RoxyAnn Winery

My sister who lives in California was planning a visit to the Rogue Valley to take in a Shakespeare play or two, explore Ashland, and dine at a few restaurants. She noted that she and her husband only had Saturday afternoon to spend tasting wine and she wanted my advice about where to go. I suggested RoxyAnn Winery in Medford.

I’m sure she was surprised that I didn’t tick off three or four wineries, but I felt confident in my recommendation. I told her that at RoxyAnn Winery, she’d experience locally produced wines and fruit orchards in an historic setting. She seemed hesitant, but I reassured her, “Don’t worry, you’ll love it.”

I visited RoxyAnn on an earlier occasion and had been delighted to find a tasting room located inside a restored white and green-trimmed barn, a structure that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its interior is light, colorful, spacious, and populated by friendly, well-trained staff. RoxyAnn wines are available for purchase here, along with a number of other Oregon wines that are custom-crushed at the RoxyAnn winemaking facility.

Gus Janeway is the chief winemaker for RoxyAnn Winery, as well as for a half-dozen other Oregon wineries that use RoxyAnn’s winemaking facility. In between pressing and bottling, Gus serves as the president of the Rogue Valley Chapter of the Oregon Winegrowers Association. He also finds time to produce wine under his own label, Velocity (sold inside the RoxyAnn tasting room). When it comes to RoxyAnn wines, the list of varietals is extensive — pinot gris, viognier, merlot, syrah, and tempranillo — and it also produces dessert wines and red blends. My sample of RoxyAnn’s claret (a Bordeaux blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and cabernet franc) had me fishing for my wallet to buy a bottle to take home.

Throughout the summer, RoxyAnn is an active participant in the Community Supported Agriculture program, a program that supports local growers of fruits, herbs, flowers, and vegetables. Program members pick up their boxes of fresh produce at the winery.

My sister’s trip? My sister Carole and her husband Bob had a fabulous time and noted that they had no problem finishing off a bottle of RoxyAnn’s Parsons Reserve while enjoying the outdoor gardens. I knew they would. Perhaps James Joyce said it best, as quoted in RoxyAnn’s literature, “What is better than to sit at the end of the day and drink wine with friend?”