Philippe Girardet and his son, Marc, have

kept the the region’s second-oldest winery

producing baco noir and other high-quality

wines for two generations.

To commemorate the successful emergency

landing of his private plane along the I-5

corrider near Roseburg four years ago, secondgeneration

winery owner Marc Girardet threw a

“Stayin’ Alive” party last July.

He sold bottles of Touchdown Red, featuring label art

depicting the scene which, while nerve-wracking at

the time, also served as something of an homage to his

family’s heritage.

“I grew up here listening to my dad tell stories about

Switzerland and being a member of an aeronautics club,”

Girardet says. “They used to build balsa wood gliders and

throw them off the Alps.

“It was a lifelong dream of mine to fly. So, if you think

about it, the history of Touchdown Red goes all the way

back to Switzerland.”

Many of the lessons from the second winery founded in

the Umpqua Valley do.

Story by Jules Rogers