Bandon business making cranberry wine with Rogue Valley winery

A Bandon business is making a name for itself in the fruit wine industry, with help from wine makers in the Rogue Valley.

Lori Osburne, the owner of Farm & Sea in Bandon, Ore., started her wine journey about 10 years ago.

“I wanted to do something different than the grocery stores,” Osburne said.

But in the last five years, she’s focused on one specific type.

“Wine making would be something that I think that I would like to do for Bandon, but predominantly make cranberry wine,” Osburne said. “We are the cranberry capitol of Oregon.”

Osburne wanted to build off Bandon’s special berry, for her store.

“Just talking to people, people would always say ‘Well where is your business,’ and I’d say on the waterfront,” Osburne said.

But to make this unique Bandon wine a reality, she needed to find someone to help make it happen.

“We specialize in making wine for clients,” said Naumes Crush and Fermentation Wine Maker, Chris Graves.

Naumes Crush and Fermentation is a custom crush winery located in Medford. The Naumes family started planting grapes back in 2013 and soon learned there was a big demand for wine making, but not enough wineries.

“They decided to take an old pear packing facility and convert it to a custom crush winery,” Graves said.

They’ve been making wine since 2015, in the Rogue Valley. On the Waterfront and NCF also created a Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, a sparkling wine and even a red blend. But what makes the cranberry wine different from the others?

“I believe that I am the only person that makes cranberry wine from 100% concentrate. All the others are using fruit juice,” Osburne said.

She said it’s a huge accomplishment that means everything to people in the Bandon area.

“For me, trying to outsource as many local products as I can is huge and it’s what I’m about. I’m about supporting my community,” Osburne said.

Currently, On the Waterfront wine is only sold locally in the Bandon area. Osburne said she’s working on having it available to buy online in the near future.