Michele R.
Yelp
Ecclesiastes 9:7 got this small (about 5,000 cases annually), family owned winery in the soup with Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). True story. A funny, even charming, one.
Stay tuned.
Because first this review is about the wine, the winery and the winery's owners. Which will lead us back to that funny story. As is often the case in life, everything is connected to everything else.
THE WINES: Reustle has been producing wines only since 2004 and offers several bottlings of very good varietals from estate grown grapes including Syrah and Pinot Gris. But it is their Gruner Veltliner and Riesling that we think are remarkable wines.
Reustle may have been one of the first or even the first winery in the U.S. to plant and produce wines from the Austrian varietal Gruner Veltliner. They are one of a growing few wineries in Oregon to produce Riesling. While some vintners may make these food friendly, complex, acid balanced wines as well, arguably none makes them better than Reustle. Particularly notable for such a young winery.
Hypothetically, these two varietals should age well too. But they are so darned good to drink now and so food friendly that it's unlikely we'll keep any around long enough to test the aging.
THE WINERY AND OWNERS Owners Stephen and Gloria Reustle came to Oregon from Pennsylvania in 2001 after Stephen sold a marketing business to start wine making. The marketing expertise shows in everything the winery does, from the site and tastings to the customer information. And this from their web site seems to hold true for visitors: "Prayer Rock Vineyards is a place where visitors feel genuine warmth and where you are treated like old friends." You can see from other Yeeps reviews here on Yelp that visitors feel that sense of being valued.
TASTING FORMAT: Open Tuesday - Saturday 10am to 5pm for tasting. Ten dollar fee includes a small plate with nibbles to try paired with various wines. Five poured during our visits. Unique in that it is done inside the wine "cave" and is served sit down at tables while an expertly produced set of lovely winery photos displays on a flat screen TV. It's cellar temperature, so chilly; take a sweater.
THE STORY OF THE VERSE: Now to the Ecclesiastes verse story and how it almost kept the corks out of the bottle in inaugural year 2004.
One of Reustle's wine making mentors uses a Ghandi quote on his wine corks. He gave Stephan Reustle, a devoutly Christian man, the idea of using a Bible verse on his.
Reustle asked a Sunday school class to suggest a verse. The outcome was Ecclesiastes 9:7 which the version of the Bible used translated as ""Drink your wine with a happy heart. God approves of this." That version of the verse was printed on the corks in the 2004, inaugural, year.
But lo, the TTB did not approve of this! They ruled that the verse was making a therapeutic claim for Reustle wine.
Stop laughing. Or groaning. The TTB was not kidding.
Since the corks with verse printed were already in the bottles in 2004, the TTB relented for only that year but said Reustle could not continue to use the text of the verse, with the "therapeutic claim", on the cork. He could, however, print "Ecclesiastes 9:7". Which is what you'll find on the cork these days.
And that's why it's there. If you ever wondered...as we did. :-)
TRAVEL TIP: You're pretty near Lighthouse Center Bakery, which is in Umpqua, when you are at Reustle. Ask the staff for directions and it is a lovely back roads drive of only a few minutes. Lighthouse is a vegan and vegetarian cafe and bakery making wonderful breads and goodies where you can eat in or take out. Perfect during a day of wine tasting.