About Shigematsu

When I was a child, I never envisioned that I would be a farmer or winemaker. In fact, I had no idea that my life would lead me down this road until after a full career working in the tech industry. I had spent over 40 years working in the sales field and, while I was glad I could build a long successful career, I knew I finally felt ready to make a change in my life and seek out the things that truly made me happy. 

 

Through mapping out my interests and doing some soul searching, I  realized that I had always been interested in the study and cultivation of wine, I just never had a chance to dive any deeper than being an enthusiast and part-time collector. From that point forward, I made the decision that working within the wine industry would be my new career path. With this goal in mind, I started studying Wine business, as well as Winemaking and Vineyard Operations, at Chemeketa Community College, where I graduated with degrees in both areas of study.

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Once I finished school, I knew it was time to take the next steps in actualizing my goals. My wife and I sold our home of 30 years and relocated to a small farm in Banks, OR. Knowing I wanted to grow grapes in an environmentally-conscious manner, I decided I would start with cultivating a chicken and duck egg farm, so that we could get our fledgling farm up and running, while prepping the soil using their naturally produced fertilizer. We've now been producing delicious, pasture-raised and organically fed, humanely farmed eggs since the summer of 2019 and can't wait for the next phase in our family farm!