Los Rocosos: "What The People Are Hungry For"

Quotes and Pictures Courtesy of Roger Lemstrom

During his time in the US Navy in Vietnam, or his 34 years working for the Federal Government in Human Services, or even as a General Contractor, Roger Lemstrom wouldn’t have believed that his life and career would end up here in Milton-Freewater. One evening a few years back, Roger watched a movie, “The Bottle Shock,” a lesser-known flick about a single, middle-aged, divorced man who quit his law practice to start his own winery. Seeing himself in that character and inspired to make a drastic life change, Roger enrolled in wine school at the Southern Oregon Wine Institute.

After graduation, drawn to this area for its affordability, Roger purchased an established vineyard off of East Side Road and immediately threw himself into farming. The first year, he sold his grapes to other wineries and built his tasting room out on the farm. By 2018 (the second year), he was making wine and winning awards! Medaled in 2018, 2019, and 2020 in the Oregon Wine Experience Awards, Roger’s Mourvèdre, GSM (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre Blend), and his Estate Field Blend all glisten on the shelf in the tasting room. As time went on, he realized that he needed a location that was ADA Accessible and climate-controlled, and he launched his second tasting room on 500 E Broadway Ave this last April.

Up until COVID, Roger had two rooms on Airbnb, which drew in visitors for the total-immersion experience they could have at the vineyard. “These corporate people whose world is surrounded by work and technology, who can’t get out of the house, and all they know is the city: they come out to my tasting room and stand agog, look up at the sky and admire the stars, and they tell me ‘It’s so quiet here. You live in paradise.’” Juxtaposed against big corporate tasting rooms where the experience is curated and follows a pre-determined sales tactic, wine enthusiasts can come out here to a small winery like Los Rocosos and play with chickens, feel the dirt underfoot, touch the grapes, smell the flowers, or see a dead rabbit. “When I first got my dog, Rose, I discovered that she likes to hunt. The visitors [at my winery] might forget my wine, but they’ll never forget that dead rabbit she brought in, and people want to experience that.”

Roger was actually the person whose idea brought forth the 1^st Annual Fine Wine & Arts Expo! Conceptualizing this idea, Roger was pondering the “noticeable lack of events relating to one of our largest local industries- grapes, wine, and harvest.” He thought it was important to highlight our distinctive Rocks District AVA, which is one of the most unique AVAs in the United States; come to find out, most of the award-winning grapes in the entire region come from right here in Milton-Freewater! Roger wanted to create an annual event to showcase our local Winemakers, regional Artists, and Musicians as “a celebration of the uniqueness of this AVA.”

Roger is also putting together a group of citizens, horticulturists, viticulturists, agriculturists, and small business owners to begin the process of creating a Milton-Freewater immersion experience for tourists and residents alike. “The goal is to give [visitors] the opportunity to meet the people who make your wine, your cheese, your honey, your chocolate, your bread. We are Owner/Operators. We are entrepreneurs. We are small business owners. This is what we share.” The group also hopes to host a small indoor wine event in the late Spring, and will be featured throughout the Summer at our Thursdays Rocks events at Freewater Square! “What we are selling to our customers is engagement; there are great products everywhere, but what you get when you go into a place like ours and talk to the folks- that’s what makes it special.”

For more information, visit the Los Rocosos website and Facebook page. The tasting rooms are open by appointment only through the winter; get in touch with Roger by calling 541-306-1290.