Welcome to The City Center Wine District Blog
Written By: The Wine Muse of The District
Welcome to the premiere of The City Center Wine District blog - the new spot at your fingertips to discover what’s going on at Pallet Wine Company, The Urban Cork, and the new District Wine Bar (opening Summer 2022). In this blog we’ll be talking about the past, present, and future of not only the first winery and wine bar in downtown Medford, but also the first custom crush facility in southern Oregon. You’ll hear about new wine releases, tasting notes, and tasty pairings. We’ll offer insights about wine varietals, tell wine stories, and present wine education in a relaxing, useful and informative way. But mostly, it’s about our love of wine and sharing that with you.
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Cooley-Neff Building
Today, we start at the beginning with the historic Cooley-Neff Building that houses Pallet Wine Co., a true urban winery. In 2009, Linda Donovan says she, “spent weeks driving by before I got up the nerve to look inside.” It wasn’t what she was initially looking for and it wasn’t in the area she wanted. “It was really, really beat up,” she continues, “It was way too big at 24,000 sq.ft.” But when she finally went in, that was it she says, “I fell in love.”
And she never imagined that by 2014 the first custom crush in southern Oregon would have outgrown this space, but that story is for another blog. What she saw was enough to open the doors to her dream winery - all old growth fir, rough sawn timber beams, transom windows (then boarded up) would provide natural light, a basement (with a foot of standing water) was naturally cool and more humid for barrel aging, and, although having been empty for a decade, it was a sturdy old building of character waiting to be of use again. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a rodent infestation and the place smelled of old wood.
After she received the keys in March 2009 renovations began immediately. Drawings were done and she says, “Everything was teed up.” It was also the thick of the recession so people were needing and ready to work. “The support of SOREDI,” Linda says, “was instrumental in getting this [project] done.”
Renovations were extensive. New plumbing, new drains connected with city sewer, new specialized electric, new access ramps poured, rebuilding, restoring, painting, creating, and, removal of an old metal freight elevator. Once construction was completed it had to become a winery. Barrels were brought in, newly poured crush pad retrofitted, Linda placed the large metal tanks by forklift herself - and then plumbed them! On completion in August (5 months!) they moved right into their first harvest. Then the grapes came - and the rest is history.
A Brief History of the Building
The Cooley-Neff Warehouse, a fireproof commercial storage building was built in 1924 by Elmer Childers, a prominent concrete contractor. The investment partners were Jeremiah H. Cooley, businessman and real estate investor and Porter J. Neff, lawyer and Medford City Attorney. Built in the popular Spanish Colonial Revival style of the time, the Cooley-Neff Warehouse Building remains the best surviving example of that style in downtown Medford. Retaining a high degree of integrity in design, workmanship, and materials, it effectively conveys its original appearance as constructed in 1924. Virtually all of Medford’s commercial examples of the Spanish Colonial Revival style trend from the mid-1920’s have been razed or so significantly altered they no longer reflect their original design. As a result, the Cooley-Neff Warehouse Building was recently added to the National Historic Register.
Stepping through the arched entry opening off Fir street, the restored door and original Douglas Fir steps and wainscoting still retain their natural finish. The scent of the old wood is intoxicating. This leads to a large open room with a wall of windows that houses the wine laboratory, the original fireproof vault (Linda knows the combination for the large round lock), a couple of sofas, a bar, and a glass cabinet displaying items found during the renovation. Some found items that attest to its previous life include a box of Wrigley chewing gum, fruit and soup cans, and a Playboy centerfold from the ‘50s.
Today this stately building, holds new life as a top-tier winery, and the rich scent of wine and old wood.