Interview
This interview is with Morgan White of Amaterra. In this interview, Morgan talks about her career in the wine industry, from moving to Oregon without having a harvest job lined up to becoming the winemaker at Amaterra.
Morgan shares about going to the University of Florida for physiology & kinesiology with plans of becoming a physical therapist. After graduation, she and a friend visited Mendoza, Argentina, and she fell in love with the wine culture there. Upon returning to Florida, she took a sommelier course and began working at wine bars and restaurants.
Morgan talks about her first harvest in 2017 at Apolloni Vineyards and becoming their cellar master. There, she learned to solve problems in the moment, which helped her become a better winemaker. She also began working with Matt Vuylsteke, Amaterra’s founding winemaker, as the fruit was processed at the Apolloni facility.
Later in the interview, Morgan discusses joining the Amaterra team for the 2021 harvest. The multi-floor winery was still under construction, so she again learned to pivot and make things work while the site was in flux. Now as winemaker, she is enjoying finding her unique winemaking voice and trying new things.
This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Amaterra in Portland on April 14, 2026.
INTERVIEW
This interview is with Matt Vuylsteke of Amaterra Winery. In this interview, Matt speaks about growing up around wine in the Portland area and his subsequent study of winemaking and the industry at Oregon State.
Matt and his wife Nancy started 51Weeks Winemaking as a passion project while Matt worked in government and consulting related to wine sales.
Matt discusses working with the team at Amaterra to develop architecture and technology to support Amaterra’s gravity-flow winemaking technique, as well as his impressions of the Oregon wine industry past, present, and future.
This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Amaterra Winery in Portland on January 10, 2023.