2025 Double Gold - Best in Class - Best in Show Specialty

A rebel goes north to southern Oregon...

In the San Joaquin Valley of California, the name Quady means world-renowned dessert wines and aperitifs, orange muscats that explode like a sunburst on the tongue.

A second-generation winemaker, it would have been easy for Herb Quady to stick with the family business. But Herb Quady has never done the easy thing....or the expected thing.

So, Quady went north to Oregon to build his own winemaking career. To a place where the wine industry still welcomes rebellious sorts that don’t take themselves too seriously. He started making big reds and bright whites, leading with unusual varietals, like Grenache Blanc and Mourvedre, Viognier and Cabernet Franc. Herb loves to shock folks by selling some of his wines as box wines – enclosed inside ammo boxes.

These days he can be found in the tasting room, or at Barrel 42 - a new 40,000 square foot, state-of-the-art winemaking facility, incubating a few dozen small producers from across the state. When he isn't in the winery, he is generally in one of dozens of vineyards he helps steward through Applegate Valley Vineyard Management.

Named by the Oregon Wine Press "2023 Winery Person of the Year", the rebel is building quite a reputation, with folks all around wearing t-shirts proclaiming, “Herb is my winemaker.” Which leads to an important question: Can you still be a rebel when you’re the king?