Newsletter Archives > Wine/Winemaking

Mike Eyres, Winemaker

By Harry Peterson-Nedry

Harry Peterson-Nedry & Mike Eyres, Chehalem Winemakers

Chehalem Winemakers: Harry Peterson-Nedry and Mike Eyres, old and new, slow and fast! (Photo: Marvin Collins)

It is with pleasure that I announce that Mike Eyres has moved from the assistant winemaker role to assuming full operational winemaker duties at Chehalem. As such, Mike is the field general, coordinating logistics, people, winery purchases, and winemaking tasks. He shares winemaker responsibilities with me, him the day-to-day orchestration of equipment, data, and fermentation lots and me senior responsibilities, such as process, wine style, vineyard maturity, and long vacations.

Truth be told, Mike's the one who has to take longer vacations, back home to New Zealand, having come to Chehalem in 2001 to work as a harvest intern. He impressed everyone with his technical rigor, industriousness, and the fastest run-and-leap ever on our crushpad. Before he got away that year, we invited him to come back full-time in May 2002. During the harvest of 2003, Mike met Hilary Chamberlain, who worked with him side-by-side on the harvest crew. The rest is history as they were married in 2006 and are now living in Portland.

A graduate of Lincoln University, New Zealand, with a bachelor's in viticulture and oenology, Mike has worked in vineyards and wineries in New Zealand as well as Oregon. He is technically very strong, very well organized, and thorough, particularly in data gathering, and has an exceptionally acute tasting palate. An especially helpful skill of Mike’s is his knowing when to get my advice and input on critical decisions, and when to keep me in the dark (probably the really critical decisions).

When he is not at the winery, Mike is likely careening along an Oregon waterway in his kayak, keeping up with the Portland restaurant scene, and drinking beer.