Bryan Berenguer: Oral History Interview

This interview is with Bryan Berenguer at Chemeketa and Human Cellars. In this interview, Bryan begins by speaking about his life before wine. He discusses traveling to different places in the world, including Myanmar where he lived for several years. During his time in Myanmar, Cyclone Nargis hit and Bryan took a job at a Nargis Recovery Program in a German company. He describes his experience living there for over three years, what it was like working there, and what it was like leaving. He goes on to tell us about his visits to Germany and France and his first real introduction to the wine industry, as well as what it was like went he went back to visit Myanmar once more. When he begins speaking about the wine world, he describes getting a degree in viticulture and enology, managing a vineyard in Germany, and finally getting a job teaching at Chemeketa. He goes over how biodiversity and biodynamics can be improved in the vineyards, how new technology can be included, and what practices he employs. He also talks about the effects of smoke from the 2020 summer fires, and what effect they had on the grapes and the classroom environment. He ends by telling us his predictions for the future of the Oregon wine industry and how 2020 may affect the Oregon wine community. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Bryan’s home in Dundee on February 26, 2021.