Interview
This interview is with Doug & Dionne Irvine of Irvine & Roberts Vineyards. In this interview, Doug and Dionne talk about moving to Ashland to raise their family, discovering a love for wine in Europe, and beginning their brand.
Dionne shares about growing up in Los Angeles county until high school, when her family moved to Brookings. Though she now realizes that she developed a fondness for Oregon at that time, she went back to California after graduation and started her real estate career. She met Doug when he came to her to purchase a house.
Doug talks about growing up on a ranch near Jacksonville and moving to Huntington Beach for high school. He went to college at UC Irvine and stayed in the area after graduation. He also played baseball growing up, and for a short stint in Australia.
Later in the interview, Doug and Dionne discuss moving back to Oregon to raise their daughters. Unbeknownst to them, they had purchased a site that was perfect for growing Burgundian varietals like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. After falling in love with wine in Europe, they wanted to begin planting vines in Ashland in 2007.
As they started to produce more wine, they moved winemaking operations to Quady North/Barrel 42, where Brian Gruber was part of the team. After the completion of the tasting room and winery building onsite, they hired Vince Vidrine to oversee winemaking. When he left to pursue wine elsewhere, Brian Gruber came on as their head winemaker once again, but this time in their own facility.
This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Irvine & Roberts Vineyards in Ashland on March 16, 2026.
Thank you to the Oregon Wine Board for generously supporting this interview as part of our Southern Oregon 2026 tour!
Interview
This interview is with Brian Gruber of Irvine & Roberts Vineyards. In this interview, Brian talks about growing up in Minnesota and then attending the Air Force Academy. He talks about his career in the military, including some of the specific projects he worked on.
He then talks about his growing interest in wine, first as a consumer and then his desire to grow his own grapes and make his own wine. He talks about the decision to move to Oregon and the various places he has worked in the industry, including helping to found Barrel 42 and now making wine at Irvine & Roberts. He speaks about the growth of the industry, his own vineyard in the Rogue Valley, and what comes next.
This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Irvine & Roberts Vineyards in Grants Pass on March 16, 2026.
Thank you to the Oregon Wine Board for generously supporting this interview as part of our Southern Oregon 2026 tour!