A
bottle of wine should be
the centerpiece of a ta-
ble, whenever friends and
family come together. The occa-
sion could be a birthday, Thanks-
giving or Christmas; but also, the
more tragic events where fami-
ly should come together around
a table in celebration. A bottle of
wine might also be the way you
relax of an evening at the kitch-
en table and have a conversa-
tion once the children are in bed.
These are the types of experiences
that husband and wife team; Lau-
ra and Bryan from Hazelfern Cel-
lars envision that they deliver from
their family-run winery in Portland.
When Laura and Bryan met in
2006, their shared love of wine
turned into a passion-based hob-
by of wine making from their
driveway; where they produced
two-hundred cases. When an
event made Laura and Bryan look
at their life; they found that they
no longer in a place where fear
was holding them back. With the
removal of fear, they moved to
their current location, taking their
hobby to a consumer scale win-
ery, producing two-thousand
cases, knowing that this is the
path they are supposed to be on.
“Wine is so expressive and is such
a great way to capture the story of
what is happening with each vin-
tage and each year. I remember
when I was in the hospital giv-
ing birth to Ava during harvest of
2013, and Bryan kept leaving the
hospital to run home and attend
to the fermenting grapes in our
basement. Even though I wanted
to kill him at the time, I appreci-
ate it now because every time we
open a bottle of our 2013’s we get
to relive that memory. The wines
literally tell the story of those fran-
tic punchdowns and the birth
of our daughter." -Laura Laing
Living on-site at the winery, their
family lives in the original and his-
toric house from the 1550s and
have converted one of the barns
from the late 1800s into the win-
ery. Living on-site also means that
Laura and Bryan face the ‘work
life balance’ syndrome of manag-
ing their business and family life at
the same time, from one location.
Laura’s view on this is, being able
to multitask and deal with whatev-
er life throws at you without fear.
With a background in retail market-
ing for global brands, Laura focuses
on the marketing side of the busi-
ness, but also makes the rosé they
produce; while Bryan is their ‘chief
winemaker’, whose focus is on the
production of all of their red wines.
Their favorite experiences to
date are two-fold: the people
that they have had been able
to meet; but also, not knowing
where their path will lead them.
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