Our story

Our family moved to Oregon in 1995, fulfilling a dream that led us from selling wine at the retail level in Minnesota to making wine in the lush, productive Willamette Valley.  While living and working at Witness Tree Vineyard, Elemental Cellars was launched when we bought some wine that needed a label and an enthusiastic soul to sell it.  Then in 1997, a small amount of fruit became available which we made into wine ourselves.  The next year we made a little more.  As time passed, our project grew.  Now, after years of buying fruit from outstanding vineyards and working with a number of different grape varietals, we have continued to make fun and wonderful wines.  Elemental Cellars will always be small, and we like it that way.  This allows us to be very hands-on in our winemaking.

From the vineyard into the winery, our family works hard to fulfill the potential given to us by Mother Nature and our growers.  We take great care of the fruit as it comes into the winery . . . the juice . . . the bubbling, fermenting wonderment . . . and the wine as it develops in barrel.  It’s been an exciting learning experience and one that has yielded new friends, good wine, a true sense of accomplishment, and a lot of gray hair!  We really enjoy what we do and we hope that you will find pleasure each time you open a bottle of Elemental Cellars wine.

Steven and Sonja Westby