August Cellars

A family-owned host winery established in 2002 by the Clarence Schaad family and run by grandson Tom Schaad, with his brother Jim as winemaker. The winery is named for great-grandfather August Schaad, who settled in the Newberg area in 1902; Clarence bought the property in 1942. The 42-acre farm still produces English walnuts and Italian prunes alongside a leased Pinot Noir vineyard and several acres of timber. The winery was built specifically to keep the land in agricultural use rather than sell it for housing development.

The 16,000-square-foot building opened to the public in November 2004, constructed three stories into the hillside around a gravity-flow system, with production on the upper floors and barrel rooms below where the earth naturally cools them. It was deliberately built far larger than the family needed so that other producers could share it.

August Cellars operates as an alternating proprietorship, hosting small wineries that bottle as few as 300 cases annually and giving them access to equipment and facilities without the capital cost of building their own. Eight wineries currently work here, including Crowley Wines and Schaad Cellars. The tasting room pours across the group, offering Pinot Noir from six different winemakers alongside Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, and Maréchal Foch. Value is a stated core principle, and pricing is consistently described as reasonable.