Jon Tomaselli: Oral History Interview

This interview is with Jon Tomaselli of Torii Mor Winery. In this interview, Jon talks about his family’s legacy of winemaking and how he has carried that on in the Willamette Valley.Jon talks about growing up in an Italian family with a long history of winemaking. Living in Ohio, his dad and grandpa would purchase grapes from California to make wine at home. Jon first carried on that tradition while living in Arizona.Jon discusses moving to Oregon in 2006 when a job opportunity came up for his wife. After visiting earlier that year to purchase a house and go wine tasting, Jon was once again enraptured by the idea of making wine. The second tasting that trip was at Torii Mor Winery, where Jon introduced himself and asked for a job.Later in the interview, Jon talks about learning commercial winemaking under Jacques Tardy, Torii Mor’s head winemaker. After a very intense first harvest in 2007, Jon quickly made his way up to assistant winemaker. He is very proud of the cohort of people who began their journey at Torii Mor, trained under Jacques and himself, and later went on to become great winemakers elsewhere. He finishes the interview with observations about the state of the wine industry currently and hope for the future.This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Linfield University’s Nicholson Library on February 24, 2026.