Chris & Hilary Berg - Roots Winery
“A sip of place”

It was a sip of Premier Cru Chablis at the age of twelve when Chris Berg first tasted the magic of fermented grapes. Two decades later he unearths this magic and beauty with his own wines and winemaking.

His path to Roots and Oregon was not direct, yet fused with vision. During his early years in Idaho, family vacations to Oregon wine country fed the Berg clan with dreams of one day returning to root in the Pacific Northwest soil. After Midwest meanderings and college in Kansas, he and his parents moved to Oregon in 1998 to run a large machinery company and to plant grape vines.

Two years later they closed the machinery company and dived into the wine industry fulltime. Berg revels in the artistry of winemaking, "crafting something that can be aged and enjoyed with friends over dinner." He illustriously likens his wines to "a female bodybuilder, minus the steroids." Or in wine speak, "A wine that has finesse, but depth and strength to age well."

The Roots label (designed by wife Hilary) reflects their passion for taste of place. As place reflects the soul of a person, so it reflects the soul of wine.

Indie spirit for Berg means "living and breathing the winery," from cultivating vines and blending wine to marketing and branding an Artisan label. From his first three barrels in 2002 to 2000 cases in 2006, the winery is expanding in production and relationships. Like other Indie winemakers, Berg can narrate a lexicon of mentors throughout the years, and finds this esprit de corps in the essence of the Oregon wine industry.

Since that defining sip of magic two decades ago to tasting his own 2005 Crosshairs Cuvee Pinot Noir, Berg knows that what he loves about wine is "The people that surround it."