Vineyard laborer to head winemaker

In 2013, the Oregonian’s Katharine Cole wrote, “Jesús Guillén may be the most driven and intellectually gifted winemaker working in Oregon today.” Five years later, at age 38, he was gone. Cancer cut short the life of one of Oregon’s most extraordinary winemakers, whose wines were only surpassed by the path he took to become a winemaker.

Jesús came to Oregon to be close to his father. He had a computer engineering degree, but poor English skills. So, he found work in the vineyard and cellar at White Rose Estate. To expand his skills (and work on his English), he bought all the books assigned by a viticulture program (but didn’t enroll) and spent his free time quizzing local winemakers about their work. By 2008, he was White Rose’s head winemaker.

And in 2009, he won the highest Wine Advocate score ever awarded for an Oregon Pinot Noir. High praise for a man who was never professionally trained and who began his wine career laboring in the fields.

So, in 2009, he started producing under his own label, Guillén Family Wines. Jesús may be gone, but his legacy lives on – in the form of ¡Ahi Voy!, a nonprofit organization he had envisioned to support Latinx vineyard workers seeking to advance in the wine industry.